Jesus was helped in carrying the cross

JESUS WAS HELPED IN CARRYING THE CROSS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Mark 15:21 21A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the
father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his
way in from the country, and they forced him to carry
the cross.
GreatTexts of the Bible
Bearing Christ’s Cross
And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his
cross.—Mark15:21.
Art and legend have done not a little to fill up the pathetic picture for us of
our Lord’s carrying His cross to Calvary. But the Evangelists have not been
altogethersilent on the subject. Doubtless much occurredon the way which
the Christian world would gladly have known, and which they could so well
have told us. Two of them at least, St. Matthew and St. John, were in all
probability eye and ear witnesses;and St. Mark and St. Luke must have often
heard Apostles and others, for whom the day of Jesus’death would have an
imperishable memory, telling of all they had that day seenand heard. Yet how
sparing of incidents they have been except where their Masterwas specially
concerned. St. John, at any rate, who was a witness of the trial in Caiaphas’
house, was not likely to have been absentfrom the crowd that saw his Master

going with His burden of shame to the place where He was to die. He must
have been a keenand deeply interested observerof all that took place on the
way. He must have had incidents and impressions of the scene storedup in his
mind and memory which he would retain to his dying day, and which the
Church would willingly have possessed. Butfrom him we have not even one.
He has nothing to add to what the other three Evangelists have given. Eachof
those three has preservedfor us the story of Simon of Cyrene, and of his
touching service to Jesus;the third, the EvangelistSt. Luke, has added that of
the weeping of the women. These two incidents are all that are recordedof a
scene on which the Christian imagination has ever fondly dwelt.
The Evangelists have told their story as honest, simple minded men to whom
the truth was dearerthan their lives. There is nothing more marked than the
contrastbetweentheir rapid, and sometimes bare, mention of facts and the
string of legends, piled up with miraculous events, of other writers. Here, at
this tragic stage ofthe progress to Calvary, was an opportunity, had they
wished it, of intensifying the drama by giving prominence to the touching
picture of this unknown Simon and Christ. But no, the central figure to them
is Christ; they are too eagerto follow Him to the end to think of pausing by
the way. From their ample stores ofknowledge and experience they have
selectedjust what was neededto fulfil their greatpurpose in writing, which
was to lift up Christ crucified, worthily and as He really was, to the view of
the world through all ages.
Have you ever thought what a number of people there are whose names we
know, and in whom we are interested, but of whom we should never have
heard if they had not had something to do with Christ? At this time of day, the
names of kings and governors, sayof Herod and Pontius Pilate, might indeed
have been known to a few scholars andstudents, but who outside of the circle
of the learned would have known of their existence save for the fact that they
crossedChrist’s path? Even men and women who made a greatstir in their
own day would have been utterly forgottenif it had not been that their names

are mentioned along with that of Christ, or along with those of His Apostles.
But of course this strikes us more when we think of those people who were
quite obscure, and who led quite unnoticed lives in their own generation, but
whose names are embalmed in the Gospelhistory, and who, though never
heard of during their lifetime outside their native town or their small circle of
friends, are quite well known now over the whole Christian world. Is it not
strange that we to-day should be interesting ourselves in a humble man
belonging to a town in the north of Africa, who lived nearly two thousand
years ago, and all because, by what seems the merestaccident, he happened to
meet Christ on the way to Calvary, and was forcedto carry His cross for a few
minutes in the hot noontide sun?1 [Note:E. B. Speirs.]
We may considerthe subject in three parts—
Simon the Cross-Bearer
Christ the Sin-Bearer
Simon and Christ
I
Simon the Cross-Bearer
i. Simon the Cyrenian

Who was he? What does history tell us about him? Beyond his name, the
name of his native town, the name of his two sons, and this one fact that he
helped to carry Christ’s cross, we know absolutelynothing, at leastwith any
certainty, of this man Simon; and yet that little is quite enough to make him
interesting to us.
1. Cyrene receiveda Jewishsettlement in the time of Ptolemy I., and the Jews
formed an influential sectionof the inhabitants. At Jerusalemthe name of
Cyrene was associatedwith one of the synagogues(Acts 6:9), and Jewish
inhabitants of Cyrenaica were among the worshippers at the Feastof
Pentecostin the year of the Crucifixion (Acts 2:10), whilst a Lucius of Cyrene
appears among the prophets and teachers ofthe Church of Antioch about a.d.
48 (Acts 13:1). Whether this Simon had become a resident at Jerusalem, or
whether he was a visitor at the Passover, itis impossible to decide. St. Mark
alone further describes him as “the father of Alexander and Rufus.”
2. This additional statement of St. Mark adds greatly to our interest. He
speaks ofthe sons, Alexander and Rufus, as if they were well-knowndisciples
of the Lord; and St. Paul, in his greetings to the Christians at Rome from
Corinth, sends specialwords of love to Rufus and his mother, who had acted
in a peculiarly tender and motherly manner to him: “Salute Rufus, chosenin
the Lord, and his mother and mine.”
Some, too, have thought that Symeon, surnamed Niger, might be identified
with the cross-bearerofChrist—for Symeon and Simon are the same name—
and he is noticed with Lucius of Cyrene as one of the prophets and teachers in
the Church at Antioch. If this were true, he would assume the new name of
Christian, which we know originated in that city. Well might Simon extol the
strange arrangementof Providence which brought him to the place where he
should meet Jesus, atthe very time when they were leading Him out to be
crucified. Well might he bless the rough violence of the Roman soldiers, who

compelled him to bear the cross for his weary and fainting Master. The
bondage of man proved to him the liberty of Christ; the shame of earth
turned into the glory of heaven. How grateful must he have felt afterwards
that he had this unique honour; that it was given to him to alleviate in some
small degree the unparalleled sufferings of his adorable Redeemer—to share
with Him the ignominy and the degradationof the cross. Whenhe was
afterwards calledby the name of Christ at Antioch, he could indeed clothe
himself with the shame of the cross as with a royal robe, and saywith the
greatApostle of the Gentiles, “Godforbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
3. Imagination helps us to fill in what tradition tells us about this victim of
brutal power who was compelledto take part in the crucifixion of the Saviour.
He may have been a proselyte who had come all the way from Africa to
observe the Feastof the PassoveratJerusalem. He had, perhaps, never
previously heard of Jesus of Nazareth, and was not thinking of Him at the
time when he saw Him on the way to execution. Probably, instead of pitying
the sadcase ofthe Sufferer beside him, he was occupiedwith the hardship of
his owncase, and filled with resentment on accountof the odious service so
ruthlessly exactedof him, including even Jesus in his indiscriminate wrath.
But forced, in spite of himself, to accompanyour Lord to Calvary, bearing the
hated cross, he was made a witness of all the memorable incidents of the
transcendenttragedy that took place there. He saw the Divine meekness and
patience of the Sufferer; he heard the wonderful words of love and pardoning
mercy that flowed from His lips; he beheld the supernatural darkness
gathering round the cross, and felt the ground trembling under his feet; and,
dismayed by these awful portents, he heard the loud cry with which Jesus
gave up the ghost. And when the darkness clearedaway, he saw the centurion
transfixed with awe before the central cross, glorifying God, and exclaiming,
“Truly this was the Son of God.” All this could not but have deeply impressed
the mind of Simon. He must have learned enoughin the brief companionship
of a few hours with the Prince of Sufferers—in such unexampled
circumstances—tochange the current of his whole life. He must have been one
of the first who were drawn to Christ when lifted up upon the cross in

fulfilment of His own words. Coming to Jerusalemto keepthe Passover, he
found in the cross of Christ the true fulfilment of the greathistoricalrite; he
found in that dying life a perfect example, and in that death an atoning
sacrifice. Simonof Cyrene, the cross-bearerofChrist, was the first-fruits of
Africa to Christianity.
From all thou holdestprecious, for one hour
Arise and come away,
And let the calling Voice be heard in power;
Desertthyself to-day;
If with thy Lord for once thou turn aside,
With Him thou’lt fain abide.1 [Note:J. E. A. Brown.]
ii. A ForcedDisciple
1. The Chance Meeting.—Itwas the time of the greatPassoverfeast, and
Simon, no doubt, had come all the wayfrom his busy and beautiful town in
North Africa to keep, like a pious Jew, the sacredfestivalin the holy city. At
such seasons Jerusalemwas always denselycrowded, and many of the
pilgrims who could not getlodgings in the city itself stayed in the huts and
booths which were erectedon the hills or in the valleys outside, or put up in

some of the quiet villages like Bethany, which were within easyreachof the
capital, and, above all, of the Temple. Simon had either not been in the city
the night before, and so had not heard of the arrest and trial of the prophet
from Nazareth, which had causedsuch excitement amongstthose there, or
else, if he did know of it, he caredso little about it that he was not in the
slightesthurry to getback to Jerusalemand hear the news. He was walking
quietly and leisurely towards the town, ignorant of, or utterly uninterested in,
the tragic events which were happening there, knowing nothing of the
Nazarene, and not troubling himself about His guilt or His innocence, when
his attention was arrestedby the approachof a strange procession. He had no
doubt seenexecutions before, but there was something about this procession
which roused his curiosity. The soldiers marching by the side of the
malefactors, who bore their crosses fastenedto their shoulders, the rabble
who followedafter, were no strange sights to a man from a big and busy town
like Cyrene; but Simon had never before seenscribes and priests and doctors
of the law demeaning themselves to join the riff-raff, who were always ready
for a day’s enjoyment of this sort. He had never before heard criminals
followedby such fierce shouts of “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify
him! Crucify him!” He had never before seena long string of womenbringing
up the rear of such a dead march, and giving wayto their grief in bitter
weeping and loud lamentations.
Just as the crowdcomes close to him there is a sudden pause. One of the
prisoners falls beneath the weightof His cross, and Simon comes near to look
at Him. The officer, seeing that it is useless to force the fallen King of the Jews
to carry His load farther, casts his eye on the stranger, and struck, perhaps,
by his stalwartappearance, andseeing doubtless that he was but a common
man, orders the soldiers to seize him, and to bind the cross ofthe Nazarene on
his shoulders.
And so Simon meets with Jesus. Was it chance? Do we say, “What a singular
providence that this strangershould have arrived just at the nick of time to

meet the procession, and to take so prominent and unpremeditated a part in
it?” It was the same wonderful coincidence that the funeral processionatNain
should be passing through the gate at the very moment when Jesus and His
disciples were entering in. How often do events, upon which the whole course
of our natural and of our spiritual life turns, seemto hang upon trifles! The
Providence of God arranges not only the great, but also the small, occurrences
of human life and destiny.
If Simon had started from the little village where he lived five minutes earlier
or later, if he had walkeda little fasteror slower, if he had happened to be
lodging on the other side of Jerusalem, or if the whim had taken him to go in
at another gate, or if the centurion’s eye had not chancedto alight on him in
the crowd, or if the centurion’s fancy had pickedout somebodyelse to carry
the cross, thenall his life would have been different. And so it is always. You
go down one turning rather than another, and your whole careeris coloured
thereby. You miss a train and you escape death. Our lives are like the Cornish
rocking stones, pivoted on little points. The most apparently insignificant
things have a strange knack of suddenly developing unexpected consequences,
and turning out to be, not small things at all, but greatand decisive and
fruitful.
Let us look with ever fresh wonder on this marvellous contexture of human
life, and on Him that moulds it all to His own perfect purposes. Let us bring
the highestand largestprinciples to bear on the smallestevents and
circumstances, forwe can never tell which of these is going to turn out a
revolutionary and formative influence in our life. And if the highest Christian
principle is not brought to bear upon the trifles, it will never be brought to
bear upon the mighty things. The most part of every life is made up of trifles,
and unless these are ruled by the highest motives, life, which is divided into
grains like the sand, will have gone by, while we are preparing for the big
events which we think worthy of being regulatedby lofty principles. Look
after the trifles, for the law of life is like that which is laid down by the

