Who carried Jesus’ cross – Simon from Cyrene, or Jesus himself?

In our Sunday School class on Easter morning yesterday we had several discussions about how accounts between the writers of the Gospels different in several ways. One of them pertained to who actually carried Jesus’ cross to his crucifixion site at Golgotha.

The accounts of who carried Jesus’ cross differ between the first three gospels and the gospel of John. The first three note that a man from Cyrene named Simon was pulled from the crowd to carry Jesus’ cross (Matt. 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26). John’s account is that Jesus carried his own cross (John 19:17)

While this may seem a contradiction, there is a reasonable explanation for this. It was typical for those condemned to die by crucifixion to bear their own crosses to the execution site. However, in Jesus’ case he had just endured a night of scourging, along with not getting any sleep. It is reasonable to presume that this had greatly weakened him, preventing him from carrying the cross. The average weight of these crosses was approximately 200 pounds.

A likely scenario is that Jesus initially was given his own cross to bear, but unable to continue, Simon was pulled from the crowd to do it for Jesus. In the scriptures it does not give a complete, moment-by-moment account of these events, allowing for details seeming insignificant to the authors at the time to be omitted. Note that the accounts do not contradict each other-neither says that the other didn’t happen.

We also know that John 19:25 shows that John was at the cross, but there is no mention of the other disciples. It is possible that John went ahead to Golgotha and did not see all of the events between leaving the Praetorian to Jesus’ arrival at the crucifixion site. Hence, one could deduce that the events witnessed by John vs. the other disciples were different.

If these two accounts seem to contradict each other, that is not the case. All are written from each author’s perspective, but none of them provide evidence that another’s account is errant in any way.

I don’t normally cross-post items authored by others, but I have to share this which I just received a short time ago. This is from Jamie Adams, the mother of six year-old Abbie Adams, who went to be with Jesus late Saturday afternoon after an illness. It shows a mother’s struggle to understand while remaining strong in faith. I think you will be as touched by it as I was.

Time to say so long…

 

Abbie was taken to be with the Lord on Saturday, March 28th. I have to say we don’t know why and we don’t understand. However, Abbie had a light and she did let it shine that is apparent in all the lives she touched through her short 6 years with us. We feel so blessed to have had this precious child for the past 6 years, she was such a beautiful, precious little girl. I feel so fortunate to have been her mother.

 

She will always be a special angel and although it is so hard to let her go, we know she is being cradled by our Savior. The pain in my heart is something I can’t explain, there is a hole that will never be filled. But, we take comfort in knowing that she is in no more pain and she is sitting at the feet of Our Saviour praising him, as she always loved to do. Although it is hard, WE WILL PRAISE HIM IN THIS STORM.

 

We don’t say goodbye to our precious angel, it’s so long for now. I can’t wait for the day when she takes me by the hand and introduces me to the Savior. Every day I live, I’m one day closer.

 

Thank you for all your outpouring of prayers. Although it is hard, we will praise Him in this storm.