CPTnet
20 March 2008
Hebron: The Ninth and Tenth Stations of the Cross—Jesus falls a third time under the weight of his cross; Jesus is stripped before the crowd

The Ninth Station – Jesus falls the third time under the weight of his cross

by Jean Fallon

This time Jesus lies unmoving after falling the third time… Is He dead? The occupation soldiers kick Him, make Him stand and drag on. It is almost impossible for Jesus to get back up. Hard as it is, let us continue with Jesus in Hebron's Beqa'a Valley.

It is now 2000, and though cautious, the family whose homes the Israeli military demolished refused to give up or to leave their home in ruins… The third time, their home fell at the hands of settlers instead of the military. They entered the Palestinian family’s new home, destroyed windows, ripped out wiring, and obliterated as much as they could. Left in the shell of their home, the family knows the settlers above them are watching their attempts to rebuild their lives and their homes and will try to clear this area of Palestinians so they can take over the whole of the Beqa’a Valley.


The Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped before the crowd

by Jan Benvie

In a final attempt to humiliate Him, the Roman soldiers stripped Jesus of his clothing. Were they aware that they could have power over His body, but not His mind? Even in death, He was still greater than they.

Our clothes are part of our identity. Stripped of our clothing we can be seen as worthless in worldly terms. In Guantanamo Bay prison, the U.S. strips prisoners of any clothing that makes them identifiable as an individual human being. All prisoners must wear the same shapeless, orange jump suit. In Abu Ghraib (Iraq), the U.S. guards stripped prisoners naked in order to shame and humiliate them. Throughout the world prisoners are regularly ‘strip searched’ for no purpose other than to humiliate them.

At the numerous military checkpoints (see http://tinyurl.com/2qcabq) all over the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israeli soldiers attempt to humiliate Palestinians by making them lift up, or sometimes remove their clothing. They could accomplish these security checks with metal detector wand, but choose the more degrading tactic.

Despite the threat of these searches, Palestinians continue to travel throughout their land. Here in Hebron, Palestinians continue to come to the Ibrahimi mosque, to their shops in the Old City souq, and to live in their homes near the Israeli settlements, despite the risk of humiliating searches at checkpoints. They stand firm and steadfastly refuse to be stripped of their dignity.

Just as we are called to accompany Christ on his road to crucifixion, so too we are called to accompany those whom the powers of this world strip and humiliate.