Via Dolorosa—The Way of Sorrows Introduction A Series for Lent and Easter Tracing Jesus' Journey to the Cross

Empty Tomb

This is part of the worship series, 
"Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” 

Series Introduction 
Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 
Palm Sunday | Easter

Introduction

Via doloroso 1

In this series prepared for the 1997 Lenten season at La Grave Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, John Steigenga (the copastor who preached two of the sermons in the series) and I decided to trace Jesus’ journey to the cross using the famous idea of the Via Dolorosa. Traditionally, those words have referred to the last hours of Jesus’ life, particularly to the fourteen stations of the cross traced out on the streets of Jerusalem and enshrined in Catholic churches.

We went further back than that—back to Jesus’ birth, to the place where we hear the sound of weeping in the back streets of Bethlehem. We traveled back all the way to Isaiah 53, where the coming Messiah is given the title Man of Sorrows. In the rest of the series we studied various stories from the life of Jesus in which the theme of tears figured prominently.

Bulletin Artwork

The two bulletin covers designed for this series are available for download in the resource section below. They can be used by RW readers with the following copyright line: Catherine Fet © 1998 ReformedWorship.org CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. 

Series Outline

  Scripture Sermon Title
Lent 1 Isaiah 53:3 The Man of Sorrows
Lent 2 Matthew 2:13–18 Rachel Weeping
Lent 3 Luke 7:11–17 Don't Cry
Lent 4 Luke 7:36–50 Feet Wet with Tears
Lent 5 John 11:35 Jesus Wept
Palm Sunday Luke 19:41–44 If Only You Had Known What Would Bring You Peace
Easter Sunday John 20:15 Why Are You Crying?
Resources