To Bear His Cross

Roman soldiers led Jesus out from the governor's palace, forcing Him to carry the cross on which He would die. On the way, tradition says, Jesus, weakened by the physical traumas of the preceding hours, collapsed under the burden. Then they [the soldiers] compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross." (Mark 15:21 NKJV)

Why Simon? Why a good country man who had cares enough of his own? He had not come, as many had, to the see the public spectacle of a crucifixion; he was just minding his own business.

Or did the blood and dirt and injustice make him cry out, brining the scornful attention of the soldiers? Did Simon "ask for it"?

They compelled him to take Jesus' cross. Was he afraid? To bear the cross of Christ—what awful judgment might be visited upon him for aiding in Jesus' death! Did Jesus then, through His pain, perhaps smile at him and whisper, "It's all right, Simon. Take the cross. It's not for them you do it. It's for Me!"

And when we face a cross—entering into the dark places of human need, loving and holding up the weak, caring patiently for those who disappoint, enduring the misunderstanding of some we had counted on, giving ourselves cheerfully to a small but wearying task—can we then remember that we bear His cross? This is not our loving or giving; it is His—His cross again, for He still feels the burden of lost, confused people. The Apostle Paul wrote from prison, "I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church." (Colossians 1:24 NLT)

Our self-made crosses cannot redeem; suffering of our own will not bring healing. It is only Jesus' cross that saves. Only His suffering is redemptive. Like Simon, we may be called upon to bear a cross. We too are compelled, but not by a sword. "For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake." (II Corinthians 5:14, 15 AMP)

The hymn lyrics written by Thomas Shepherd ask:

Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone,
And there’s a cross for me.

To let the cross be laid upon us for His sake, to bear His cross with Him and for Him is to help release His redeeming love and power to work in our troubled world.

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved. Scripture marked AMP is taken from The Amplified Bible®, copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation and The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com