Psalmistabout the Kingdom of Jesus Christ: “There shallbe a handful of
corn in the earth,” a little seedsownin an apparently ungenial place “on the
top of the mountains.” Yes! but what will come of it? “The fruit thereof shall
shake like Lebanon.” The greatharvest of benediction or of curse, of joy or of
sorrow, will come from the minute seeds that are sownin the greattrifles of
our daily life.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
2. Compelledto bear the Cross.—“Theycompelone Simon to go with them
that he might bear his cross.”The question at once presents itself, By what
right, from what cause, did they seize on this stray traveller and force him
into the degrading position of bearing this shameful cross? Forlet it be
remembered that then it was a shameful cross. Whatis now our ornament
and pride, the symbol of all that is worthiestin man and divinest in God, was
then the badge of shame and lowestdegradation. So that it was an outrage
and an insult of the very last degree that was inflicted on Simon the Cyrenian
when they compelled him to bear the cross of Jesus Christ. The vilest of that
howling Jewishmob would have shrunk from touching it, it would have been
pollution; while the lowestRoman soldierwould have regarded“bearing a
cross” as anunspeakable degradation. Thenhow came they, how dared they,
inflict this insult on Simon the Cyrenian? Was it the swarthy hue, the dusky
complexion, the slave mark on skin or dress, which singled him out as one
who might be safelywronged? This seems to be the most probable opinion, for
Simon was a Cyrenian, that is, a native of North Africa, and though we may
not, perhaps, say positively he was a “man of colour,” yet there might be
enough to mark him out the slave. Was it for that reasonthey dared to inflict
on him this wanton insult, and compelledhim to bear the cross ofthe doomed
Nazarene?
When Cyrus, the Persianking, conqueredPalestine, he introduced into it
severalof the customs of his own country. One of the most remarkable of
these was what might be calledthe postalservice, which forwardedthe
messages ofthe government to all parts of the land. It was calledthe

Angareion, from a Tartar word which means compulsory work without pay.
Herodotus gives an interesting accountof this custom; from which we learn
that, in order to transmit messageswith the utmost possible speed, relays of
men and horses were keptready at intervals along the principal roads, which
handed on the despatches from one to anotherwithout pause or interruption,
whatevermight be the inclemencyof the weather, and by night as wellas by
day. Such mounted couriers were further empoweredto press into the service,
should it be found necessary, additionalmen and horses, evenif they had to
leave their own work in the field for the purpose; and boats, if they had to
cross a river or an arm of the sea. It can easilybe imagined that such a system
could be used by a government as an engine of oppression;and the people
who were compelledto render this gratuitous service, oftenat very
inconvenient times, and at greatrisk and loss to themselves, would doubtless
feel very keenlythe injustice of it. In Palestine it was greatly disliked, for,
besides its own inherent evils, it had the additional one of being a foreign
custom imposed upon a conquered people. The Tartarword for this
disagreeable labour, having been introduced into the language of the Jews,
came to be identified by them with every oppressive service. Our Lord used
this peculiar word when He laid down the duty of self-denial and goodwill,
even towards those who act oppressivelytowards us. “And whosoevershall
compel thee”—as the mounted courier compels the farmers and labourers
along the way to help him in forwarding the despatches ofthe government—
“whosoevershallcompel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” And here in
the text the word which is employed to denote the action of the Roman
soldiers in compelling Simon the Cyrenian to carry the cross of Christ for
Him, is the same word as was borrowedfrom the old postal service of Persia.
The Romans, who too readily made their own any instrument of oppression
which they found among foreign nations, were familiar with the word, which
crept into their own language, and with it the custom which it represented. No
more appropriate word could have been used. It is a most picturesque, and at
the same time gives a most touching pathos to the occasion. It links this single
act of tyranny with the whole gigantic system. The world has been familiar
with forcedlabour from the earliestdays. As far back as we cango in the
sorrowfulhistory of our race, we find the stronger tribes making slaves and
beasts of burden of the weaker, andof those whom they conquered in war.

The brick-making of the Israelites, under the intolerable cruelty of which they
groanedand died, was not by any means the first oppressionin Egypt. Ages
before that, we find proofs of the recklessdisregardofhuman life shown by
the Pharaohs, compelling thousands, without wagesoreven food, to construct
for them those enormous monuments, the ruins of which excite the
astonishment of every traveller. Nor canany modern race lift up a stone
againstthose ancient oppressors;for there is no nation that has not been
guilty of similar practices. Our own country cannotplead guiltless to the
charge. It brought upon America and upon the WestIndies the curse of
slavery, which could be removed only by a tremendous sacrifice ofblood and
treasure. Within the memory of this generationmen have been carriedaway
from their homes and pursuits, and forcedinto the naval service of our
country by the ruthless press-gang. As the cross of Christ representedthe sins
of the whole world laid upon the Redeemer, it may be said, therefore, that that
cross, laid upon the unwilling shoulders of Simon the Cyrenian, represented
all the oppressive burdens which man has laid upon his fellow-men. It was the
Angareion of the world.1 [Note:Hugh Macmillan.]
3. We can imagine the feelings of shame and indignation and bitterness which
must have filled Simon’s heart. To have come all the way from Cyrene to
worship in the Temple of his fathers, to refresh his faith by taking part in the
greatfeast, to see the sights of which he might tell to his wife and children at
home, to meet the friends whom he had not seenfor years, and then to have
come through such a bitter, degrading experience!How could he go into the
city now without feeling that every one was looking at him and saying,
“There’s the poor wretchwho carried the cross ofthe Nazarene?”How could
he go home with nothing to tell but this story of how he had been insulted and
degradedand shamefully treated? Such a thing could hardly have happened
to him even in Cyrene, where the Jews hadfull Roman rights; and yet in
Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King which he had
so passionatelylongedto see, he had been treatedlike a criminal and an
outcast, and branded before a crowdof fellow-countrymen with the mark of
shame—the curse of the cross. If, as he read in his Bible, he was cursed of God
who hung upon a tree—was nothe too cursed upon whose shoulders the tree

hung? Had the soldiers branded him with a red-hot iron, as runaway slaves
were treated, he could hardly have felt a deeper sense ofdegradationin man’s
sight, and in God’s as well.
And yet for Simon we have no pity, we have only congratulation, almostenvy.
He who shared for a few minutes Christ’s cross and its dishonour, has now an
honoured name in the Church and throughout the world. His dishonour has
changedinto an honour which many a saint might covet. For these
myrmidons of the Roman government who knew not what they did, we have
much compassionevento-day, for be they what they may, in whatsoever
world, suppose them to be forgiven and redeemedin answerto the Saviour’s
prayer, yet they must pass for ever, as long as thought and memory last, as
those who laid a sacrilegioushand upon the Saviour of the world, who spat in
His face, and struck Him on the head, and bowedtheir knees to mock the Son
of God!1 [Note:R. F. Horton.]
4. Simon had to be compelledto take up this burden for Jesus. We might have
wished this had not been necessary. We should have liked it to be at leastone
bright human touch in the otherwise dark picture of our Saviour’s passion
had Simon been so moved with pity, as he passedby, at the sight of Him
struggling along under His heavy cross, that he had freely offered to bear it
for Him. When we think of the Man of Sorrows on His dolorous way, of the
brutal soldiery, with the ruthless mob hurrying Him to His awful death, and
then of what He had been, and of all the goodHe had done—how He had
borne the sins and sorrows of others, and lightened every man’s burden but
His own, it seems incredible that there should have been no one to befriend
Him in His day of sorestneed, no one to spare Him a single indignity, no one
to bear His cross forHim, even for a little, but this Simon who had to be
compelled.

Where was that other Simon? Had he not said, “I will go with thee both into
prison and to death”? This man’s name was Simon. What a silent and yet
strong rebuke this must have been to him. “Simon, son of Jonas, lovestthou
me?” Another Simon took thy place at the last hour! Where was the beloved
disciple? Where were they all? Holy women were gathering round, but where
were the men? Sometimes the Lord’s servants are backwardwhere they are
expectedto be forward, and He finds others to take their place. If this has ever
happened to us it ought gently to rebuke us as long as we live. We learn this
lessonfrom the Cyrenian. Keep your place, and let not another Simon occupy
it. It is said of Judas, “his bishopric shall another take,” but a true disciple
will retain his ownoffice.1 [Note:C. H. Spurgeon.]
II
Christ the Sin-bearer
i. The Way of the Cross
1. “Jesus wentout, bearing the cross for himself” (John 19:17). One special
indignity connectedwith the punishment of crucifixion was that the
condemned man had to carry on his back through the streets the cross upon
which he was about to suffer. In pictures the cross ofJesus is generally
representedas a lofty structure, such as a number of men would have been
needed to carry; but the reality was something totally different. A soldier was
able to reachup to the lips of Christ on the cross with a sponge on a reed. It
was not much above the height of a man, and there was just enough woodto
support the body. But the weightwas considerable, and to carry it on the back
which had been torn with scourging must have been excessively painful.
Another source of intense pain was the crownof thorns, if, indeed, He still
wore it. We are told that before the processionsetout towards Golgotha the

