The Crucified Is My Love. Johann Ernst von Holst

The False Witness

       45 Jesus’ Silence

       46 Christ’s Confession

       47 The Death Sentence

       48 Peter’s Fall

       49 Peter’s Repentance

       50 Judas’s End

       Fourth Week of Lent

       51 Handed Over to the Gentiles

       52 What Have You Done?

       53 The King of Truth

       54 Jesus before Herod

       55 The Precipitous Path

       56 The Warning

       57 The Dreadful Choice

       58 Crucify Him! Crucify Him!

       59 The Man of Sorrows

       60 Behold the Man!

       61 Where Are You From?

       62 The Twisted World

       63 Pilate Washes His Hands

       64 Christ’s Blood as Curse and as Blessing

       Fifth Week of Lent

       65 He Bore His Cross

       66 Simon of Cyrene

       67 The Weeping Daughters of Jerusalem

       68 The Lord’s Last Call to Repentance

       69 Golgotha

       70 The Cross

       71 The Crucifixion

       72 Accounted a Criminal

       73 The Gathering of the Nations

       74 The Inscription on the Cross

       75 The First Word from the Cross

       76 They Know Not What They Do

       77 Lots Cast for His Clothes

       78 The Mocking of the Crucified One

       Sixth Week of Lent

       79 The Criminal’s Repentance and His Faith

       80 Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise

       81 Christ’s Farewell to His Own

       82 His Testament of Love

       83 Darkness

       84 His Cry of Lamentation

       85 I Thirst

       86 The Drink of Vinegar

       87 It Is Finished

       88 The Torn Curtain

       89 Father, into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit

       90 The Death of Jesus

       91 The Consequences of Jesus’ Death

       92 His Burial

      Preface

      JOHANN ERNST VON HOLST (1828–1898) was a Lutheran pastor in the Baltic country of Latvia. In the 1800s Latvia had a strong German population that dated to the thirteenth century. These Germans were for the most part upright, community-minded citizens, deeply grounded in their Lutheran faith. Riga, the capital, was part of the Hanseatic League; its citizens were merchants. (Around 1890, Russia took over Latvia, forcing the Germans to emigrate to Germany or to accept “Russification” of their schools and public institutions.)

      Von Holst served as pastor in Wenden (today Cesis). He was remembered for his lively narrations of Bible stories and detailed descriptions, particularly in his children’s sermons and confirmation classes. In 1877 he became senior pastor in the St. James Church in Riga. He was president of the board of Riga’s Magdalene Asylum – a home that gave women who had nowhere else to go work and accommodation.¹ He retired as pastor at Pentecost 1890 and died July 26, 1898.

      Von Holst published a history and character