The Way of the Cross or “Stations” are a traditional, largely Catholic, form of prayer said during Lent, the forty days preceding the Christian commemoration of Jesus’ Last Supper (on Holy Thursday), Crucifixion and Death (on Good Friday) and Resurrection (on Easter Sunday).

Most often the congregation processes around the church, stopping to pray in front of each of 14 vignettes or “stations” that depict moments in the last hours of Jesus’ life. Participants recall the judgment against Jesus, the scourging and crowning with thorns, his encounters along the way with strangers, with friends and with his mother, the crucifixion and Jesus’ burial.

In recent years, the "Stations" has been adopted by members of Protestant
churches and ecumenical gatherings. In many cultures, especially in Latin America, the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) is a dramatic public event with real people chosen to perform in the various roles of Jesus, his mother, his friends, the soldiers, strangers, Roman officials and so on. Often, the Way of the Cross evokes reflection on contemporary crucifixions – ways in which human beings and their communities are subject to humiliation and brutal death – from poverty or repression, neglect or abuse.

Enacted on Good Friday, the Economic Way of the Cross relates Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross to economic injustice. As the prayerful procession begins we are reminded that “in a macabre mirroring of Jesus’ journey to the cross” billions of people throughout the world suffer under a cruel burden of poverty and economic injustice. We might even say that Jesus’ is “crucified anew” (Heb. 6:6) in the oppression of humanity.

Even more, in the mystery of redemption, Jesus’ death and resurrection bring a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), in which oppression is defeated and justice triumphs. Christians have traditionally understood Christ’s death on the cross primarily in three classic ways: as substitutionary atonement, moral influence and Cristus Victor (Christ the Victor). All three are important to Christian faith.

As Cristus Victor, Jesus overcomes evil, violence and death through his life, death and resurrection. He “disarms the powers and principalities and triumphs over them through the cross” (Col. 2:15), bringing liberation to human beings from all oppression. Christ frees us from personal sins like greed, but also from social sins including unjust economic institutions and policies (Luke 1:52-53, 4:18-19, 6:20-25). Institutions, too, can be liberated, in some degree, to move toward their created purpose as servants of humanity.

The Bible presents a “now/not yet” picture of this liberation. Full liberation awaits the consummation of history. But Christ’s life, death and resurrection mean that the justice of God is already breaking into human history. And just as human beings and their institutions are the concrete instruments of injustice, so also, people – following the way of Christ and empowered by God’s Spirit -- can serve as agents of liberation now.

For these reasons, each station in the Economic Way of the Cross focuses on an oppressive economic reality and highlights some aspect of the liberating work of Christ’s passion. Each station names one or more institutions complicit in injustice, and each invokes a commitment on our part to work for change.

The Economic Way of the Cross recognizes that perverse spiritual realities propel oppressive institutions. This is easy to see when we consider the good will of many who work for institutions like the White House, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. They, too, are captive to destructive powers beyond themselves.