“Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgatha). (John 19:17 NIV)
Jesus carried His own cross at least part of the way to His own crucifixion. To truly appreciate this, we must recall that our Savior had already been flogged within an inch of His life. To better appreciate Jesus’ torment, I read Levi Lusko’s words from Last Supper on the Moon just before turning out my light last night: “[Pilate] …had Jesus subjected to torment and torture, having Him whipped with the leather straps that had little bits of bone and metal embedded in them, connected to a wooden handle. The professional lictor would continuously whip Jesus’ back while his arms were chained over his head, leaving his back torn, lacerated and pulverized into a bloody mess… By the time he was ready to be paraded through town, the blood-soaked robe, which had dried, was torn off, reviving all the wounds that it had stuck to while it was worn. We know that He was depleted and in no condition to carry the upper beam of his T-shaped cross, known as the patibulum, as was tradition on the nearly half-mile- long journey through the old city to the hill called Calvary.”
The apostle John cites no other cross-bearer. This is attention-getting detail makes me wonder if the beloved disciple got a glimpse of the first few terrible steps of the Via Delarosa and then turned away, too traumatized to follow any further.
Did John remember Jesus’ words about taking up His cross? Or was he too hysterical to see the word-picture playing out before him?
The other three gospels record Simon of Cyrene pulled from the sidelines and forced into service.
“As the soldiers led Him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way from the country, and put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.” (Luke 23:26 NIV)
Isn’t this the way we each first experience Christ? We are going about our business until our ordinary existence intersects with His extraordinary existence. Simon exhibits a right response to the presence, power and mercy of Christ. He is compelled to come alongside Him and take up His cross.
Jesus had preached this truth to His disciples multiple times in multiple ways. Yet here, in His last hours, He allowed this scene to act out and burn itself into the retinas of His followers.
“Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 NIV)
Cross-bearing is not a golden icon worn daintily about our neck as we go about our own affairs. Cross-bearing is being seized by the love of God and pressed into service. It’s the willing shouldering of an instrument of death, dragging that beam through a crowd of hateful, jeering people. It’s blood, sweat and tears. It’s a moment by moment struggle to keep pressing forward, determined to stay close to our suffering Savior at all cost.
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luke 9:24-25 NIV)
This brings me back again to our pursuit of wholehearted living. Wholehearted Jesus-followers cannot turn away from His death parade. Christ is our very heart. Spiritual death will prevail if we are separated from Him. So we pursue Him, even down pain-filled alleys, because anything less would be cardiac arrest.
Lord, we are still learning to live wholehearted. Please forgive us for looking away from Your parade of agony. Let us be willing to be pressed into service. May we shoulder the beam and follow You, convinced of Your Lordship and ruined for everything less. Amen.