There He Hung, a Perplexity Yet a Joy

11th Station: "Jesus is Nailed to the Cross" by Tim Bete and "Summum Bonum" by Louise Imogene Guiney

Scripture Passage: John 19:18

“There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.”

“Jesus is Nailed to the Cross” by Gustave Dore; Wikimedia Commons

The black and white drawing seems to highlight the “gray area” in which we like to keep our sin. I know how hard it is to honestly own my personal sins—so often I justify and find a reason to reduce my culpability. But Jesus here faces his crucifixion head, he doesn’t shy away from the full force of the nail about to be driven through his hand.

Lord, which of my sins am I too ashamed of to call it by its name? Which is it that you look at squarely, ready to forgive if I just bring my humbled and sorrowful heart to you on the cross?

The Eleventh Station from St. John Henry Newman’s “Meditations on the Stations of the Cross”

“…As the savage executioners drive in the huge nails, He offers Himself to the Eternal Father, as a ransom for the world. The blows are struck—the blood gushes forth…

He lovingly placed his hands close against the transverse beam, waiting for…the heavy hammers to dig into the palms of His hands, and to fasten them securely to the wood. There He hung, a perplexity to the multitude, a terror to evil spirits, the wonder, the awe, yet the joy, the adoration of the Holy Angels.”

Summum Bonum

Waiting on Him who knows us and our need,
Most need have we to dare not, nor desire,
But at He giveth with no inglorious greed,
For this is joy, though still our joys recede;
And, as in octaves of a noble lyre,
To move our minds with His, and clearer, higher,
Sound forth our fate: for this is strength indeed.

Thanks to His love let earth and man dispense
In smoke of worship when the heart is stillest,
A praying more than prayer: "Great good have I,
Till it greater good to lay it by;
Nor can I lost peace, power, permanence,
For these smile on me from the thing Thou willest!"


-Louise Imogene Guiney (1861-1920); from "Happy Ending." In the Public Domain.