Wow. That was some two weeks…walking with Jesus through the Stations of the Cross and ending with Easter! I hope yours was a fitting celebration.

If you’re following our Pentateuch Reading Plan, and you’re on schedule, you read through Exodus 20 last week. Now the schedule has us reading Matthew’s gospel. (There aren’t enough chapters in Genesis – Deuteronomy to fill the 260 reading days, so we’ve interspersed some gospels.)

We’ve paused at Exodus 20 because Genesis 1 – Exodus 20 is an important, possibly essential, part of the Story, taking us from Creation to the Flood to dividing the nations at Babel, to choosing Abraham. The Story continues with the chosen people in Egypt, their miraculous deliverance, and the giving of the Law.

Back to our series on Moses. We left him and the Israelites wondering if God was going to do something even though he confirmed the promise. The ten plagues begin in Exodus chapter 7, but I want to skip to the last one since we’ve just gone through Passion Week.

Instructions for the Passover begin in Exodus 11, and in Exodus 12, we have the first reference to “the Passover lamb:”

Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. (Exodus 12.21 – 23, ESV, emphasis mine)

It is no accident that Jesus was crucified on Passover:

The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1.29, ESV)

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5.7, ESV)

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. (Acts 4.27, 28, NIV)

Wow. A long time (not really) meditating on the cross. We left Jesus in the tomb, but he didn’t stay!

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. (Matthew 28.1 – 8, ESV)

It’s Holy Saturday, and Jesus is in a tomb:

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. (Matthew 27.57 – 61, ESV)

A friend of mine just gave me an intriguing book called Descent, which is described as:

Part of a series inspired by key events in the New Testament, this book presents a sequence of over 100 great works of art depicting the moving final scene of Christ’s earthly sojourn – the removal of His body from the Cross.

The art had one thing in common: Jesus was dead.

It’s hard to find a picture of Jesus in the tomb as I have posted below. Most tomb pictures are empty. We want to jump straight to the resurrection. But there was a period of time when Jesus was dead. His followers knew he was dead. No one expected the resurrection. They had no thought of his coming back. It was over.

How would that have felt?

It’s intriguing that his enemies seemed to have a better recollection of Jesus’ words than the disciples!

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. (Matthew 27.62 – 66, ESV)

P.S. This is the last of our 14 Scriptural Stations of the Cross. If you missed any or want to review, the series starts here.

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23.44 – 46, ESV)

We call it “Good Friday,” but it wouldn’t have felt “good” to his followers.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15.3, ESV)

Jesus is about to die, but he takes care of one last item of business:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19.25 – 27, NIV)

How Jesus could continue to think of others, even in a time of unimaginable pain and distress, is worth contemplating. Some in Christian ministry have “given their lives” for the cause but abandoned their families in doing so.

But Jesus had cultivated a relationship with John so much so that John considered himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. (I wrote about this recently.) This relationship made it possible for Jesus to make this request. My friend and Navigator mentor Skip Gray said something like, “Sometimes carrying your cross is costly to other people. This wasn’t John’s cross. It was Jesus’ cross, but John picked up the responsibility to care for Mary, a widow.”

Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That’s worse than refusing to believe in the first place. (1 Timothy 5.8, MSG)

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 923, ESV)

I wrote last year about the movie Once We Were Slaves by Dallas Jenkins, director of The Chosen. It’s about the two thieves, and it’s worth the 26 minutes. Dallas sets it up beautifully. The two thieves are brothers: one is irreligious, given to crime. The other is studying to be a rabbi. When the Romans assault his fiancé, he lashes out at them, and they both end up on death row. Guess which one “will be with Me in Paradise.” The standard title above includes “the good thief.” Watch the movie, and you might not be sure that’s true…

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23.39 – 43, NIV)

Grace. No baptism. No knowledge of “the plan of salvation” or any other theology. No works. Nothing. Alistair Begg captures it beautifully in this 4-minute clip that you have to watch only two and a half minutes of. The angel at the gate of heaven says, “How did you get here?” The answer?

The man on the middle cross said I could come.

