Jesus on the road to Golgotha (1)
[Luke 23:26-32]
Luke 23:26 says, “When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.” Look at Mark 15:21-22: “They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.” Here, “Golgotha” (Mt. 27:33; Mk. 15:22; Jn. 19:17) is said to have been about 700 meters from the place where Jesus was judged. The reason why it is called “Place of a Skull” (Mt. 27:33; Mk. 15:22) or “in Hebrew, Golgotha” (Jn. 19:17) is because the place looked like a skull. Because Jesus was sentenced to death at trial, He went to Golgotha to be crucified. Three things happened on Jesus' way to Golgotha: (1) Simon of Cyrene was made to carry the cross for Jesus (Lk. 23:26), (2) When the people and women followed Jesus weeping (v. 27), Jesus turned and spoke to them (vv. 28-31), (3) The other two criminals were also led out with Him to be executed (v. 32).
In today's text, Luke 23:26, “they” refers to the crowd (Roman soldiers) who crucified Jesus. And the phrase “As they led Him (Jesus) away … put the cross on him …” says that it was customary for death row inmates to carry the cross themselves and go to the place of execution at that time (Yoon-sun Park). But Roman soldiers seized Simon of Cyrene and made him to carry the cross instead of Jesus. Here, the meaning of the name “Simon” is “God answers” and at that time, the name “Simon” was good that many people’s name was “Simon”. For example, when looking at the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus, there were “Simon called Peter” and “Simon of Canaan” (Mt 10:2, 4). Since there were many names like this, there was a place name in front of the name “Simon” to distinguish them [Example: “Simon the Zealot” (v. 4). Here, “Zealot” is the name of the person named “Simon”]. In the word “Simon of Cyrene” (Lk. 23:26), “Cyrene” is the name of the region where Simon lived, and this “Cyrene” region was the name of the capital of Libya, a country south of Egypt [(Acts 2:10) “… Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, …”]. Cyrene is a city on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa and refers to present-day Libya’s Tripoli (Park). This Simon of Cyrene had traveled 270-280 km from Libya to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover (which would have taken about a month). However, Luke 23:26 says that the Roman soldiers “seized” Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, it does not say “seized”, but “forced”: (Mt. 27:32) “As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross”; (Mk. 15:21) “A 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.” Simon did not have the heart to carry the cross for Jesus. Although he didn't want to, the Roman soldiers grabbed him and made him to carry the Jesus' cross. So Simon was "forced" to carry Jesus' cross instead. The question raised here is, ‘Was it really helpful for Jesus that Simon carried the cross of Jesus to Golgotha by force?’ Many commentators interpret that Simon was helpful to Jesus because he was forced to carry the cross. And as a result, he and his family received blessings, came to believe in Jesus, and was used by the church. Dr. Yoon-sun Park interprets it a little differently. He says that Simon's forcible carrying of the cross did not help Jesus. The reason is because Jesus is God, so God does not receive help from man. Also, Jesus' labor for the work of atonement can only be done by Himself, and other people are sinners, so they cannot contribute to it. Simon did not help Jesus, but was forced to help those who crucified Jesus.
The Bible doesn't say "forced" to do something. If we are forced to do it, it will be wrong. God wants us to do it cheerfully, gladly, willingly. Look at Exodus 35:21, 29: “and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments … All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.” Also, look at Exodus 36:3, 5: “They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. … and said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.’” When we do the Lord's work, we must do it with a willing heart, not under compulsion. From today, I hope and pray that we will be able to resolve to do the Lord's work with a joyful heart and a willing heart.