“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
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.
Matthew 16:24, Mark 15:21
Questions
When you think about this part of the story, what emotions arise for you?
What is something in your life that someone else has carried with you?
What does it mean to you that Jesus couldn’t carry His burden by Himself?
Meditation
In this image, we see two separate hands holding two separate pieces of wood held together to make the symbol of the cross. In Jesus’ journey to death, overcome with exhaustion from being beaten and forced to carry His own cross, He can no longer carry the burden laid upon Him. A Roman guard pulls a man, Simon from Cyrene, out of the observing crowd and forces him to carry Jesus’ cross up the hill to Golgotha where Jesus will be crucified.
To imagine this moment is overwhelming. Imagine if it was your friend – wrongfully sentenced, brutally flogged, and then on their way to being publicly executed. Imagine as you watch them fall. You then are taken out of the crowd and asked to carry your friend’s execution device and walk alongside them as they head to the end of their life.
It’s too much to imagine… and maybe even understand… and very few of us will ever be asked to be a part of a story like this. Imagine what his children were thinking as their father was pulled from the crowd.
But all of us will walk alongside someone we love to the end of their life. And someone will walk alongside us to our end. And, most likely, it won’t be a dignified journey… because a walk to the end is a path of letting go of everything, especially you doing it by yourself.
We’ve all bumped up against the end of our capacity at some point in our life. Financially, physically, emotionally, psychologically, eschatologically… and, in that moment, we entered into the humbling and exciting reality that a human life cannot be accomplished on its own.
Jesus partook in having someone carry His burden.
Remember we will have our burdens carried. And we will carry someone else’s burdens.
Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, give me strength, that I might walk by Your side.