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. (Luke 23.33, 34, NIV)

Again, the text is brief: “they crucified him there…” It’s too brutal to write about. You can look it up if you like, but it’s just that kind of horrible sin for which Jesus died a horrible death. Isaiah(!) captures some of it:

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53.1 – 6, ESV)

Jesus’ response? “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Amazing.

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18.21 – 22, NKJV)

I’ve never taught nor meditated on Jesus’ words to the women of Jerusalem. I don’t even remember hearing a sermon on this event, which is recorded only in Luke’s gospel:

And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 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!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23.27 – 31, ESV)

Let’s spread out Jesus’ words: But turning to them Jesus said,

• Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children.
• 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!’
  • Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’
• For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

First, and this is right before Jesus is nailed to the cross, Jesus expresses concern, not for himself, but for them.

And then he predicts tough times:

• “Blessed are the barren…” sounds like what he said to the disciples on the Mount of Olives just a few days before. Jerusalem will be destroyed by the Romans (happened in 70 A.D.), and things will be nasty:

When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21.20 – 24, NIV, emphasis mine)

• “They will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us…'” sounds like Hosea 10.7, 8, a prediction of the Northern Kingdom’s destruction by Assyria.

Samaria’s king will be destroyed, swept away like a twig on the surface of the waters. The high places of wickedness will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!” (Hosea 10.7, 8, NIV)

Jesus seems sad because what his own people are doing to him (remember, it was the Jewish leaders that ordered the crucifixion) is going to result in severe hardship, not only for the perpetrators but also for ordinary women – believers.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. (John 1.10, 11, ESV)

[Jesus lamented, ] “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23.37, NIV)

It’s Palm Sunday, and I’ll mention it because I’m supposed to.

But it’s hard to get excited about it because I think it’s quite likely that some of the crowds of the Triumphal Entry…

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21.9 – 11, ESV)

…were among this crowd:

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27.20 – 23, ESV)

For sure, many, if not most, in the Palm Sunday crowd were erroneously expecting Jesus to lead a charge to overthrow the Romans. The disciples were still expecting that in Acts 1!

So let’s get right back to the Stations of the Cross:

Station 8: Jesus is Helped by Simon of Cyrene to Carry the Cross

And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. (Mark 15.21, ESV)

Simon of Cyrene is mentioned also in Matthew and Luke, but this is all we know. His name doesn’t come up again. BUT, Rufus does:

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. (Romans 16.13, ESV)

It seems likely that Simon became a believer, else how would the gospel writers know his name? And Mark and Paul both mention Rufus, his son. What a story! Here’s Simon, in town, no doubt, for the Passover celebration, gets an up-front participatory seat for the true Passover lamb (more about this after Easter).

At this point in his journey, Jesus, the all-powerful son of God, needs help, and the Romans pull in the first guy they see. In the movie, Ben-Hur, to whom Jesus had shown kindness earlier, is in Jerusalem and tries to help Jesus, but he can’t get close enough because of the crowds. Apparently, none of his disciples are close enough either and most may not even be in the area. So Jesus is helped by a stranger, forced to do it, rather than a friend.

Certainly, Simon and his sons would never have a problem understanding Jesus’ words, recorded later by the gospel writers:

And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9.23, ESV)

It’s the very next sentence after yesterday’s flogging:

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27.31, ESV)

John gives more detail:

They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. (John 19.15 – 17, ESV)

“bearing his own cross…”

How difficult would it be to walk to the place of your own execution? Especially in Jesus’ case where he had already been beaten to a pulp. “I’m not walking there. Just kill me now.” But no. Jesus is told to carry the cross so he carries the cross (until he can’t – more on that tomorrow).

Gary Jansen’s meditation on this station includes this application:

Whatever you’re going through is probably not fair. There is no retreat from life or the chaos that ensues from the sometimes terrible and demeaning actions of others. And while we are asked to surrender to God’s will, there is no surrender in this world until our final moment. – Gary Jansen, Station to Station

“There is no surrender in this world until our final moment” reminds me of something C.S. Lewis wrote in the lesser-known essay “The Sermon and the Lunch.” “There is nowhere this side of heaven where one can safely lay the reins on the horse’s neck.” I may write more about that when it comes up again.

Jesus endures. He perseveres.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. (Hebrews 5.7 – 9, ESV)