Stations of the Cross

Station 1: Judgment

In this sculpture, the figure of Jesus leans forward with bound hands. His eyes gaze out to the viewer, asking, “Don’t you understand who I am?”

Station 1: Judgment

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
— Mark 15:15

Station 2: Behold Your King

Singleton used the weight of the cross bearing down on Jesus to show the humble and meek savior who willingly gives up his own life in sacrifice.

Station 2: Behold Your King

And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
— Mark 15:17–18

Station 3: Wine-Colored Robe

Jesus looks up and gestures for mercy but willingly receives the beating, knowing the ultimate purpose is his willing sacrifice for humanity's sin.

Station 3: Wine-Colored Robe

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head.
— Matthew 27:28–29

Stations 4: Blessed Mother

Here Jesus falls down kneeling before his mother, Mary, with the cross upon his shoulders. Mary is shrouded as if in prayer and devotion while remaining solid and upright, offering stability and strength to Jesus.

Stations 4: Blessed Mother

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”
— John 19:26

Station 5: Simon of Cyrene

The artist shows Jesus crawling along with the heaviness of his cross forcing him down to the ground. Simon reaches down to lift the cross up and allow Jesus to continue along the path to his death.

Station 5: 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

Stations 6: Veronica’s Vision

Legend recounts the story of a woman coming up to Jesus. She wipes his face, and his image miraculously appears on the cloth. Singleton offers an abstract interpretation of the event by draping the cloth around the cross like a banner.

Stations 6: Veronica’s Vision

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
— Isaiah 53:4

Station 7: Fallen Lamb

The artist turns the pleading eyes of Jesus toward the person standing in judgment, an accuser condemning him to death. The man merely points down at Jesus, telling him, without emotion, to get up and keep going. Go to your death.

Station 7: Fallen Lamb

For though they fall seven times, they will rise again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
— Proverbs 24:16

Station 8: Daughters, Do Not Weep for Me

The artist shows Jesus looking up in a pleading gaze upon the people around him, as if to say, “Don't you realize what is happening? Don't you get it?” The artist adjusts the body and hand gestures in an invitation to faith and belief in the divine.

Station 8: Daughters, Do Not Weep for Me

A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”
— Luke 23:27–28

Station 9: My Soul Weeps for Sorrow

This sculpture depicts the weeping of Jesus’s own soul. He is overcome with grief and sorrow and cannot even stand. The artist incorporates both the physical and psychological suffering of the cross.

Station 9: My Soul Weeps for Sorrow

For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.” For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?
— Luke 23:29–31

Station 10: Scourging

This sculpture represents the public whipping and humiliation of Jesus. As the artist sees it, Jesus encouraged the soldiers and servants who scourged him to be resolute in their duty, despite the shame and guilt they may have felt for inflicting such brutality.

Station 10: Scourging

They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
— Mark 15:19–20

Station 11: Be Forsaken

This sculpture shows Jesus being nailed upon the cross. The soldier doesn't appear human and, with a sadistic expression, raises his right arm to strike down on the nail, penetrating the hand of Jesus.

Station 11: Be Forsaken

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
— Matthew 27:46

Station 12: Crucifixion

The artist positions the head of Jesus to the side, accentuating the anguish and suffering of his torture. Crucifixion is slow, drawn-out death by torture.

Station 12: Crucifixion

Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. . . . Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
— Matthew 27:50, 54

Station 13: Pietà

The artist captures the moment when the elongated and emaciated body of Jesus has been taken down from the cross and is stretched along Mary’s lap. Mary's head is shrouded, bowed down to her son with a pious and devotional disposition.

Station 13: Pietà

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so, he came and removed his body.
— John 19:38

Station 14: Entombed

Here the artist depicts the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. While the sculpture depicts a dead Jesus, the artist shows him as still showing life, with an expression proclaiming: “It is finished.”

Station 14: Entombed

They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.
— John 19:40–41