robes of mockery were takenoff and His own garments put on; but it is not
said that the crown of thorns was removed. Mostcruel of all, however, was the
shame. There was a kind of savageirony in making the man carry the
implement on which he was to suffer; and, in point of fact, throughout
classicalliterature this mode of punishment is a constanttheme of savage
banter and derision.
2. There is evidence that the imagination of Jesus had occupieditself specially
beforehand with this portion of His sufferings. Long before the end He had
predicted the kind of death He should die; but even before these predictions
had commencedHe had described the sacrifices whichwould have to be made
by those who became His disciples as cross-bearing—asif this were the last
extreme of suffering and indignity. Did He so callit simply because His
knowledge ofthe world informed Him of this as one of the greatestindignities
of human life? Or was it the foreknowledgethatHe Himself was to be one day
in this position that colouredHis language? We canhardly doubt that the
latter was the case.And now the hour on which His imagination had dwelt
was come, and in weaknessand helplessnessHe had to bear the cross in the
sight of thousands who regardedHim with scorn.
To a noble spirit there is no trial more severe than shame—to be the objectof
cruel mirth and insolent triumph. Jesus had the lofty and refined self-
consciousnessofone who never once had needed to cringe or stoop. He loved
and honoured men too much not to wish to be loved and honoured by them;
He had enjoyed days of unbounded popularity, but now His soul was filled
with reproachto the uttermost; and He could have appropriated the words of
the Psalm, “I am a worm and no man; a reproachof men and despised of the
people.” The reproach of Christ is all turned into glory now; and it is very
difficult to realise how abjectthe reality was. Nothing perhaps brings this out
so well as the fact that two robbers were sent awayto be executedwith Him.
This has been regardedas a specialinsult offered to the Jews by Pilate, who
wished to show how contemptuously he could treat One whom he affectedto

believe their king. But more likely it is an indication of how little more Christ
was to the Romanofficials than any one of the prisoners whom they put
through their hands day by day.1 [Note: J. Stalker.]And so Jesus, in company
with the two robbers, issued from the gates ofthe palace and passedalong the
Via Dolorosa.
The traditional scene ofChrist’s death, over which the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre is built, is inside the present walls, but it seems to have been
ascertainedthat the present Church is beyond the secondofthe ancient walls.
The whole question is still sub judice. It is quite uncertain outside which gate
of the city the executiontook place. The name Calvary, or Golgotha, possibly
indicates that the spotwas a skull-like knoll; but there is no reasonto think
that it was a hill of the size supposedby designating it Mount Calvary. Indeed,
there is no hill near any gate corresponding to the image in the popular
imagination. In modern Jerusalemthere is a streetpointed out as the veritable
Via Dolorosaalong which the processionpassed;but this also is more than
doubtful. Like ancient Rome, ancientJerusalemis buried beneath the rubbish
of centuries. From the scene ofthe trial to the supposedsite of the execution is
nearly a mile. And it is quite possible that Jesus may have had to travel as far
or farther, while an ever-increasing multitude of spectators gatheredround
the advancing procession.1[Note:J. Stalker.]
ii. The Suffering Saviour
When we speak of“the Cross” we do not mean only the cross which Christ
bore to Calvary and on which He suffered; we mean the very sufferings of
Christ Himself. But do we really think of what we mean when we speak ofthe
sufferings of Christ, the Sin-bearer of the world? Christ, we know, voluntarily
took His cross. He gave Himself for us. He laid down His life for us. Even
when the weightof the cross was takenfrom Him for those few moments,
while Simon bore it, He was most really bearing it. His soul was wounded; His

spirit was crucified. He lays down the cross whichmay be seen, the instrument
of torture, at the bidding, of others, that He may the more truly bear the
inward cross.
Very reverently, and with few words, one would touch upon the physical
weakness ofthe Master. Still, it does not do us any harm to try to realise how
very marked was the collapse ofHis physical nature, and to remember that
that collapse was notentirely owing to the pressure upon Him of the mere fact
of physical death; and that it was still less a failure of His will, or like the
abjectcowardice ofsome criminals who have had to be draggedto the
scaffold, and helped up its steps;but that the reasonwhy His flesh failed was
very largely because there was laid upon Him the mysterious burden of the
world’s sin. Christ’s demeanour in the actof death, in such singular contrast
to the calm heroism and strength of hundreds who have drawn all their
heroism and strength from Him, suggests to us that, looking upon His
sufferings, we look upon something the significance ofwhich does not lie on
the surface, and the extreme pressure of which is to be accountedfor by that
blessedand yet solemn truth of prophecy and Gospelalike—“TheLord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
iii. Christ’s Cross and Ours
1. We are wont to speak of trouble of any kind as a cross;and doubtless any
kind of trouble may be borne bravely in the name of Christ. But, properly
speaking, the cross of Christ is what is borne in the actof confessing Him or
for the sake ofHis work. When any one makes a stand for principle because
he is a Christian, and takes the consequencesin the shape of scornor loss, this
is the cross ofChrist. The pain you may feelin speaking to another in Christ’s
name, the sacrifice of comfort or time you may make in engaging in Christian
work, the self-denial you exercise in giving of your means that the cause of
Christ may spread at home or abroad, the reproachyou may have to bear by

identifying yourself with militant causes orwith despised persons, becauseyou
believe they are on Christ’s side—in such conduct lies the cross ofChrist. It
involves trouble, discomfort, and sacrifice. One may fret under it, as Simon
did; one may sink under it, as Jesus did Himself; it is ugly, painful, shameful
often; but no disciple is without it. Our Mastersaid, “He that takethnot his
cross and followethafter me is not worthy of me.”
2. “There are three things,” says Vaughan,1 [Note:Sermons, xv. 149.]“which
make a ‘cross’—shame,and suffering, and self-mortification.”
(1) Shame.—“Bearing the cross afterJesus” frequently entails
misunderstanding, coldness, suspicion, disgrace.To do it is a real pain; and
there must be such a victory over self that selfis nowhere. No one knows,—
but those who have to do it,—what a martyrdom that is to a sensitive mind.
No physical pain is greater, and no act of heroism is more honourable. It
needs the compulsion of a strong, irresistible motive; of a conscience
quickened and kindled by the love of God. That is a “cross,”—ignominyborne
for Christ’s sake.
(2) Suffering.—It is the part of every Christian to “know the fellowship of
Christ’s sufferings.” To bear the pain of the Cross of Christ would be a great
thing; but to rise above the pain to the joy that is in it, and to turn the
suffering to happiness, and the shame to glory, and the death of the natural
feeling into the very deliciousness ofthe higher life,—that is far greater!Such
was Christ’s obedience, and such His love! And this is the true and the grand
view of every “cross.”
(3) Self-Mortification.—The effortto keepall things in their place involves a
mortified life. To stop short of indulgence, to drive awaysomething that we
are afraid is beginning to enslave us till we have taught it its proper place and

admit it again later into our life as a useful servant; to stand amidst the vast
multitude of God’s creatures with which the earth teems—persons, places,
things, sorrows, joys, pleasures, andpains—a free man, enslavedby none but
using all fearlessly;neither held back by fear nor attractedby mere pleasure,
but using and accepting orrejecting eachas it comes, in so far as it leads the
soul Godward—this is indeed liberty; but such liberty canbe purchasedonly
by mortification.
A successfulbusiness man kept above his desk the motto, “Do the hard thing
first,” knowing, as every sincere personknows, that we are apt to shirk,
procrastinate, and delay the most vital issues oflife. Now, the Christian must
do the “hard thing first.” The way of life, the path leading to eternal day, is
difficult, thorny, and rugged. The Christian way is the “wayof the Cross,”the
righteous path is toilsome and weary, but we have the joy of knowing that
All this toil shall make us
Some day all His own,
And the end of sorrrow
Shall be nearHis throne.1 [Note:J. H. Renshaw.]
3. But we must be very careful that our cross is not a self-imposed one. It must
not be our cross, but Christ’s cross. Theycompelled Simon to bear Christ’s
cross. It was no willing choice. Indeed, a self-chosencrossis very seldom the
right one for us to carry. And it is just here we touch the true reasonofso
much religious failure. We make our own crossesinsteadof simply carrying

Christ’s; we strive to do religious work instead of doing our own work
religiously. Yet is it not clearthat if Simon had cut down all the trees in
Gethsemane and all the cedars of Lebanon, he would but have made for
himself a heavier burden, and would have been no true helper of Jesus
Christ?
We may remember that sometimes the cross, whichwe are not compelled to
bear, may be put down. Asceticism, pure and simple, is a sin. It is the shadow
of suicide. There is no merit in bearing a cross, so faras the mere bearing is
concerned. There is no merit in the cross itself. Many speak as if there were
some moral worth in being distressedand hampered in the world. There is
none. Bodily health is not merely a boon to be striven for, it is in some sense a
virtue. Few of us are so well as we ought to be. The laws and precautions for
the preservationof health are often very simple and plain, but the observance
of them is tedious and troublesome. We might choose thatlittle cross, if you
like to call it so, of care and simplicity and regularity in living from love to our
Father, that we may have longer time to live and do His work on earth. There
are those who bear the cross of ill-health who were not really compelledto do
it; the matter was in their own hands. There is not a burden or a trouble in
this world, viewedsimply in itself, and apart from its associations andwhat it
leads to, which we are not justified in laying down if we can; or, rather, which
it is not a positive duty to lay down if we Song of Solomon1 [Note:T.
Gasquoine.]
We shall find our cross;none of us, it is certain, will be excused. Christ had to
bear His cross;so must we. “He that taketh not up his cross and followeth
after me, is not worthy of me.” But mark, that cross whichwe make our own
is, in reality, Christ’s cross, the one He gives us. “Take my yoke upon you.”
Simon did not choose his own. We have no right to manufacture and carry
crossesofour ownselection. Simon was turned back, converted. He was
travelling his own self-chosenroadonce;after he met Jesus he must needs
tread in the Saviour’s steps. It is all symbolical. We cannot serve Christ, bear

His cross, withoutconversion. We need to be changed, to take up His cross
instead of our own. There is more in this than we think. What makes so many
formal, unreal, unhappy Christians, but the failure to appreciate this truth?
For instance, what goodwill the Lenten seasondo to any person if it be to him
merely a seasonofselfish self-denial, of selfish cross-bearing?Suppose a man
leaves off smoking, or taking alcoholic drink, or novel-reading, or suppose he
makes a practice of not going to any place of amusement, or of getting up an
hour earlier during Lent, that is a cross-bearing,no doubt, for him, in a
sense—a usefuldiscipline in certain cases. Indeed, it is to be wished that more
might follow it; only remember, it must touch the spiritual life—it must help,
not hinder, it. It must not be pharisaical, pretentious; for if it be, Christ has
not ordered it. He does not like it in the least. So, too, with sin. How frequently
we read amiss our soul’s state, and fondly imagine there is nothing much the
matter with us; that our faith, our works, are quite sound, when in reality
there is some secretbesetting root of evil eating the very life out of us, and
drying up completely the springs of earnestness andlove. What is needed is
Divine advice and succour, a discipline and treatment not our own, but
Christ’s. This is the central truth of Jesus’dealing with Simon. The cross we
try to lift must be pointed out, given to us, along with the strength to bear it,
by our Lord Himself, not selected, shapedby ourselves. It will be, then,
A hidden cross fordaily wear
Along a common road.
Let that be the spirit of our life, and the Christ-Cross we carry shall verily
“purify our conscience fromdead works, and cleanse us from all sin.”1 [Note:
G. T. Shettle.]
The bonds that press and fetter,

That chafe the soul and fret her,
What man can know them better,
O brother men, than I?
And yet, my burden bearing,
The five wounds ever wearing,—
I too in my despairing
Have seenHim as I say;—
Gross darkness allaround Him
Enwrapt Him and enwound Him,—
O late at night I found Him
And lost Him in the day!

