Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone
The importance of bearing your cross for Jesus
Thesis: The cross we are to bear is the cross of Christ this is the cross of endurance, for the Glory of God and the furtherance of the Gospel.
Introduction: As Christians and children of God we must carry our own cross in this world. Not crosses of our own making and imaginations but crosses of Love, Godly fear, meekness, temperance, faith, self control, and obedience to God’s word. the thing most important is that many times we hAVE TO COMPELLED to carry this cross. we are stretched out of place by the sins of this world, assaulted by the cares of this world and then find that there is not a friend like Jesus. Jesus said :
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Exposition:
The crowd had their way. Jesus trudged toward the hill of execution, the crossbeam on his shoulder. Roman soldiers accompanying him apparently saw Jesus had become too weak to carry a heavy Roman crossbeam, so they forced a man from the crowd to carry Christ’s cross.
WHEN a criminal was condemned to be crucified, he was taken from the judgment hall and set in the middle of a hollow square of four Roman soldiers. His own cross was then laid upon his shoulders. And he was marched to the place of crucifixion by the longest possible route, while before him marched another soldier bearing a placard with his crime inscribed upon it, so that he might be a terrible warning to anyone else who was contemplating such a crime. That is what they did with Jesus.
He began by carrying his own cross (John 19:17); but under its weight his strength gave out and he could carry it no further.
When Jesus sank beneath the weight of his cross, the Roman centurion in charge looked round for someone to carry it. Out of the country into the city there came Simon from far-off Cyrene, which is modern Tripoli. No doubt he was a Jew who all his life had scraped and saved so that he might be able to eat one Passover at Jerusalem. The flat of the Roman spear touched him on the shoulder and he found himself, suddenly without warning, carrying a criminal’s cross.
Try to imagine the feelings of Simon. He had come to Jerusalem to realize the cherished ambition of a lifetime, and he found himself walking to Calvary carrying a cross. His heart was filled with bitterness towards the Romans and towards this criminal who had involved him in his crime.
The Cross is a Compulsory Cross
26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon
1. Suffering is a cross we are compelled to bear. To some life is a perpetual cross-bearing. It may be a physical cross, or a mental cross, or a spiritual cross, but day by day they must bear it. 2. Death is a cross we are compelled to bear. 3. Every attempt to follow Christ and to bear His cross will be a determined struggle.
This was an unexpected Cross
a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross,
The trials we anticipate in life seldom overtake us, but those we least expect are laid upon us. The cross is often laid upon us at an unexpected time, and in an unexpected place; but there is no escape, it must be borne.
1. Sometimes the cross we bear is self-appointed. It is so with much of the physical pain and social distress we see around us. These afflictions come upon us unexpectedly, but they are often the fruit of our own folly and sin. 2. Sometimes the cross we bear is divinely appointed. If Simon’s cross was unexpected, Christ’s was foreseen. The cross was not a surprise to Christ. If Simon’s cross was compulsory, Christ’s was voluntary.
This was an Honorable Cross
that he might bear it after Jesus.
Had not Simon rendered this brief service to Christ, his name might never have been known; but now it shall be held in everlasting remembrance. The cross ennobles man both for time and eternity; it is an honourable cross.
1. This was a cross borne for Christ. We often hear of Christ bearing the cross for sinners, but here is a sinner bearing the cross for Christ. The value of the cross depends upon the spirit in which we take it up.
2. There is something very beautiful in the thought that the cross borne for Christ is borne with Christ. Whether it be His cross or ours, we share His companionship. (J. T. Woodhouse.)
The memorable thing is, that it is Christ’s cross which must be borne. You are not to think that every cross is the cross which the Saviour requires you to take up. Many a cross is of our own manufacture; our troubles are often but the consequences of our own sins; and we may not dignify these by supposing them the cross which is to distinguish the Christian. Crosses they may be; but they are not the cross which was laid upon Simon, and which had first been borne by Christ. The cross of Christ is endurance for the glory of God and the futherance of the gospel.
We have good reason to believe that Simon was converted because of this encounter with Jesus. Mark identified him as “the father of Alexander and Rufus” (Mark 15:21)
Before Simon met Jesus, he had religion and devotion; but after he met Jesus, he had reality and salvation. He did both a physical and spiritual “about face” that morning, and it transformed his life. God can still use unexpected and difficult situations, even humiliating situations, to bring people to the Saviour.
our comfort is, that the cross which we must carry has been already carried by Christ; and therefore, like the grave which He entered, been stripped of its hatefulness. It might almost be said to have changed its very nature, through being laid on the Son of God; it left behind it its terribleness and oppressiveness. And now it is transferred to the disciple; it is indeed a cross, but a cross which it is a privilege to bear—a cross which God never fails to give strength to bear; a cross which, as leading to a crown, may justly be prized, so that we would not have it off our shoulders until the diadem is on our brow. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ”—and this is a cross—“happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.”