26 And when they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon of
Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to
bear it after Jesus.
27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of
women who bewailed and lamented him. 28 But Jesus turning unto
them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are
coming, in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the
wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never gave suck. 30
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to
the hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things in the green
tree, what shall be done in the dry?
32 And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to be
put to death.
33 And when they came unto the place which is called The skull,
there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right
hand and the other on the left. 34 And Jesus said, Father, forgive
them; for they know not what they do. And parting his garments
among them, they cast lots. 35 And the people stood beholding. And
the rulers also scoffed at him, saying, He saved others; let him
save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen. 36 And the
soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar, 37
and saying, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself. 38 And
there was also a superscription over him, THIS IS THE KING OF THE
JEWS.
The Gospel narratives spare us the distressing details of the crucifixion;
this was the most cruel and agonizing form of death; but the facts are
written with surprising delicacy and reserve. As Jesus was being led from
the city a certain Simon of Cyrene was pressed into the service of bearing
his cross. The cause of this action is purely a matter of conjecture. Its
result was to give Simon immortal fame and apparently to secure for him
eternal salvation; for it seems that this experience, and the knowledge of
Christ gained at Calvary, resulted in the conversion of Simon and his
household, Mark 15:21; Rom. 16:13. In a figure, he was the first of that
long line of men and women who have taken up the cross and followed
Christ. Of course this is a mere symbol, and the actual contrasts are
vital. In reality no one can share the burden of the cross which our
Saviour bore. His sufferings, and his alone, made atonement for sin. Then
again no one can be compelled to take up the cross. There are burdens in
life which cannot be evaded but one can refuse the cross. It is a type of
the voluntary suffering endured for the sake of Christ; it is a symbol of
the complete sacrifice of self and the complete submission to his will
which is necessary for all who share in the redeeming benefits of his
death.
Luke alone records the incident of the women who, wailing and lamenting,
followed Jesus out of the city. It is quite fitting that in this Gospel,
in which womanhood is so exalted, a place should be found for this
picture. It is not to be supposed that these were the loyal friends who
had followed Jesus on his journeys and helped to supply his needs; these
were rather residents of Jerusalem whose hearts were bleeding with sorrow
for the loving Prophet who was being led forth to an agonizing death. Our
Lord turned to these women with a message of sympathy and told them that
they were not to weep for him but for themselves and their children. He
was not rebuking them for their compassion; he rather meant to indicate
that while his sufferings were pitiful, their own were more worthy of
tears, for they were to be even more intense. He had in mind the
destruction of the city due to its impenitence and made certain by its
rejection of the Redeemer. Jesus declared that the days would come when
childlessness would be a ground for congratulation because of the
universal distress. He predicted that the horror would be so great that
men would call upon the mountains to fall on them and the hills to cover
them, preferring such forms of death to the torments which threatened from
the armies of Rome. Jesus added a proverb, the force of which is evident
even though its exact application may not be clear: “For if they do these
things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” In other words,
if the sufferings of Christ were so great, what would be the sufferings of
the Jews! If the Romans were putting to death him whom they regarded as
innocent, what would they do to the inhabitants of the rebellious and
hated city? It is quite in accordance with the character of Luke to note
how Jesus, in this very hour of his anguish, thought rather of others than
of himself and pronounced this prophesy, not in resentment, but in
infinite tenderness and pity.
While the actual sufferings of the crucifixion are not described, Luke
tells us of the cruel mockery to which Jesus was subjected. He states that
two malefactors were crucified with Jesus, “one on the right hand and the
other on the left.” This was evidently designed to add to the disgrace and
humiliation of his cruel death. The place of the crucifixion was called
“The skull,” probably because it was a bare, rounded hill located outside
the city gates.
Of the seven words spoken by Jesus on the cross, Luke records three, all
of them characterized by love and trust. The first is found in no other
Gospel. As Jesus tasted the first bitterness of his anguish he was heard
to pray, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” He did not
have in mind simply the soldiers who were involuntary instruments of his
death, but rather the Jews who had not fully recognized the enormity of
their crime. For them Jesus felt no hatred in his heart. He yearned for
their repentance and their salvation. This prayer was a revelation of the
matchless grace and mercy of this ideal Man. Luke adds the details of the
mockery to which the other evangelists likewise refer. The crowds stood
gazing upon the Sufferer but the rulers and the soldiers cruelly mocked
him; the former scoffed at him saying, “He saved others; let him save
himself.” In reality, had he saved himself, he never could have saved
others. He died for the very men who were deriding him, to make possible
their salvation. The soldiers made sport of him by casting lots for his
garments and by offering him drink and hailing him as “King of the Jews.”
This last title had been placed on the cross above the head of Jesus. It
was put there by Pilate in bitter irony. It was his way of taking revenge
upon the rulers who, contrary to his conscience, had compelled him to put
to death an innocent Man. In place of this superscription the eye of faith
sees another, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world!”