Yet bolder grown and braver
At sight of one to save her,
My soulno more shall waver,
With wings no longerfurled,—
But cut with one decision
From doubt and men’s derision,
That sweetand vanished vision
Shall follow through the world.1 [Note:F. W. H. Myers, A Vision.]
III
Simon and Christ
i. Bearing the Cross with Jesus

1. St Luke tells us that they “laid on Simon the cross to bear it after Jesus.” It
seems from St Luke’s accountthat they did not entirely remove the cross from
the shoulders of our Lord, but so arrangedits parts that Simon might “bear it
after Jesus.” And it is extremely possible that they placedthe head of the cross
on Christ’s shoulder, while the foot restedon that of Simon, so that when the
eye of the man travelled along the cross it restedon the form of the suffering
Son of God. The burden was thus borne betweenthe two, but the heaviestend
still restedon the shoulders of Christ. And that is the only bearable wayfor
any man to bear the burden of the cross.2[Note:G. Critchley.]
De Costa3 [Note:Four Witnesses, 415.]offers aninteresting explanation of
Simon’s service. He says that the cross, being ordinarily fastenedto the
shoulders of the condemned, was not likely to have been unloosedby the
soldiers on the way. He is of opinion that Simon was only compelled by them
to lift up the cross, whichwas proving too much for Jesus’physicalstrength,
and to walk behind or beside Him bearing it up.
2. The picture forcefully suggests the vicarious atonementof Christ. Forwhen
we look more closely, whatis the realfact that takes shape? We see a sinful
man—one of ourselves—bearing the cross to Calvary, yet, when arrived there,
once more yielding it up to Christ. So far, but only so far, he can bear that
crushing load; but when the place of death is reached, where man’s sin and
God’s judgment meet and merge together, the human instrument becomes
inadequate; he must resignit to Another, and step back into the posture of a
spectatoronly. In this detail, as in so many minute points in the Passion-
narrative, a suggestionis given of larger truths than appear at first. It seems
to tell us, as if by parable, that the cross did not belong to Jesus by right; for
in truth it did not belong to Him at all, it became His by choice. The cross was
ours; a burden of pain, a righteous badge of shame and guilt allotted as our fit
portion; a penalty that in our clearesthours we know was due for eachof us:
in a word, it was the cross of man. And in Simon we see none other than
man’s symbolic representative, by his presence and his service unconsciously

declaring that there Jesus took on Himself a chastisementnot His own. In that
hour we were healedby His stripes. We are typified in the Cyrenian. In visible
act he did what we must do in thought and feeling, if the infinite virtue of that
death is to avail for us. We too must take up the cross, and in person deliver it
up to Jesus Christ, in the sense that by trust and penitent sympathetic
imagination we realise that it belongs to, and befits, every sinner, that it
stands for the punishment we deserve, and that we should have been
abandoned to endure it, had not that greatlove intervened. Thank God that
Jesus took the cross from Simon on Calvary!1 [Note: H. R. Mackintosh.]
3. Then another and equally real sense holds goodin which we are summoned
to perpetuate Simon’s act. Not merely is the cross the gatewayofthe Christian
life; it is its signature and distinctive mark ever after. Vicarious atonement by
no means implies that we never have anything to bear. Many people think it
does, thereby bringing greatdiscredit on the Gospel;but it is a mistake born
of simple ignorance, forno one canhelp noticing, and feeling the significance
of, the fact that in the New Testamentpracticallyall the allusions to Jesus as
our Pattern are given in direct connectionwith His Passion. BecauseHe
suffered, therefore we suffer with Him. So, again, St. Paul speaks offellowship
in the Lord’s sufferings as that after which he more and more aspired; and in
this mixed world there will be no need to manufacture occasionsof
endurance; they will meet us in plenty, provided only we do not shrink from
them. In eachlife meriting the Christian name there will be found self-denial,
sacrifice, loss,humiliation, that would have been impatiently, or even
indignantly, thrust aside, had Christ not chosenthem, but which are made
welcome, evenif it be falteringly, for His sake. Do we understand what these
things mean? Have we learnt that they are no accidentin the devout life, but
its essence? Is it even now dawning on us that there is a price to pay for
fellowship with Christ? Well, if we are wakening to these vast, but sometimes
forgotten, truths, and if at times the price seems very costly, let us not fail to
recollectwhatit means for Christ that we should pay it. Simon of Cyrene bore
the cross, andthus spared the Lord some pain; let us bear ours as He appoints
it, in the world, and in the redeeming toil of His Kingdom; and that too will
spare Him pain—the pain of seeing others lostwhom we might have helped to

save, and the pain of beholding our so fruitless and barren lives. Nay, rather,
it will fill the cup of joy that was setbefore Him when He Himself endured the
bitter cross, “despising the shame.”
I think of the Cyrenian
Who crossedthe city-gate
When forth the stream was pouring
That bore Thy cruel fate.
I ponder what within him
The thoughts that woke that day,
As his unchosenburden
He bore that unsought way.
Yet, tempted he as we are;
O Lord, was Thy cross mine?

Am I, like Simon, bearing
A burden that is Thine?
Thou must have lookedon Simon;
Turn, Lord, and look on me,
Till I shall see and follow
And bear Thy cross forThee.1 [Note:H. R. Mackintosh.]
ii. The Symbol of Shame turned into Glory
Behold one of life’s divinest transfigurations. When they placedthe end of the
cross upon the shoulders of the slave, they meant to put fresh dishonour on
the Christ. But the cross has grownto be the supreme uplifting powerof all
those of whom that slave was the representative and type. Not only has it
rescuedthe name of Simon the Cyrenian from oblivion but it has done far
more, for it has broken the fetters of the slave well-nigh throughout the world.
When these men made the slave the helper of the Saviour, they unconsciously
proclaimed “liberty to the captive.”

The Christian freedom which Simon found in his degrading bondage, may be
regardedas the earnestand the guarantee that similar Christian freedom will
be enjoyed by all in the dark lands who have been compelled by their fellow-
creatures to carry the cross of toil and shame. The transportation of the slave
to other countries, in a manner as providential as the coming of Simon to
Jerusalem, has often been the means of bringing him within the reach of
Christian influences, so that his bondage has proved to him life from the dead.
In bearing his compulsory cross, he has heard of the Crucified One, and now
knows Jesus ofNazarethas his own Redeemer, and the truth has made him
free indeed. And so it will go on—until there shall be no compulsory labour
under the sun, and every oppressedone shall enjoy the glorious liberty of the
sons of God. Christianity has put its ownhigher meanings and purposes into
the common language ofmen. The wild weeds brought into its garden, under
the culture of grace, displaya beauty and fruitfulness before unknown. The
use of the Angareion, or compulsory service, of the Persians is ennobled in the
service of the Christian religion. Like the other Persianword “paradise,”
which signified originally a park or pleasure-garden, in which wild beasts
were kept and beautiful foreign trees grew, but which our Lord employed to
describe the blessedheavenly world into which the dying thief should be
immediately translated—“To-dayshaltthou be with me in paradise,”—so the
original Persianword for “compel” is transformed by being used in
connectionwith the cross-bearing ofChrist. In this Divine usage it becomes
the vehicle of far higher truth than any which it knew at first, and is divested
of all its former disagreeable associations. Blessedare those who are
compelled to bear the cross of Christ, for in so doing they are bearing the
instrument of their own redemption; and the following of Christ that is at first
enforced, that is done in pain and shame and toil, ends in walking with Him at
liberty, running with enlargementof heart in the way of His commandments.
Do you see that young JewishRabbi flashing along the Damascus Road,
hating the very name of Christ, and loathing the story of His cross? His life is
all laid out, his position is secure, his renown is safe among the generations of
Israel. But there comes one blinding flash, one awful, crushing revelation, that
sweeps awaythe purpose and the dream of Saulfor ever, and Paul stands

upon his feet, the bondsman of Jesus Christ, chained for ever to the cross he
once despised. Henceforth he lives a life “constrained,”“compelled,”but it is
glorious living, and the mighty influence of that man, compelled to bear the
cross ofChrist, will last longerthan the world.1 [Note: G. Critchley.]
Who speakethnow of peace?
Who seekethforrelease?
The Cross is strength, the solemnCross is gain.
The Cross is Jesus’breast,
Here giveth He the rest
That to His best belov’d doth still remain.
How sweetan ended strife!
How sweeta dawning life!
Here will I lie as one who draws his breath
With ease, andhearkenwhat my Saviour saith

Concerning me; the solemn Cross is gain;
Who willeth now to choose?
Who strives to bind or loose?
Sweetlife, sweetdeath, sweettriumph and sweetpain.2 [Note:Dora
Greenwell.]
Bearing Christ’s Cross
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Crucifixion
Mark 15:21-32
E. Johnson
I. THERE MAY BE A BLESSING IN ENFORCED SERVICE.Simon the
Cyrenian is raised into the light of history; perhaps to teachus this. No nobler
honor for the Christian than to reflect, "I have been calledto bear the cross."
And for some to reflect, "I was forcedinto carrying the cross I would have
refused, or left on the ground." So with that other Simon, surnamed Peter.

