Jesus falls the first time
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name. Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is the Lord our God. [Philippians 2:8-9; Psalm 95:6-7a]
Surely he has borne our griefs:
And carried our sorrows. [Isaiah 53:4a RSV]
O God, you know us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
For his people’s sins chastised,
She beheld her Son despised,
Scourged, and crowned with thorns entwined.