Stations of the Cross

The text behind each image

There is a text behind the artwork in each of the stations. Some is from biblical sources, some from other volumes, and some was written by members of the congregation.

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

Evening has come and the body must, according to the Law, be removed by nightfall. Especially because the next day is a Sabbath, the work has to be organised and carried out quickly, or the company who attend him will be breaking Sabbath laws. The soldiers hang around. There is a bit of a wrangle about what should happen to his body, with the Jewish authorities concerned that his disciples might play tricks with him and make out he was still alive. The women take charge of his burial arrangements. The men have mostly fled and remain in hiding. Pilate orders a close guard to be mounted outside the tomb, and the scene is set for the next stage of the story.

Men, women and children are all picked up, from time-to-time, from the floors of prisons, torture chambers and charnel houses of history. They are gently lifted and prepared for decent burial by the heart broken. What worse experience than to care for the broken, useless body of your own child? Yet what better person to do it than his mother, supported by his faithful women followers who, at the end, are his closest companions?

Their labour is pain and grief, but nonetheless, it is a labour of love, the only thing left to do, the best they can offer him now. They leave him in the tomb with plans to return after the Sabbath, to perform for him the last burial rites that human dignity demands. Yes, they will come to him again, very early, on the first day of the week. But for now, evening has come.

NEIL RICHARDSON