II. PAIN IS RATHER TO BE STRUGGLED WITH THAN ARTIFICIALLY
SUPPRESSED, We seek anodynes forour troubles. Jesus teachesus to react
againstthem by the force of faith. In the hour of duty we are to seek presence,
not absence, ofmind; to collectour faculties, not to distract them.
III. WHAT IS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE MAY BE MORALLY
IMPOSSIBLE. Christcould have come down from the cross in the former
sense, couldnot in the latter. He presents the ideal of suffering service for us,
and the revelation of God's ways. There may be things which God cannotdo,
in our way of speaking, becausehe knows they are not well to be done. We, at
]cast, cannotsave ourselves at the expense of duty, and must be content to
appear foolishor impotent to many. Suffering and salvationare facts
eternally wedded and at one. - J.
Biblical Illustrator
And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian.
Mark 15:21

Bearing the cross
Charles Stanford, D. D.
I. In going through the history of the fact, our thoughts must glance along
THE LINKS OF THE CONNECTIONBETWEENTHE LAST APPEAL OF
PILATE, "Behold, the Man," AND THE SUBJECT WHICH CLAIMS OUR
ATTENTION NOW.
II. WE PASS FROM THE HISTORIC FACT TO THE CHALLENGE
FOUNDED UPON IT. In view of what is now meant by cross bearing, we ask,
"Who among you is willing to become a cross bearerfor Christ?" The only
cross in prospectnow is a cross forthe soul. Carrying a cross afterChrist
means, for one thing, some kind of suffering for Christ. View the cross
bearing as something practical, in distinction from something only emotional,
and answerthe question, "who is now willing to be a cross bearerfor Christ?"
"Daughters ofJerusalem, weepnot for Me, but weepfor yourselves, and your
children!" On the roadside near an old Hungarian town, greywith the stains
of time and weather, there is a stone image of the greatCross bearer, and
under it is sculptured this inscription in Latin; "Is it nothing to you, all ye that
pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow." "The
thorough woe-begonenessofthat image," remarks an old scholar, "usedto
haunt me long: that old bit of granite — the beau-idealof human sorrow,
weakness,and woe-begoneness. To this day it will come back upon me."
Natural sensibility is not irreligious; but, consideredin itself alone, it is not
religion. With all the pain of bursting heart, and all the leverage ofstraining
strength, Simon, bearing the cross for Christ, is the perpetual type of one who
not only feels for Christ, but who tries to do something. I charge you by the
crownof thorns, that you shrink from no ridicule that comes upon you simply
for Christ's sake. On July 1st, , when John Huss had to die for Christ's sake,
and when, on the wayto the dread spot, the priests put upon his head a large
paper cap, painted with grotesque figures of devils, and inscribed with the
word, "Hoeresiarcha!" he said, "Our Lord wore a crownof thorns for me;
why should not I wearthis for Him?" I charge you by the truth that Christ
was not ashamed of you, that you be not ashamedof Christ. In view of the
strength assuredto eachcross bearer, who is willing?

(Charles Stanford, D. D.)
Carrying the cross for Christ
C. H. Spurgeon.
Christ comes forth from Pilate's hall with the cumbrous woodupon His
shoulder, but through wearinessHe travels slowly, and His enemies urgent for
His death, and half afraid, from His emaciatedappearance, thatHe may die
before He reaches the place of execution, allow another to carry His burden.
The tender mercies of the wickedare cruel, they cannot spare Him the agonies
of dying on the cross, they will therefore remit the labour of carrying it. They
place the cross upon Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country. We do not
know what may have been the colourof Simon's face, but it was most likely
black. Simon was an African; he came from Cyrene. Alas poor African, thou
hast been compelledto carry the cross even until now. Hail, ye despised
children of the sun, ye follow first after the King in the march of woe. We are
not sure that Simon was a disciple of Christ; he may have been a friendly
spectator;yet one would think the Jews wouldnaturally selecta disciple if
they could. Coming fresh from the country, not knowing what was going on,
he joined with the mob, and they made him carry the cross. Whethera
disciple then or not, we have every reasonto believe that he became so
afterwards;he was the father, we read, of Alexander and Rufus, two persons
who appear to have been well-knownin the early Church; let us hope that
salvationcame to his house when he was compelledto bear the Saviour's
cross.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Simon helping Jesus
A. Maclaren, D. D.
Little did these people know that they were making this man immortal! Notice
in this connection:

I. THE GREATNESS OF TRIFLES. HadSimon startedfrom the little village
where he lived five minutes earlier or later, had he walkeda little fasteror
slower, had he happened to be lodging on the other side of Jerusalem, had he
gone in at another gate, had the centurion not fixed on him to carry the cross,
all his life would have been different. And so it is always. Our lives are like the
Cornish rocking stones, pivoted on little points.
1. Let us bring the highest and largestprinciples to bear on the smallestevents
and circumstances.
2. Let us repose in quiet confidence on Him in whose hands the whole puzzling
overwhelming mystery lies. To Him "great" and "small" are terms that have
no meaning. He looks upon men's lives, not according to the apparent
magnitude of the deeds with which they are filled, but simply according to the
motives from which, and the purpose towards which, they were done.
II. THE BLESSEDNESS AND HONOUR OF HELPING JESUS CHRIST.
Though He bore Simon's sins in His Own Body on the tree, He needed Simon
to help Him to bear the cross;and He needs us to help Him to spread
throughout the world the blessedconsequencesofthat cross. Forus all there
is granted the honour, and from us all there is required the sacrifice andthe
service of helping the suffering Saviour of men.
III. THE PERPETUALRECOMPENSE AND RECORD OF HUMBLEST
CHRISTIAN WORK. How little Simon thought, when he went back to his
rural lodging that night, that he had written his Name high up on the tablet of
the world's memory, to be legible forever. God never forgets, orallows to be
forgotten, anything done for Him. We may not leave our works on any record
that men canread. What of that, if they are written in letters of light in the
Lamb's Book ofLife, to be read out by Him, before His Father and the holy
angels, in the last greatday. We may not leave any separate traces ofour
service, any more than the little brook that comes down some galleyon the
hillside flows separate from its sisters, with whom it has coalescedin the bed
of the greatriver, or in the rolling, boundless ocean. Whatof that, so long as
the work, in its consequences, shalllast?

IV. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF CONTACT WITHTHE SUFFERING
CHRIST. Only by standing near the cross, and gazing on the Crucified Jesus,
will any of us ever learn the true mystery and miracle of Christ's greatand
loving Being and work. Take your place there behind Him, near His cross;
gazing upon Him till your heart melts, and you, too, learn that He is your
Lord, and Saviour, and God. Look to Him who bears what none can help Him
to carry — the burden of the world's sin; let Him bear yours; yield to Him
your grateful obedience;and then take up your cross daily, and bear the light
burden of self-denying service to Him who has borne the heavy load of sin for
you and all mankind.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The compulsion of Simon
S. Baring Gould, M. A.
The Persianmonarchs had a service of carriers or post, and these were called
angari; they were allowedto seize on any horses and equipages they needed,
to demand entertainment whereverthey came, free of expense and this proved
a greatgrievance. The word passedinto use among the Greeks (ἀγγαρεύειν),
and the Romans exercisedpretty freely the same rights of requisitioning.
When the Baptist said to the soldiers, "Do violence to no man," he doubtless
referred to this system of extorting the use of their horses, their beasts, even
their own work, out of subjectpeople, without payment.
(S. Baring Gould, M. A.)
Simon helping Jesus
S. Baring Gould, M. A.
We are not told as much, but we may conclude that Jesus had fallen under the
weight. He seemedunable to bear the cross any further. Perhaps He had
fainted from the loss of blood and from the long fasting. He sank on the

pavement and could bearthe woodno longer. Something of the sort must
have occurred, or the centurion would not have halted the convoy, and
ordered that the cross should be transferred to another. This was not done out
of compassion, but out of necessity. Jesus couldnot bear it any further;
therefore, in order that the place of execution might be quickly reached,
someone else must be got to carry it. No Romanwould carry the cross. To do
so would dishonour him. The soldiers lookedout for someone, and seizedon
Simon. They were wont thus to requisition men and animals for the service of
the State. Simon was a foreigner, a native of Lybia in Africa, so dark-
complexioned that he went by the name of Niger, or the Black Man. He was
coming into the town, probably laden with the woodfor the fire on which the
Easterlamb was to be burnt, for on this day of the preparation the Jews were
wont to go out of the city and collectthe necessarywood, layit on their
shoulders and bring it home. So now, on the day of the preparation, the Lord
carries on His shoulders the woodfor the new sacrifice, onwhich He, the
Lamb of God, was to have His life consumed. As He goes,He meets Simon
carrying the woodinto Jerusalemfor the typical lamb. The soldiers at once
seize Simon, make him castdown his load, and take on his shoulders the
burden of Christ's cross. He was the first; he, this African, to take up the
cross, and follow Christ; he, the representative of the race of Ham, the most
despisedof all the descendants of Noah, that on which the yoke of bondage
seems everto have pressed. And now, how wonderful, if this our conjecture be
true. The Romans and Greek, representatives ofJaphet;the Jews,
representatives ofShem; and Simon, the representative of Ham, are all united
in one stream, setting forward to Calvary. Each, this day, gives a pledge of
conversion;the centurion, the son of Japhet; the thief, the sonof Israel, of
Shem; and, first of all, the Cyrenian, the descendantof Ham...Simon was
compelled. He was not, at first, willing to take it; if, as we suppose, he was
carrying his bundle of wood, he was constrainedto lay that down. So must we
lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easilybesetus, that we may
follow after Jesus, bearing His reproach. Simon shrank both from the burden
and from the shame, and the natural man shrinks from the cross of Christ,
shrinks from the cross that God lays on us. He compels us to bear the cross;
and though we may wish to escape it at first, yet, if like Simon we submit, and

bear it in a right spirit, it will bring us, as it did Simon, to meeknessand
patience, and a more perfectknowledge ofChrist.
(S. Baring Gould, M. A.)
Shape of the cross
H. M. Luckock, D. D.
The shape of the cross onwhich our Lord suffered has been much debated.
Some ancient Fathers, fancying they found a typical reference in the crossing
of the hands over the head of the scapegoat, andin the peculiar mode in which
Jacobblessedhis grandsons, oftenassumedthat it was in the form of what is
commonly calleda St. Andrew's Cross;others again, seeing in the mystical
mark or Tauset upon the foreheads ofthe righteous in Ezekiel's vision a
foreshadowing ofthe cross, concludedthat it was like that which bears the
name of St. Anthony, in form like a capital T. It is far more probable that it
was what is known familiarly as the Latin Cross. It was prefigured by the
transverse spits which the priest placedin the Pascallamb. Its four arms,
pointing to the four quarters of the globs, symbolized "the breadth, and
length, and depth, and height" of Christ's universal Church. It is a strong
argument in favour of this form that "the inscription" was setabove the head
of the Crucified, which would be impossible in either of the other forms.
(H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
Sharing the cross with Jesus
Bishop JeremyTaylor.
Jesus was pleasedto take man unto His aid, not only to representHis Own
need, and the dolorousness ofHis Passion, but to consignthe duty unto man,
that we must enter into a fellowship of Christ's sufferings, taking up a cross of
martyrdom when God requires us, enduring affronts, being patient under
affliction, loving them that hate us, and being benefactors to our enemies,

