1. JESUS IS TEMPTED
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Matthew 26:36-46
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Meditate: What drives me to a time of desperate prayer?
Pray: O Jesus, you know my weakness. Give me great awareness to the movement of your Spirit as I follow you to the Cross.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
2. JESUS IS BETRAYED
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Matthew 26:47-56
47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” 49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
50 Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
55 In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Meditate: What violence have I committed in the service of my own agenda?
Pray: O Jesus, truest Friend, I do love you. Grant that I may relinquish my agenda and be found in the service of your love. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
3. JESUS IS CONDEMNED
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Matthew 27:22-23
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
Meditate: What have I done that deserves condemnation?
Pray: O Jesus, it was not so much Pilate as my sins that condemned you to di on the cross. Grant, by your grace, that I may hate my sins from the bottom of my heart and by true repentance obtain your mercy and pardon. Amen
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
4. JESUS IS MOCKED
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Matthew 27:27-31 Matthew 20:18-19
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
Meditate: What brings on my desire to tease and mock others?
Pray: O Jesus, you never spoke a word in your own defense but trusted your Heavenly Father. Give me this same trust. Remove fear and self-righteousness from my life and replace them with courage and love. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
5. JESUS IS GIVEN HIS CROSS
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: John 19:16-17
16 So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
Meditate: What is the cross that has been given for me to carry?
Pray: O Jesus, you carried your cross and you ask me to follow you on this path. Help me to take up the cross and not to shun it. May I never become discouraged by life’s trials. Help me to follow the path of love and, in submitting to its demands, find true joy. Amen.
6. JESUS FALLS
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Isaiah 53:4-6, John 12:24
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Meditate: Where have I gone astray?
Pray: O Jesus, you bore the heavy burden of the cross and you fell under its weight, the weight of my many sins. May the thought of your sufferings move me to imitate your humility and to abandon myself-destructive pride, that I may be saved from my fall into sin. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
7. SIMON CARRIES JESUS’ CROSS
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Matthew 27:32, Matthew 16:24-25
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Meditate: What is one thing I wish not to deny myself?
Pray: O Jesus, may it be my privilege also to bear your Cross as did Simon of Cyrene. May I glory in nothing else for by your Cross the world is crucified to me and I and crucified to the world. May I be counted worthy to suffer for your sake. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
8. JESUS IS STRIPPED
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Psalm 22:14-18; Luke 23:34-38
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce[b] my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the King of the Jews.
Meditate: What in my life do I fear will be exposed?
Pray: O Jesus, you endured this public humiliation for my shameful deeds. Strip me, I pray you, of all false shame, conceit and pride and enable me to humble myself voluntarily in this life that I may escape everlasting shame in the world to come. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
9. JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Matthew 27:33-43
33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Meditate: Do I trust in God for deliverance?
Pray: O Jesus, as you were nailed to the Cross, fasten my heart there also, that I may be united to you until death shall strike me with its mortal blow and, united to you in heart and soul, I may share the fruit of your death. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
10. JESUS DIES
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Luke 23:44-49
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[a] When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Meditate: What must die in me that I may find life?
Pray: O Jesus, you followed your Father’s will to such a bitter and violent death on the Cross! Grant that I may, by your grace, follow your example of love and faithfulness. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
11. JESUS IS BURIED
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: John 19:38-42
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Meditate: Jesus Christ died for me.
Pray: O Jesus, you committed yourself into the hands of your Father in Heaven. Grant that I may rest in you. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
12. JESUS RISES
Pray: My Jesus, I love you and I bless you. For by your cross you have brought salvation to the world.
Read: Revelation 1:17-18
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Meditate: What is on the other side of my greatest fear and doubt?
Pray: O Jesus, assure me that there is something beyond death, that when I follow you it always leads to a resurrection unto life everlasting. Amen.
O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
Come and Lay Your Burdens Down
Come, Beloved. Bring your sorrows. Bring your pain. Bring your struggles and your rebellion. Bring the things that enslave you, your addictions and your problems. Bring your anxieties, your fears, your guilt and shame.
Come and lay your burdens down at the Cross of Jesus.
Write out or draw a prayer, laying your sins at the Cross and when you go from this place, leave your sins at the Cross.
Pray: O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Thank you for having mercy upon me.
Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.
Written and Compiled by Jim Lovelady–2010
