Station 11
Hanging Silence (detail), steel nails, Dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist.
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34
There is no subtlety in brutality. There is no silence. There is no stillness.
Jesus is nailed to the cross. There is an unavoidable brutality to this act. Yet for hundreds of years, this crucifixion has been reflected upon with a reverent stillness. This work bridges the gap between the abject violence of Jesus’ crucifixion and still reflection. Hard metal nails hang effortlessly in mid air—a still, seemingly weightless reminder.
Meditation
We look on from a distance:
a distance of time and space and culture,
a distance of a Sunday afternoon in Australia in Lent.
And for us it hurts to watch Jesus dying,
even at a distance.
It hurts to know that we are being rescued.
It hurts to know how much we are valued and loved.
© Ruth Burgess and Chris Polhill
Eggs and Ashes: Practical & liturgical resources for Lent and Holy Week.
Station Information
- Year: 2017
- Station Number 11
- Jesus is Nailed to the Cross (The Crucifixion)
- Exhibitor Jana Wallace Braddock
Reading
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Him, the people stayed there watching Him, the leaders jeered at Him and the soldiers mocked Him. Some women, His friends from Galilee, looked on at a distance.
Your Thoughts on the Exhibition
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