74: Condemned Made Clean (Luke 23:26-43)

Had a GREAT WEEK at Camp in Benton, TN. We saw 7 students baptized at camp while many, many students responded to the call to be discipled…’I want some of that!’

I’m grateful for TJ carrying the mail and he will take most of today’s teaching.

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Luke 23:26 (NIV)

26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

The Romans grabbed a surprised man from the North African city of Cyrene - a place where Jews had a synagogue mentioned in Acts 6:9 and 13:1 (what is today Libya). So here we see a Jew who has traveled a long distance to celebrate Passover & the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Jerusalem, now being forced to carry the patibulum (the crossbar) for the Lamb of God.

In a very real sense, unlike any others were able to do, Simon carries the cross of Jesus. Remember earlier in 9:23 where Jesus talks about what it takes to be His disciple: ‘deny self, take up your cross, & follow me.’?

Of interest, many scholars believe this man came to be well known as a follower of Jesus whose boys followed Jesus as well. Mark specifically mentions them by name as Simon’s sons—“Alexander and Rufus” (Mark 15:21). Can you imagine this man later realizing that he carried the cross of the condemned, so the condemned could make him clean?

Simon saw every movement and heard every word of Jesus who staggered before him. He likely watched as Jesus was crucified, and later led his family to follow Jesus! We would have likely heard this next conversation as well.

Luke 23:27–31 (NIV)

27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then “ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ 31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

What is Jesus talking about? After reading Luke 21 regarding the destruction of Jerusalem that was coming, there can be little doubt. Jesus warns of Jerusalem’s destruction which will be brought about because Jerusalem did not recognize the time of God’s visitation. They had rejected their Messiah and their Messiah had rejected them. Interestingly, calling for the mountains to fall on them is the same language used in Hosea 10:8 of past judgment on Israel & Rev. 6:12, that could well be imagery for the future destruction of Jerusalem that was coming in A.D. 70.

Revelation 6:16 (NIV)

16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

If they do this while the Presence of God is here in the Messiah ‘tree is green’ - what will they do when the Presence of God is no longer near ‘tree is brown’? What happens to brown trees compared to green trees which are lit on fire? Judgment was coming for those who refuse to submit to the Messiah.

Then Dr. Luke shifts his focus to crucifixion Golgatha, the place of the skull. Listen as TJ shares.

Read Luke 23:26-27. Since Mark’s gospel names Simon and his sons (Mark 15:21), it is likely that they all began to follow Jesus. What is the significance of what Simon was forced to do & how does the imagery echo the command of Jesus in Luke 9:23?

Read Luke 23:28–31 and Luke 21:20–24. What is Jesus talking about? Notice how similar the language is to Revelation 6:12. BIG TRUTH: The King was condemned so the condemned can be CLEANBIG TRUTH: The King was condemned so the condemned can be CLEANBIG TRUTH: The King was condemned so the condemned can be CLEANBIG TRUTH: The King was condemned so the condemned can be CLEAN

BIG TRUTH: The King was condemned so the condemned can be CLEAN