Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, draw us to You. Amen.
Texts: Matthew 27:31–32. Luke 23:27–31
Then when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. … And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts which 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 in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?'”Devotion
He is condemned to die and is led out together with “two other criminals.” “Two other criminals,” the Scripture says, thus calling Him a criminal. So God’s Son is led through the streets of Jerusalem, bearing His cross. What a procession!
Legions of angels would be willing to take the cross from Him, but no man would, and He Himself will and shall carry it. Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice; his father Abraham had laid it on him. But here the Father’s Only-begotten bears not just the tree He shall be offered upon in the fire of God’s wrath, He also bears the unspeakably heavy burden of judgment on His soul. He knows the way He is going. He feels the fire in His conscience. “Murder is driven into all His bones.”
O how terrible sin is, and how serious God’s justice is! God’s Son willingly gives Himself to suffer in the place of sinners. Couldn’t this willingness be enough to take away wrath? Couldn’t the Father then be gracious to His Son without His suffering? No, the punishment must be endured, and the torments of condemnation then still take hold of the Beloved. Death shakes and overcomes the One who is perfectly sinless and whole. Hellfire burns in this freshest, greenest, whole wood. But what a bonfire there will be then, when the hollow, dry, chopped branches are kindled together!
The event with Simon of Cyrene shows how Jesus poured out His soul to death, how His strength had left Him (Isaiah 53:12; Psalm 38:11). Not that Satan could have stopped Him in His work of atonement, nor that anyone either could or would bear the sins of the world for Him and with Him, neither Simon of Cyrene, who had to be forced to bear the cross, nor the thieves who deserved eternal punishment themselves. But we shall see here how completely sin consumes man’s power and how completely Jesus here denies Himself the use of His almighty power, how completely He has given everything for us and how perfectly He thus atoned for us.
Simon of Cyrene had to be forced to bear the cross after Jesus. That I know! However, though at first we bear the cross with the greatest reluctance, we learn later on to bear it willingly. The heavier the cross for the true cross-bearers the lighter it becomes, the longer we bear it the dearer it becomes, until all our trouble and affliction become pure blessedness and everlasting songs of praise.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You that You bore the accursed cross for me, so that I may bear the cross which sanctifies me in communion with Your suffering. O there is still so much in me that does not want to do it. Have mercy on me, teach me to take my cross willingly and gladly, and draw me to You. Amen.
Hymn
Gladly I will lowly bow me
Willingly Thy cross to bear;
Help Thee, if they would allow me
In Thy burden yet to share.
If my eyes pour forth a flood,
I would weep with tears of blood!
Since Thou on the cross must suffer
For my life the price to offer.
Grant me ever to be yearning
Burden of Thy cross to bear,
From Thy perfect patience learning
To be falling from Thee ne’er.
If my sin may bring to me
Greatest pain and misery,
Thou wilt help me in my sighing,
In my need and in my dying.
Kingo: Kommer, I, som vil ledsage L 328:4-5 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Freu dich sehr (ELH 256); alternate hymn: The Head that once was crowned ELH 393:3.6