Ash Wednesday (Year A)

Remember my brothers + sisters, that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Lenten Comics day 40

STATION FOURTEEN

Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

Lenten Comics day 39

STATION THIRTEEN

Jesus Dies on the Cross

The death of Jesus on the cross means so many different things to so many different people. It often means several overlapping realities for just one person. I wanted to convey that here.

Jesus is all too human, overwhelmed by the political + religious powers. Cast out by the mob. Physically destroyed. Spiritually Jesus transcends those afflictions. They do nothing regarding the truth of his identity. The worldly systems of death (the ways we kill each other and practice injustice), the natural affliction of death, and the spiritual presence of darkness prevailed on the cross.

Jesus on the cross was an act of submission to the brokenness of the world. Jesus on the cross was an act of submission to God. It was also an act of invasion by the kingdom of God into our brokenness.

A man swallowed by chaos + injustice. A common event.

The Son of Man sacrificed as an offering of God’s love + restoration. A mythological event.

Jesus surrenders.

Lenten Comics day 38

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Station Twelve 3/3

Lenten Comics day 37

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Station Twelve 2/3

Lenten Comics day 36

STATION TWELVE

Jesus Speaks to His Mother + Disciple

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

John 19:25-27 (NRSV)

Lenten Comics day 35

Station Eleven 3/3

Lenten Comics day 34

Station Eleven 2/3

Lenten Comics day 33

STATION ELEVIN

Jesus Promises his Kingdom to the Thief

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Lenten Comics day 32

STATION TEN

Jesus is Crucified

As I was contemplating this passage, I couldn’t help but juxtapose it with all the scenes in which Jesus is offering hope to so many people in his ministry. His smiling, understanding, knowing face before the crowd, before the humiliated and the suffering. That is the face that was condemned and put on the cross. The face of holy and supernatural love.

“And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him.”

-Matthew 27:33-36 (NRSV)

Lenten Comics day 29

STATION NINE

JESUS MEETS THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

“But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

-Luke 23:28 (NRSV)

Lenten Comics day 28

STATION EIGHT

JESUS IS HELPED BY SIMON OF CYRENE

“As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.”

Matthew 27:32 (NRSV)

I spent months on this page. First, it was just boxes. Then pencils. Then the top row of drawings. Finally, I finished the whole thing a few weeks ago.

I am happy to come back to this project and finish it. These reflections of the Stations of the Cross are about meditating on Jesus’ final days, my own grief at losing my dad this year, as well as zooming out from my life to look at the grief that surrounds us all.

Lenten Comics day 27

The Royal Road by Thomas à Kempis 3/3

Lenten Comics day 26

The Royal Road by Thomas à Kempis 2/3.

Lenten Comics day 25

The Royal Road by Thomas à Kempis 1/3

Lenten Comics day 22

STATION SEVEN

Jesus Bears the Cross

“After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”

Matthew 27: 31 (NRSV)