“And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull.”
It is perhaps not as fully appreciated as it might be that when Jesus was led out to crucifixion he was in the very last stages of physical and nervous exhaustion. There are several indications pointing to such a conclusion. And it is by these that an apparent contradiction between the Gospels is harmonized, for whilst John describes Jesus bearing his own cross (with obvious intention of making comparison with Isaac bearing the wood on which he himself was to be the offering), the other evangelists all tell how Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service to carry the cross after Jesus.
Details in Luke and Mark help to make the picture clearer. Luke says that Simon was to bear the cross “after Jesus”, i.e., behind him. The word used by Mark means “lift up” rather than “carry”. Thus it would appear that Jesus was too exhausted physically to take the full burden of the cross, so after a while Simon helped by bearing the hinder end of it. A further detail in Mark might suggest that, even with this help, progress was so slow that after a while the impatient soldiers picked Jesus up bodily and carried him to the place of crucifixion. The word translated “bring” (Mark 15:22) normally means “bear” or “carry”. It may well be that Jesus collapsed altogether, his physical strength completely exhausted. His death on the cross within the remarkably short time of six hours supports the idea, for crucified men were often known to linger alive and wretched for days (see Mark 15:44). However, the conclusion is not certain.
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Author: Harry Whittaker
Keywords: Simon of Cyrene, Golgotha, place of the skull, Calvary
Bible reference(s): Matt. 27:31-33, Mark 15:20-22, Luke 23:26-33, John 19:17
Source: Studies in the Gospels.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.