Stations of the Cross Lent 2023: Station 10 by Dr. Robert August
They Gave Me Gall To Eat | Stations of the Cross: Station 10
| Speaker: Dr. Robert AugustThis short composition is intended to serve as a small piece in a larger framework. It is to serve as an extension of what already has been experienced, but also to create a sense of continuation. As such, this is not a stand-alone musical composition, but rather a moment of reflection. The music feels, intentionally, unresolved. The unsettling text is emphasized by word painting, as well as harmonic ambiguity, and avoidance of the tonic at the conclusion.
Dr. Robert August, Artist Statement
This short composition is intended to serve as a small piece in a larger framework. It is to serve as an extension of what already has been experienced, but also to create a sense of continuation. As such, this is not a stand-alone musical composition, but rather a moment of reflection. The music feels, intentionally, unresolved. The unsettling text is emphasized by word painting, as well as harmonic ambiguity, and avoidance of the tonic at the conclusion.
The Rev. Greg Pickens, Reflection on Station 10
They gave me gall to eat: and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.
Jesus told his disciples to clothe the naked and for us, especially during a Texas winter, we just naturally assumed this teaching was about keeping people warm. Of course, being protected from the weather was important, but clothing was also about belonging to and participating in a community. For Jesus, it was the community’s responsibility to look out for and help the needy as a way of reminding all that everyone had been created by God and carried his sacred image within them. A community that fed and clothed their members demonstrated that a person still had dignity as a daughter or son of Abraham, even if they had struck hard times.
As we move through this service of the Stations, we know what awaits Jesus, even if our minds may have allowed us some hope for him. After all, there were several junctures where the sentence of crucifixion could have been set aside. It was clear to the authorities that Jesus was innocent, even if he did threaten their positions of power. But, instead of freeing him, frail humans failed the Son of God.
Meditation:
In our verse for this station, we see that the Roman soldiers had roughly removed the clothes from our Lord. On Golgotha, no one had any privileges; no one was to be thought a daughter or son of Abraham, but all were merely things to be killed. Here was Jesus, utterly exhausted and abused. Whatever flicker of hope we may have had through this journey now goes black. Some dignity could have been restored to him but instead, the soldiers surrounding Jesus simply went about their task. With Roman efficiency and without a thought, Our Lord’s clothing, the last shared symbol of community, was cast off to be sorted through after his death.
Jesus fully accepted these acts of degradation, separation, and death—all to repair the distance between humanity and God; to remind us of our call to respect and restore the dignity of every human being. How can we be a faith community that responds to this call?