The First Station -- Jesus is Condemned to Death

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof:
  the world and all they that dwell therein.  Ps. 23:1    

With a twisted scepter Pilate was judge
 Of He who blesses each man in his life,
In his work, his home, his children, his wife.
 For Jewish elders Pilate would not grudge
To scourge this “King," for Rome merely a drudge.
 His silence atones for each age’s strife,
Whose mercy for the penitent is rife.
 What intimidation could our Lord budge?

Worldly rulers Christ's Way cannot descry:
 Abhorring meekness, they remain aloof.
In their words’ connivance, demons’ hopes lie:
 Liars cannot be liars without truth.

The Word made flesh faced death in Love’s duty –
 Lord Jesus, poetry’s life and beauty.