Easter 2025 wk 4
Notes
Transcript
Bearing the Cross
Bearing the Cross
As we continue our series for Easter, we have seen Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and surrendering to the will of His Father.
In week two we seen Jesus be betrayed by Judas, arrested, and Peter deny Him.
Last week we seen Jesus on trial, but three times Pilate states that Jesus was not guilty.
Last week we ended with Pilate giving into the pressure from the Jewish officials and the crowd to have Jesus crucified.
Pilate releases Barabbas a known thief and murder, but send Jesus who is innocent to be crucified.
This morning we are continuing Jesus’ journey as we see Him bearing His cross.
As we look at our text this morning, we need to think about this cross, and Jesus’ words to His followers in Luke 9:23-25
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
As we look at Bearing the Cross this morning, let us think about what that means, what is it for us as Jesus’ followers to take our cross daily.
Our main text this morning is Luke 23:26-32
26 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.
27 And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.
28 But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’
30 “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’
31 “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.
Pray
Pray
I. The Cross
I. The Cross
26 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.
Jesus has now stood before Pilate and Herod, and both have not found any crime committed by Jesus.
Neither of the Roman leaders felt that Jesus was guilty and deserved crucifixion.
But Pilate not wanting a uproar in his jurisdiction decides to send Jesus to be crucified as the Jewish officials wanted.
Part of being crucified was for the prisoner to carry their own cross, this was humiliating for the prisoner.
We must remember that Jesus had been scourged or beaten severely before having to carry the cross.
When Jesus left Pilate, He was carrying the heavy cross to the execution site.
Must scholars believe that this was the crossbeam of the cross, and not the full cross.
The crossbeam is what it sounds like, the horizontal part of the cross.
The crossbeam is said to have weighted anywhere between 75 and 100 pounds.
Now men we might think oh that is not that heavy, but we must remember that Jesus was severely beaten before having the crossbeam place on Him.
Jesus’ back is ripped to shreds from the beating, He is actively losing blood from the wounds, and His strength is being drained from Him.
He does not get far before He is exhausted, out of strength to continue carrying the cross.
The Roman Soldiers pull a man named Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Jesus.
Thousands of Jews had come to Jerusalem from all over to celebrate the feast of Passover.
Simon was just one of the people in the crowd that was a long that path to the site of the execution.
Simon had traveled roughly 800 miles from Africa to celebrate the Passover.
Now he was being made to carry Jesus’ cross, a humiliating job.
II. The Coming Days
II. The Coming Days
27 And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.
28 But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’
30 “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’
31 “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Public execution drew crowds of spectators, and one involving Jesus would especially attract attention.
Add to this the fact that Jerusalem was crowded with pilgrims, and it is not difficult to believe that a great multitude was following the condemned man to Calvary.
In the crowd was a group of women who openly wept and lamented over the situation.
Jesus appreciated their sympathy and used it to teach them and us an important lesson.
While they were weeping over the injustice of one man’s death, He was looking ahead and grieving over the terrible destruction of the entire nation, a judgment that was wholly justified.
It would be the women and children who would suffer the most.
The nation of Israel was like a green tree during the years when Jesus was on earth.
It was a time of blessing and opportunity, and it should have been a time of fruitfulness.
But the nation rejected Him and became like a dry tree, fit only for the fire.
In condemning Jesus, the Jews had only condemned themselves.
We might paraphrase Jesus’ words in verse 31 as:
If the Roman authorities do this to One who is innocent, what will they do to you who are guilty?
When the day of judgment arrives, can there be any escape for you?
If God has not spared His innocent Son from such tribulation (crucifixion), how much worse will it be for a sinful nation when God unleashes His righteous wrath upon it.
If God did not spare His own innocent Son from the cross, why would we think that He would spare people who will not accept what He has done for them, by sending His Son to the cross.
III. The Other Two
III. The Other Two
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.
This verse is fulfillment of Jesus’ own words in Luke 22:37
37 “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”
In our text we see that two others also, who were criminals, this would better understood as two others who were criminals.
We know that Jesus was not a criminal, He was found not guilty by both Pilate and Herod.
These were not just thieves, as robbery itself was not a capital offense under the Roman law.
These two were probably involved with Barabbas in trying to overthrow the Roman authority.
We also see verse 37 prophesied in Isaiah 53:12
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
Jesus poured out Himself for mankind, freely giving His life for our sins, that we may have forgiveness, salvation and a right relationship with God the Father.
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus could have easily walked away, but He knew the plan, He knew He had to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Even though Jesus was innocent He took on the sins, the guilt of mankind.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus took our sins, so that we do not have to face the consequences of those sins.
12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
Because Jesus freely gave of His life, went to the cross and was crucified, we can have salvation.
Jesus is the only way to receive that salvation.
If you have never received the free gift of salvation then today is the day, as we are not guaranteed tomorrow.