abstaining from sensualand intemperate delight, forbidding ourselves lawful
recreations whenwe have an end of the spirit to serve upon the ruins of the
body's strength, mortifying our desires, breaking our own will, not seeking
ourselves, being entirely resignedto God. These are the cross andthe nails,
and the spear and the whip, and all the instruments of a Christian's passion.
(Bishop Jeremy Taylor.)
Simon bearing the cross
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.
A scene for all the ages oftime and all the cycles ofeternity; a cross with Jesus
at the one end of it, and Simon at the other, suggesting the idea to every
troubled soul, that no one need evercarry a whole cross. You have only half a
cross to carry. If you are in poverty, Jesus was poor, and He comes and takes
the other end of the cross. If you are in persecution, Jesus was persecutedtoo.
If you are in any kind of trouble, you have a sympathizing Redeemer. Let this
be a lessonto eachof us. If you find a man in persecution, or in sickness,orin
trouble of any kind, go up to him and say, "My brother, I have come to help
you. You take hold of one end of this cross, andI will take hold of the other
end, and Jesus Christ will come in and take hold of the middle of the cross;
after a while there will be no cross atall."
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
A strange episode
R. Glover., J. Morison, D. D.
Simon was probably a pilgrim to the feast;possibly had not known of the
existence ofJesus Christ before; is not now seeking Him. But Christ crosses
his path; and forcedto yield a detestedservice, Simon learns in the brief
companionship of a few hours enough to lead him to yield to Christ the service
of a life. There is something very characteristicaboutthis story. The Saviour

is perpetually crossing men's paths in life; doing so sometimes painfully with
some awful thought, painful aspect, thwarting some plan, spoiling some
holiday pleasure, or some effort to get gain. And constantlywe see the pain of
first acquaintance, the early resentment againstthe gospelfor spoiling plans
and pleasures, giving way, and changing into lifelong fidelity.
(R. Glover.)So he gotlinked foreverto the Lord!
(J. Morison, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(21) The father of Alexander and Rufus.—The factrecorded here, and not
elsewhere,is one of the most striking instances ofthe independent characterof
St. Mark’s Gospel. It is clearthat it had a specialinterest for himself and the
readers for whom he wrote; what that interestwas we canonly conjecture.
The two names were so common that we cannotarrive at more than a
probable identification, but the mention of a “Rufus chosenin the Lord” as
prominent among the Christians of Rome (Romans 16:13), takentogether
with the evidence which connects St. Mark’s Gospelwith that Church (see
Introduction), tends to the conclusionthat he was one of the two brothers thus
mentioned. But if so, then we are led on to some other facts of no slight
interest. St. Paul speaks ofthe mother of Rufus as being also his mother—i.e.,
endearedto him by many proofs of maternal kindness—andso we are led to
the belief that the wife of Simon of Cyrene must, at some time or other, at
Antioch or Corinth, and afterwards at Rome, have come within the inner
circle of St. Paul’s friends. This, in its turn, connects itselfwith the
prominence given to “men of Cyrene” in St. Luke’s accountof the foundation
of the Gentile Church of Antioch (Acts 11:20). (See Note on Matthew 27:20.)
(21-38)See Notes onMatthew 27:32-51.

MacLaren's Expositions
Mark
THE DEATH WHICH GIVES LIFE
SIMON THE CYRENIAN
Mark 15:21.
How little these soldiers knew that they were making this man immortal!
What a strange fate that is which has befallen chose persons in the Gospel
narrative, who for an instant came into contactwith Jesus Christ. Like ships
passing athwart the white ghostlike splendourof moonlight on the sea, they
gleamsilvery pure for a moment as they cross its broad belt, and then are
swallowedup againin the darkness.
This man Simon, fortuitously, as men say, meeting the little processionat the
gate of the city, for an instant is caughtin the radiance of the light, and stands
out visible for evermore to all the world; and then sinks into the blackness,
and we know no more about him. This brief glimpse tells us very little, and yet
the man and his actand its consequencesmay be worth thinking about.
He was a Cyrenian; that is, he was a Jew by descent, probably born, and
certainly resident, for purposes of commerce, in Cyrene, on the North African
coastofthe Mediterranean. No doubt he had come up to Jerusalemfor the
Passover;and like very many of the strangers who flockedto the Holy City

for the feast, met some difficulty in finding accommodationin the city, and so
was obliged to go to lodge in one of the outlying villages. From this lodging he
is coming in, in the morning, knowing nothing about Christ nor His trial,
knowing nothing of what he is about to meet, and happens to see the
processionas it is passing out of the gate. He is by the centurion impressed to
help the fainting Christ to carry the heavy Cross. He probably thought Jesus a
common criminal, and would resent the task laid upon him by the rough
authority of the officer in command. But he was gradually touched into some
kind of sympathy; drawn closerand closer, as we suppose, as he lookedupon
this dying meekness;and at last, yielded to the soul-conquering powerof
Christ.
Tradition says so, and the reasons forsupposing that it was right may be very
simply stated. The description of him in our text as ‘the father of Alexander
and Rufus’ shows that, by the time when Mark wrote, his two sons were
members of the Christian community, and had attained some eminence in it.
A Rufus is mentioned in the salutations in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, as
being ‘electin the Lord,’ that is to say, ‘eminent,’ and his mother is associated
in the greeting, and commended as having been motherly to Paul as well as to
Rufus. Now, if we remember that Mark’s Gospelwas probably written in
Rome, and for Roman Christians, the conjecture seems a very reasonable one
that the Rufus here was the Rufus of the Epistle to the Romans. If so, it would
seemthat the family had been gatheredinto the fold of the Church, and in all
probability, therefore, the father with them.
Then there is another little morsel of possible evidence which may just be
noticed. We find in the Acts of the Apostles, in the list of the prophets and
teachers in the Church at Antioch, a ‘Simon, who is calledNiger’ {that is,
black, the hot African sun having tanned his countenance, perhaps}, and side
by side with him one ‘Lucius of Cyrene,’from which place we know that
severalof the original brave preachers to the Gentiles in Antioch came. It is
possible that this may be our Simon, and that he who was the last to join the

band of disciples during the Master’s life and learned courage atthe Cross
was among the first to apprehend the world-wide destination of the Gospel,
and to bear it beyond the narrow bounds of his nation.
At all events, I think we may, with something like confidence, believe that his
glimpse of Christ on that morning and his contactwith the suffering Saviour
ended in his acceptanceofHim as his Christ, and in his bearing in a truer
sense the Cross afterHim.
And so I seek now to gather some of the lessons thatseemto me to arise from
this incident.
I. First, the greatness oftrifles.
If Simon had started from the little village where he lodged five minutes
earlier or later, if he had walkeda little faster or slower, if he had happened to
be lodging on the other side of Jerusalem, or if the whim had takenhim to go
in at another gate, or if the centurion’s eye had not chancedto alight on him
in the crowd, or if the centurion’s fancy had pickedout somebody else to
carry the Cross, then all his life would have been different. And so it is always.
You go down one turning rather than another, and your whole careeris
colouredthereby. You miss a train, and you escape death. Our lives are like
the Cornish rocking stones, pivotedon little points. The most apparently
insignificant things have a strange knack ofsuddenly developing unexpected
consequences, andturning out to be, not small things at all, but greatand
decisive and fruitful.
Let us then look with ever fresh wonder on this marvellous contexture of
human life, and on Him that moulds it all to His own perfect purposes. Let us

bring the highest and largestprinciples to bear on the smallestevents and
circumstances, foryou cannever tell which of these is going to turn out a
revolutionary and formative influence in your life. And if the highest
Christian principle is not brought to bear upon the trifles, depend upon it, it
will never be brought to bear upon the mighty things. The most part of every
life is made up of trifles, and unless these are ruled by the highestmotives, life,
which is divided into grains like the sand, will have gone by, while we are
waiting for the greatevents which we think worthy of being regulatedby lofty
principles. ‘Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of
themselves.’
Look after the trifles, for the law of life is like that which is laid down by the
Psalmistabout the Kingdom of Jesus Christ: ‘There shall be a handful of corn
in the earth,’ a little seedsownin an apparently ungenial place ‘on the top of
the mountains.’ Ay! but this will come of it, ‘The fruit thereof shall shake like
Lebanon,’ and the great harvestof benediction or of curse, of joy or of
sorrow, will come from the minute seeds that are sownin the greattrifles of
our daily life.
Let us learn the lesson, too, ofquiet confidence in Him in whose hands the
whole puzzling, overwhelming mystery lies. If a man once begins to think of
how utterly incalculable the consequencesofthe smallestand most
commonplace of his deeds may be, how they may run out into all eternity, and
like divergent lines may enclose a space that becomes largerand wider the
further they travel; if, I say, a man once begins to indulge in thoughts like
these, it is difficult for him to keep himself calm and sane at all, unless he
believes in the greatloving Providence that lies above all, and shapes the
vicissitude and mystery of life. We canleave all in His hands-and if we are
wise we shall do so-to whom greatand small are terms that have no meaning;
and who looks upon men’s lives, not according to the apparent magnitude of
the deeds with which they are filled, but simply according to the motive from
which, and the purpose towards which, these deeds were done.

II. Then, still further, take this other lesson, whichlies very plainly here-the
blessednessand honour of helping Jesus Christ.
If we turn to the story of the Crucifixion, in John’s Gospel, we find that the
narratives of the three other Gospels are, in some points, supplemented by it.
In reference to our Lord’s bearing of the Cross, we are informed by John that
when He left the judgment hall He was carrying it Himself, as was the custom
with criminals under the Roman law. The heavy cross was laidon the
shoulder, at the intersectionof its arms and stem, one of the arms hanging
down in front of the bearer’s body, and the long upright trailing behind.
Apparently our Lord’s physical strength, sorelytried by a night of excitement
and the hearings in the High priest’s palace and before Pilate, as well as by
the scourging, was unequal to the task of carrying, albeit for that short
passage, the heavy weight. And there is a little hint of that sort in the context.
In the verse before my text we read, ‘They led Jesus out to crucify Him,’ and
in the verse after, ‘they bring,’ or bear ‘Him to the place Golgotha,’as if,
when the processionbegan, they led Him, and before it ended they had to
carry Him, His weaknesshaving become suchthat He Himself could not
sustain the weight of His cross orof His own enfeebledlimbs. So, with some
touch of pity in their rude hearts, or more likely with professional impatience
of delay, and eagerto get their task over, the soldiers lay hold of this stranger,
press him into the service and make him carry the heavy upright, which
trailed on the ground behind Jesus. And so they pass on to the place of
execution.
Very reverently, and with few words, one would touch upon the physical
weakness ofthe Master. Still, it does not do us any harm to try to realise how
very marked was the collapse ofHis physical nature, and to remember that
that collapse was notentirely owing to the pressure upon Him of the mere fact

