Knowing The Word in Luke 23:26-31

The Beginning of The Crucifixion

23:26 And as they led Jesus 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. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is

green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Comments

It was customary for one to carry his own cross, or the cross-bar, to the place of crucifixion. Weakened by the scourging he likely received before the cross-bar was placed on his back, Jesus needed help, so the soldiers conscripted Simon. Elsewhere in the New Testament we find that Simon and his family were known in the early Church. Mark 15:21 tells us that he is the father of Alexander and Rufus, and in Romans 16:13 Paul sends greetings to Rufus, whose mother was like a mother to Paul.

Many women in Jerusalem admired and felt sympathy for Jesus in a noisy demonstration of grief. As was his tendency, Luke emphasized the women in the crowd, not the Galilean woman who may have followed him to the city but the women who lived in the city. Jesus, however, wants their repentance, not their sympathy. He warns them how awful their future will be that they will cry out for death in order to escape the coming wrath of God.

Verse 31 is a proverbial saying about the guilt of those who put Jesus to death with several possible interpretations. Regardless of its exact meaning, it is about he who is innocent dying at the hands of the guilty, and then the guilty waiting for the repercussions.

Application

Sometimes we are left to wonder about characters in the Bible who are there for a verse or two, play an important role, and then disappear. Simon of Cyrene is one such figure. Do you think Simon stayed around for the crucifixion to watch Jesus die? Did he take off and get away as quickly as possible? Did he come to faith? We have lots of unanswered questions, but some evidence that his sons were known in the early church, suggesting he was a believer as well. Whatever the case, there is fun in doing some speculation.

Prayer

Lord, I do not know if I would have been able to pick up that cross-bar for you as Simon did, but I hope I would have been able to because of the love I would have seen in your eyes. I do not know if I will be able to endure all that I will have to do today because much is unknown, but I hope your Spirit of love will strengthen me to pick up my cross and endure and even prosper in what you call me to do. Fashion my day, O Lord, to live for you and die to myself.