”Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross. Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it. ^35-40 After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they whiled away the time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!” Matthew 27:32-40

They compelled a Cyrene, a man named Simon, to carry his cross. Why would they ask someone to carry the cross for him? They had been so brutal to Jesus up to this point, why do something kind now? I imagine that Jesus was becoming so tired, and the leaders were looking so forward to another crucifixion, that they needed the cross to get to Golgatha somehow. So they forced Simon to carry the cross. Imagine watching this scene as a bystander, and suddenly you are in the midst of the drama.

Simon was compelled to carry his cross, and it is this same cross that we all are called to bear. But that cross can get heavy at times. And we shouldn’t just toss it aside when it seems as if we can’t go another foot. We can’t toss it aside because it is the same cross that Christ was hung upon for our sins.  And when life seems to be just too much to bear, it is the same cross that we grasp onto for help. The cross – it was meant to humiliate, to destroy, and to deter.  The symbol of humiliation became the central symbol of our faith – and instead of being a symbol of defeat, it is a symbol of life.

Pastor Dave