of physical death; and that it was still less a failure of His will, or like the
abjectcowardice ofsome criminals who have had to be draggedto the
scaffold, and helped up its steps;but that the reasonwhy His flesh failed was
very largely because there was laid upon Him the mysterious burden of the
world’s sin. Christ’s demeanour in the actof death, in such singular contrast
to the calm heroism and strength of hundreds who have drawn all their
heroism and strength from Him, suggests to us that, looking upon His
sufferings, we look upon something the significance ofwhich does not lie on
the surface;and the extreme pressure of which is to be accountedfor by that
blessedand yet solemn truth of prophecy and Gospelalike-’The Lord hath
laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’
But, apart from that, which does not enter properly into my present
contemplations, let us remember that though changedin form, very truly and
really in substance, this blessedness andhonour of helping Jesus Christ is
given to us; and is demanded from us, too, if we are His disciples. He is
despisedand setat nought still. He is crucified afreshstill. There are many
men in this day who scoffat Him, mock Him, deny His claims, seek to cast
Him down from His throne, rebel againstHis dominion. It is an easything to
be a disciple, when all the crowd is crying ‘Hosanna!’ It is a much harder
thing to be a disciple when the crowd, or even when the influential cultivated
opinion of a generation, is crying ‘Crucify Him! crucify Him!’ And some of
you Christian men and women have to learn the lessonthat if you are to be
Christians you must be Christ’s companions when His back is at the wall as
well as when men are exalting and honouring Him, that it is your business to
confess Him when men deny Him, to stand by Him when men forsake Him, to
avow Him when the avowalis likely to bring contempt upon you from some
people, and thus, in a very real sense, to bear His Cross after Him. ‘Let us go
forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach’;-the tail end of His
Cross, whichis the lightest! He has borne the heaviestend on His own
shoulders; but we have to ally ourselves with that suffering and despised
Christ if we are to be His disciples.

I do not dwell upon the lessonoftendrawn from this story, as if it taught us to
‘take up our cross daily and follow Him.’ That is another matter, and yet is
closelyconnectedwith that about which I speak;but what I sayis, Christ’s
Cross has to be carriedto-day; and if we have not found out that it has, let us
ask ourselves if we are Christians at all. There will be hostility, alienation, a
comparative coolness,and absence ofa full sense ofsympathy with you, in
many people, if you are a true Christian. You will come in for a share of
contempt from the wise and the cultivated of this generation, as in all
generations. The mud that is thrown after the Masterwill spatter your faces
too, to some extent; and if you are walking with Him you will be, to the extent
of your communion with Him, objects of the aversionwith which many men
regard Him. Stand to your colours. Do not be ashamedof Him in the midst of
a crookedand perverse generation.
And there is yet another wayin which this honour of helping the Lord is given
to us. As in His weaknessHe needed some one to aid Him to bear His Cross, so
in His glory He needs our help to carry out the purposes for which the Cross
was borne. The paradox of a man’s carrying the Cross of Him who carried the
world’s burden is repeatedin another form. He needs nothing, and yet He
needs us. He needs nothing, and yet He needed that ass which was tethered at
‘the place where two ways met,’ in order to ride into Jerusalemupon it. He
does not need man’s help, and yet He does need it, and He asks for it. And
though He bore Simon the Cyrenian’s sins ‘in His own body on the tree,’ He
needed Simon the Cyrenian to help Him to bear the tree, and He needs us to
help Him to spread throughout the world the blessedconsequences ofthat
Cross and bitter Passion. So to us all is granted the honour, and from us all
are required the sacrifice and the service, ofhelping the suffering Saviour.
III. Another of the lessons whichmay very briefly be drawn from this story is
that of the perpetual recompense and recordof the humblest Christian work.

There were different degrees ofcriminality, and different degrees ofsympathy
with Him, if I may use the word, in that crowdthat stoodround the Master.
The criminality varied from the highest degree of violent malignity in the
Scribes and Pharisees, downto the lowestpoint of ignorance, andtherefore all
but entire innocence, on the part of the Roman legionaries,who were merely
the mechanicalinstruments of the order given, and stolidly ‘watchedHim
there,’ with eyes which saw nothing.
On the other hand, there were all grades of service and help and sympathy,
from the vague emotions of the crowdwho beat their breasts, and the pity of
the daughters of Jerusalem, or the kindly-meant help of the soldiers, who
would have moistened the parched lips, to the heroic love of the women at the
Cross, whose ministry was not ended even with His life. But surely the most
blessedshare in that day’s tragedy was reservedfor Simon, whose bearing of
the Cross may have been compulsory at first, but became, ere it was ended,
willing service. But whateverwere the degrees ofrecognitionof Christ’s
character, and of sympathy with the meaning of His sufferings, yet the
smallestand most transient impulse of loving gratitude that went out towards
Him was rewardedthen, and is rewardedfor ever, by blessedresults in the
heart that feels it.
Besides these results, service forChrist is recompensed, as in the instance
before us, by a perpetual memorial. How little Simon knew that ‘wherever in
the whole world this gospelwas preached, there also, this that he had done
should be told for a memorial of him! ‘ How little he understood when he went
back to his rural lodging that night, that he had written his name high up on
the tablet of the world’s memory, to be legible for ever. Why, men have
fretted their whole lives awayto win what this man won, and knew nothing of-
one line in the chronicle of fame.

So we may say, it shall be always, ‘I will never forgetany of their works.’We
may not leave our deeds inscribed in any records that men can read. What of
that, If they are written in letters of light in the ‘Lamb’s Book ofLife,’ to be
read out by Him before His Father and the holy angels, in that last greatday?
We may not leave any separable traces ofour services, anymore than the
little brook that comes down some gulley on the hillside flows separate from
its sisters, with whom it has coalesced, in the bed of the greatriver, or in the
rolling, boundless ocean, Whatof that so long as the work, in its consequences,
shall last? Men that sow some greatprairie broadcastcannotgo into the
harvest-field and say, ‘I sowedthe seedfrom which that earcame, and you the
seedfrom which this one sprang.’But the waving abundance belongs to them
all, and eachmay be sure that his work survives and is glorified there,-’that
he that sowethand he that reapeth may rejoice together.’So a perpetual
remembrance is sure for the smallestChristian service.
IV. The last lessonthat I would draw is, let us learn from this incident the
blessedresults of contactwith the suffering Christ.
Simon the Cyrenian apparently knew nothing about Jesus Christwhen the
Cross was laid on his shoulders. He would be reluctant to undertake the
humiliating task, and would plod along behind Him for a while, sullen and
discontented, but by degrees be touched by more of sympathy, and getcloser
and closerto the Sufferer. And if he stoodby the Cross when it was fixed, and
saw all that transpired there, no wonder if, at last, after more or less
protracted thought and search, he came to understand who He was that he
had helped, and to yield himself to Him wholly.
Yes! dear brethren, Christ’s greatsaying, ‘I, if I be lifted up, will draw all
men unto Me,’ began to be fulfilled when He beganto be lifted up. The
centurion, the thief, this man Simon, by looking on the Cross, learnedthe
Crucified.

And it is the only wayby which any of us will ever learn the true mystery and
miracle of Christ’s greatand loving Being and work. I beseechyou, take your
places there behind Him, near His Cross;gazing upon Him till your hearts
melt, and you, too, learn that He is your Lord, and your Saviour, and your
God. The Cross of Jesus Christ divides men into classesas the Last Day will.
It, too, parts men-’sheep’ to the right hand, ‘goats’to the left. If there was a
penitent, there was an impenitent thief; if there was a convinced centurion,
there were gambling soldiers;if there were hearts touched with compassion,
there were mockers who took His very agonies andflung them in His face as a
refutation of His claims. On the day when that Cross was rearedon Calvary it
beganto be what it has been ever since, and is at this moment to every soul
who hears the Gospel, ‘a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.’
Contactwith the suffering Christ will either bind you to His service, and fill
you with His Spirit, or it will harden your hearts, and make you tenfold more
selfish-that is to say, ‘tenfold more a child of hell’-than you were before you
saw and heard of that divine meekness ofthe suffering Christ. Look to Him, I
beseechyou, who bears what none canhelp Him to carry, the burden of the
world’s sin. Let Him bear yours, and yield to Him your gratefulobedience,
and then take up your cross daily, and bear the light burden of self-denying
service to Him who has borne the heavy load of sin for you and all mankind.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
15:15-21 Christ met death in its greatestterror. It was the death of the vilest
malefactors. Thus the cross and the shame are put together. Godhaving been
dishonoured by the sin of man, Christ made satisfactionby submitting to the
greatestdisgracehuman nature could be loadedwith. It was a cursed death;
thus it was branded by the Jewishlaw, De 21:23. The Roman soldiers mocked
our Lord Jesus as a King; thus in the high priest's hall the servants had
mockedhim as a Prophet and Saviour. Shall a purple or scarletrobe be
matter of pride to a Christian, which was matter of reproach and shame to
Christ? He wore the crownof thorns which we deserved, that we might wear
the crownof glory which he merited. We were by sin liable to everlasting
shame and contempt; to deliver us, our Lord Jesus submitted to shame and

contempt. He was led forth with the workers of iniquity, though he did no sin.
The sufferings of the meek and holy Redeemer, are ever a source of
instruction to the believer, of which, in his best hours, he cannot be weary. Did
Jesus thus suffer, and shall I, a vile sinner, fret or repine? Shall I indulge
anger, or utter reproaches and threats because oftroubles and injuries?
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Worshipped him - Mockedhim with the "appearance"ofhomage. The word
"worship" here denotes only the respectand honor shownto princes and
kings. It does not refer to any "religious" homage.Theyregarded him as
foolishly and madly claiming to be a king - not as claiming to be divine.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
Mr 15:21-37. Crucifixionand Death of the Lord Jesus. ( = Mt 27:32-50;Lu
23:26-46;Joh 19:17-30).
See on [1519]Joh19:17-30.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Ver. 21-37. To make this history complete, all the other evangelists must be
consulted, and comparedwith Mark, who omits many considerable passages
recordedby them; we have done it in our notes on Matthew 27:32-50, See
Poole on "Matthew 27:32", andfollowing verses to Matthew 27:50, to which I
refer the reader, both for the understanding the severalpassages ofthis
relation, and reconciling any small differences betweenthe relations of the
severalevangelists.It is the observationof some, that when in Scripture the
father is made knownby the son, or sons, it signifieth some more eminency in
the sons than in the father. Many think that this Simon was a pagan: though it
be not certain, yet it is not improbable, that this Alexander was the same who
is mentioned Acts 19:33, persecutedthere by the Jews;and Rufus, he whom
Paul saluteth, Romans 16:13, calling him chosenin the Lord. They say they
were both at Rome, where they judge St. Mark was when he wrote this
history, and that Mark mentions them as those who could attest the truth of
this part of the history. The father bare Christ’s cross, (orone end of it), there
is all we read of him. The sons believe on him who died upon it. So free is

