The icons below are by a contemporary liturgical artist named Scott Erickson. Follow Jesus’s final steps with guided meditations and scripture.
These images are not for download and reproduction; they are posted with expressed permission by the artist. You can help support Scott Erickson and his work by going to scottericksonart.com or following him on social media @scottthepainter. You can purchase these prints at https://scottericksonartshop.com.
Station 1
Jesus is tempted.
Larger scriptural context: Matthew 26:36-46
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:38
This icon refers to Jesus’s time praying in Gethsemane. The cup reminds us of the cup of suffering from Matthew 26:29 that Jesus begs His Father to take away. The serpent represents the original sin of the world for which Jesus would die. Together, they intersect to form the cross.
Reflect | Jesus is compelled to desperate prayer in these verses. He is completely honest with God. What drives you to desperate prayer?
Station 2
Jesus is betrayed.
Larger Scriptural Context: Matthew 26:14-16
“Friend, do what you came here to do.” Matthew 26:50
This icon depicts the 30 pieces of silver Judas accepted in payment for his betrayal of Jesus’s location. The coins become the cross in this depiction, a powerful reminder of humanity’s implication in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Reflect | The son of God was betrayed by a friend. The son of God was betrayed by His creation. In what ways, big or small, might we betray the confidence of Jesus in our own lives?
Station 3
Jesus is condemned.
Larger Scriptural Context: Luke 22:66-71
“But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” Luke 22:53
This icon illustrates the condemnation of Jesus by religious leaders. On the hands are worldly systems of measurement, religion, and judgment. While not inherently evil, these systems were wielded by corrupt hands, and they sentenced Jesus to death. The index fingers come together to form a cross, emphasizing its corrupt justice.
Reflect | Jesus submits quietly and peacefully. Jesus is condemned by religious leaders. What was their fear?
Station 4
Jesus is mocked.
Larger Scriptural Context: Matthew 27:27-31
"But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” John 18:23
In this icon, the flogger and the crown of thorns intersect to form the cross. Roman soldiers used these instruments of torture to mock Jesus, but the crown proclaimed a deeper truth about Jesus, even as it scorned Him: He was King.
Reflect | Imagine the Son of God being brutalized by men. What brings on our own mockery of others?
Station 5
Jesus is given his cross.
Larger Scriptural Context: John 19:17
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” John 3:14-15
The arms of Jesus—marked with the bread and the cup—grasp the staff of Moses in this icon, forming the cross.
Reflect | The cross was a state-sanctioned method of execution for criminals. What might it invite us to consider about our own systems of justice?
Station 6
Jesus falls.
“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24
This station, although not found in scripture, is often portrayed in three separate stations. In this icon, a bare branch and falling leaves symbolize Jesus’s humanity and his ever-decreasing strength as he moves toward his public death.
Reflect: Imagine Jesus experiencing exhaustion and distress in a public setting with nowhere to hide. What kind of vulnerability must Christ have shown?
Station 7
Simon carries Jesus’s cross.
Larger Scriptural Context: Luke 23:26-27
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
This icon shows the hands of Simon taking up the cross of Jesus.
Reflect | Imagine being pulled from the crowd to carry this man’s death device. What is it like to walk alongside Jesus in this way?
Station 8
Jesus is stripped.
Larger Scriptural: Luke 23:34
“For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Luke 23:31
Jesus being stripped of His clothing is represented here by the limbing of a tree—the destruction of green wood. In Luke 23:31, Jesus refers to himself as the green tree, a symbol of innocence. The question He poses, then, is: If we are capable of doing such evil to an innocent man, what are we capable of doing to a guilty man?
Reflect | Romans crucified criminals naked. Reflect on the shame of nakedness in the Garden of Eden.
Station 9
Jesus is nailed to the cross.
Larger scriptural context: 27:35-49
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
This icon shows us the brutality of the nails from which Jesus hung.
Reflect | The long physical pain of the crucifixion was excruciating. In fact, the word “excruciating” comes from “crucifixion.” Has there ever been a time when you’ve felt forsaken by God?
Station 10
Jesus dies.
Larger scriptural context: 27:50-51
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
This icon forms a cross from a scythe and lamb. The scythe gained popularity in Christianity during the Black Death as a symbol for our mortality. The inside of the lamb shows an outline of the world, referring to John 1:29: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” In the image, mortality makes visible those sins.
Reflect | In death, Jesus knew what it was to be fully human. His mortality was tied up with ours. What would it have been like to stand among Jesus’s friends and watch him die?
Station 11
Jesus is buried.
Larger scriptural context: 23:50-56
“When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.” Matthew 26:12
Here, the rose, representing the perfume of the women who helped prepare His body for burial, and a shovel, representing the act of burial, create the image of a cross.
Reflect | Have you ever buried a loved one? Imagine doing so with the knowledge that this burial would not be final.
Station 12
Jesus
Larger scriptural context: Luke 24:1-8
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for his sheep.” John 10:11
In this final icon, the cross is healed. Every symbol of betrayal in the previous eleven images has been restored and transformed into a budding tree and shepherd’s staff. The tree shows us new life, and the staff promises that the new life will be protected.
Reflect | Christ redeems the ultimate symbol of injustice and suffering—the cross—when he lives again. Where has Jesus taken injustice and suffering in your own life and transformed them?