On The Way To The Crucifixion Series

LUKE 23: 26-31 [JESUS’ LAST DAY SERIES]

ON THE WAY TO THE CRUCIFIXION

[Zech 12:10-14; Luke 19:41–44; 21:20–24; Rev. 6:15–17]

In the next episode on Jesus’ last day, we reach the actual events surrounding the crucifixion. The crucifixion account consists of three parts: the journey to the place of crucifixion (vv 26-31) which we will look at today, the crucifixion (vv 32-38) which we will look at next Sunday, and the story of the two crucified criminals (vv. 39-43) which we will look at in two weeks.

Luke alone describes the way to the place of execution as this incident is not in Matthew or Mark. For Luke it is important because it again expresses Jesus’ concern for the fate of Jerusalem (19:41–44). The terrible destruction Jesus speaks of reflects His previous prediction in Luke (21:20–24).

While on the way to the mount of the skull Jesus was required, like others condemned to crucifixion, to carry the cross-bar of His cross. On the way to the cross we find the women of Jerusalem[, not Jesus’ women friends from Galilee who traveled with Him, but the women of the city,] weeping over His alarming and appalling judgment. Jesus advises them to turn their anguish for Him into mourning for themselves. Such sever rejection of the beloved Son of God puts an individual or society on a course that brings its own judgment (CIT).

I. TAKING UP THE CROSS, 26-27.

II. COMING DESTRUCTION, 28-30.

III. SIN FULL GROWN, 31.

The rulers and the crowd has just had their way. The verdict of condemnation on the sinless Son of Man has been granted. In verse 26 we find Jesus trudging toward the hill of Golgotha with the crossbeam on His shoulders. The solders in charge of the procession observe that Jesus has become too weak to carry His heavy beam, so they lay hold of a “random” man in the crowd and force him carry Christ’s Cross. “And as they led Him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on Him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.”

Like others condemned to crucifixion, Jesus was required to carry His cross. The wood cross-bar was heavy, and Jesus was weakened by the beatings and the scourging (Mt 27:26, 30; Mk 15:15, 19). On to this scene of Jesus’ "via de la rosa" came “Simon.” He was from out of the country and casually drawn into that part of the crowd. He was probably a Jewish pilgrim visiting Jerusalem for Passover.

Simon, was a man “of Cyrene.” Cyrene is a port in Tripoli, or present-day Libya, on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. Jews had lived in the city of Cyrene since the third century BC. Many Jews lived there and had a synagogue at Jerusalem (Acts 6:9 and see Acts 2:10). Simon had probably been saving all of his adult life to make the eight-hundred-mile journey to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. As he felt the sharp, cold metal of a Roman spear press upon his shoulder and heard the command to take up the Cross of the Galilean who had already been beaten beyond recognition, Simon must have wondered, Why me?

The soldiers could press civilians such as Simon into service. Mark 15:21 has the word forces (angareuo), the same word Jesus used in the famous saying about going the second mile (Mt 5:41). Luke says they “laid hold on” (?p??aß?µe???) him. Matthew says (Mt 27:32) that “they compel him to bear His cross.” It would ended up a sweet compulsion, if it resulted in him or his sons voluntarily “taking up their cross and following Jesus.” It appears that our Lord had first to bear His own cross (Jn 19:17), but was physically unable to proceed, so it was laid on another to bear it “after Him.” [From the other gospel accounts, we learn that the reason Simon was called in to carry the cross for Jesus was that Jesus collapsed under the weight of it and was unable to carry it.] Though forced to carry the burden of the Jesus’ cross (Mt. 5:41) Simon of Cyrene is a symbol of the true disciple, carrying the cross “behind Jesus” on the way to the Crucifixion site.

Mark tells us “Simon” was the father of Rufus and Alexander (15:21). The fact that Paul sends greetings to Rufus and Alexander means they were well-known Christians (Romans 16:13). Therefore, the implication is that Simon was saved, perhaps on the very day he carried the Cross. This shouldn’t be surprising, for those who carry the Cross of Christ will always fall in love with Him. Initially, we say, “Oh no. I don’t want to go through that. I don’t want to do that. It’s too heavy. It’s too burdensome. Why me?” But eventually we come to understand the incredible insight Jesus shared with us when He said it is the person who carries his cross daily who finds true life (Matthew 10:39). [Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 414–415.]