Divine grace, fixing where it pleaseth. Concerning the wine mingled with
myrrh, we spake in our notes on Matthew 27:32-50. Some think our Saviour’s
friends gave it him to refreshhim; but it is most probable it was given him to
intoxicate him, that he might be less sensible of the pain he should endure
upon the cross:whatsoeverthey intended, our Saviour refused it, having wine
to uphold him which they knew not of. For other things relating to this story,
see the notes on Matthew 27:32-50.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian,.... See Gill on Matthew 27:32;
who passedby; as they were leading Jesus to be crucified:
coming out of the country; from some country village hard by, according to
the Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions;or out of the field, as the Persic and
Ethiopic: he might have been in the field, about some rural business;or, as
Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, to fetch wood from thence, which was lawful to be
done on a feastday, with some provisos, according to the Jewishcanon, which
runs thus (t);
"they may bring wood out of the field, (i.e. on a feastday, as this was,)of that
which is gatheredtogether, and out of a place that is fenced about, and evenof
that which is scatteredabroad: what is a fencedplace? whateveris near to a
city, the words of R. Judah. R. Jose says, whateverthey go into by a door, and
even within the border of the sabbath.''
And according to the commentators (u), it must be woodthat is gathered
together, and that lies not in an open field, but in a fencedplace, and this near
the city; at leastwith in two thousand cubits, a sabbath day's journey.
The father of Alexander and Rufus; who were men well known when Mark
wrote his Gospel, and very likely men of eminence among Christians: mention
is made of Alexander in Acts 19:33 and of Rufus, in Romans 16:13, which
some have thought the same as here; but whether they are or not, is not
certain: however, they obliged"Simon"
to bear his cross:the cross ofChrist, after him; See Gill on Matthew 27:32.

(t) Misn. Betza, c. 4. sect. 2.((u) Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. Vid. Maimon.
Hilch. Yom Tob, c. 2. sect. 14.
Geneva Study Bible
And they {3} compelone Simon a Cyrenian, who passedby, coming out of the
country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
(3) The rage of the wickedhas no measure;meanwhile, even the weakness of
Christ, who was in pain under the heavy burden of the cross, manifestlyshows
that a lamb is led to be sacrificed.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Mark 15:21. See on Matthew 27:32. Comp. Luke 23:26.
ἵνα σταυρώσουσιν]See the critical remarks. On the future after ἵνα, see
Winer, p. 257 f. [E. T. 360 f.].
Only Mark designates Simon by his sons. Whether Alexander be identical
with the personnamed at Acts 19:33, or with the one at 1 Timothy 1:20, 2
Timothy 2:17, or with neither of these two, is just as much a matter of
uncertainty, as is the possible identity of Rufus with the personmentioned at
Romans 16:13. Mark takes for granted that both of them were known, hence
they doubtless were Christians of mark; comp. Mark 10:46. But how frequent
were these names, and how many of the Christians that were at that time well
known we know nothing of! As to ἀγγαρ., see on Matthew 5:41. The notice
ἐρχόμενονἀπʼ ἀγροῦ, which Luke also, following Mark, gives (but not
Matthew), is one of the traces whichare left in the Synoptical narratives that
the day of the crucifixion was not the first day of the feast(see on John 18:28).
Comp. Bleek, Beitr. p. 137;Ebrard, p. 513. It is not, indeed, specifiedhow far
Simon had come from the country (comp. Mark 16:12) to the city, but there is
no limitation added having reference to the circumstances ofthe festal

Sabbath, so that the quite open and generalnature of the remark, in
connectionwith the other tokens of a work-day (Mark 15:42; Mark 15:46;
Luke 23:56; Matthew 27:59 f.), certainly suggeststo us such a work-day. The
ἀγγαρεύοντες being the Romansoldiers, there is the less room on the basis of
the text for thinking, with Lange, of a popular jest, which had just laid hold of
a Sabbath-breakerwho happened to come up.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Mark 15:21-26. The crucifixion (Matthew 27:32-37, Luke 23:26; Luke 23:33-
38).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
21. they compel] The condemned were usually obliged to carry either the
entire cross, orthe cross-beamsfastenedtogetherlike the letter V, with their
arms bound to the projecting ends. Hence the term furcifers = “cross-bearer.”
“Patibulum ferat per urbem, deinde affigatur cruci.” This had a reference to
our Lord being typified by Isaac bearing the woodof the burnt offering,
Genesis 22:6. But exhausted by all He had undergone, our Lord sank under
the weightlaid upon Him, and the soldiers had not proceededfar from the
city gate, whenthey met a man whom they could “compel” or“impress” into
their service. The original word translated “compel” is a Persianword. At
regular stages throughoutPersia (Hdt. viii. 98;Xen. Cyrop. viii. 6, 17)
mounted couriers were kept ready to carry the royal despatches.Hence the
verb (angariare Vulg.) denotes (1) to despatchas a mounted courier; (2) to
impress, force to do some service. It occurs also in Matthew 5:41, “Whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.”
Simon a Cyrenian] The man thus impressedwas passing by, and coming from
the country (Luke 23:26). His name was Simon, a Hellenistic Jew, ofCyrene,
in northern Africa, the inhabitants of which district had a synagogue at
Jerusalem(Acts 2:10; Acts 6:9).

the father of Alexander and Rufus] St Mark alone adds this. Like
“Bartimæus, the son of Timæus,” these words testify to his originality. From
the waythey are mentioned it is clearthat these two persons must have been
well knownto the early Christians. Rufus has been identified with one of the
same name saluted by St Paul, Romans 16:13.
to bear his cross]The cause ofexecution was generally inscribed on a white
tablet, calledin Latin titulus (“qui causampœnæ indicaret,” Sueton. Calig.
32). It was borne either suspended from the neck, or carried before the
sufferer. The latter was probably the mode adopted in our Lord’s case. And
Simon may have borne both title and Cross. St Mark does not mention our
Lord’s words on the way to the women(Luke 23:28-31).
Bengel's Gnomen
Mark 15:21. Ἐρχόμενον, coming) either in order to be present at the Passover,
or in order to see what would be done to Jesus.—ἀπʼἀγροῦ)Where perhaps
he had his home. Happy man, in that he was not present, and had no part in
the accusation:but in consequence ofthat very facthe was the less agreeable
to the Jews.—Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Ῥούφου,ofAlexander and Rufus) These two, at
the time when Mark wrote, were better known than their father, inasmuch as
he is denominated from them [instead of vice varsâ]: They were distinguished
persons among the disciples (see Romans 16:13 as to Rufas, who also is set
down in that passage as one better knownthan his mother, though Paul seems
to have regarded her as his mother at Jerusalem):which is an evidence
whereby the truth of the whole fact, as it happened, may be perceived.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 21. - And they compel one passing by Simon of Cyrene, coming from
the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might
bear his cross. It seems from St. Matthew (Matthew 27:32) that our Savior
bore his own cross from the palace to the gate of the city. The tablet, with the
inscription afterwards attachedto the cross, wouldbe carried before him; and
a certain number of soldiers would be appointed to go with him to the place of

execution, and to see the sentence carriedout. Having passedout through the
gate of the city, they met one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and
they compel him (ἀγγαρεύουσι);literally, they impress him. The Cyrenians
had a synagogue in Jerusalem(Acts 6:9), and this Simon may probably have
been one of those who had come up to keepthe Passover. He must have been a
Hellenistic Jew, a native of Cyrene, on the north coastof Africa. Alexander
and Rufus, his sons, were no doubt, at the time when St. Mark wrote his
Gospel, well-knowndisciples of our Lord. St. Paul, writing to the Romans
(Romans 16:13), sends a specialsalutationto Rufus, "chosenin the Lord, and
his mother, and mine;" a delicate recognitionby St. Paulof something like
maternal care bestowedupon him by the mother of Rufus. It is probable that
his father Simon, and perhaps his brother Alexander, may have been dead by
this time. Rufus is also honorably mentioned by Polycarp in his Epistle to the
Philippians. There is a tradition, mentioned by Cornelius a Lapide, that Rufus
became a bishop in Spain, and that Alexander suffered martyrdom. To go
with them, that he might bear his cross. St. Luke (Luke 23:26) adds the
touching words, "to bear it after Jesus (φέρειν ὔπισθεν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ)."
Vincent's Word Studies
Compel
Betterimpress, as Rev. See on in margin. Matthew 5:41. Note the accuracyin
designating Simon.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BARCLAY
THE CROSS (Mark 15:21-28)

15:21-28 And they impressed into service a man calledSimon of Cyrene, who
was passing by, on his wayin from the country, the father of Alexander and
Rufus, and they made him carry his Cross. So they brought him to the place
Golgotha, whichmeans the place of a skull. They offeredhim wine mingled
with myrrh, but he would not take it. They crucified him. And they divided
out his garments, throwing dice for them to decide who should take what. It
was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. And the inscription
of the charge againsthim was written on the Cross--"The King of the Jews."
With him they crucified two brigands, one on his right hand and one on his
left.
The routine of crucifixion did not alter. When the cross was prepared the
criminal had himself to carry it to the place of execution. He was placedin the
middle of a hollow square of four soldiers. In front marched a soldier carrying
a board stating the crime of which the prisoner was guilty. The board was
afterwards affixed to the cross. They took not the shortestbut the longestway
to the place of execution. They followedevery possible streetand lane so that
as many as possible should see and take warning. When they reachedthe
place of crucifixion, the cross was laid flat on the ground. The prisoner was
stretchedupon it and his hands nailed to it. The feet were not nailed but only
looselybound. Betweenthe prisoner's legs projecteda ledge of woodcalledthe
saddle, to take his weightwhen the cross was raisedupright--otherwise the
nails would have torn through the flesh of the hands. The cross was then lifted
upright and setin its socket--andthe criminal was left to die. The cross was
not tall. It was shaped like the letter T, and had no top piece at all. Sometimes
prisoners hung for as long as a week, slowlydying of hunger and of thirst,
suffering sometimes to the point of actual madness.
This must have been a grim day for Simon of Cyrene. Palestine was an
occupiedcountry and any man might be impressed into the Roman service for
any task. The sign of impressment was a tap on the shoulder with the flat of a
Roman spear. Simon was from Cyrene in Africa. No doubt he had come from
that far off land for the Passover. No doubt he had scrapedand saved for
many years in order to come. No doubt he was gratifying the ambition of a
lifetime to eat one Passoverin Jerusalem. Thenthis happened to him.

Jesus was helped in carrying the cross

Jesus was helped in carrying the cross

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was helped in carrying the cross

Similar to Jesus was helped in carrying the cross (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was helped in carrying the cross