#Expanded_Biblical_Comments [ For Today #Manna Verses] Oct 24 And as #they #led_Him_away, they laid hold upon #one_Simon,...and on him they laid #the_cross, that he might #bear_it #after_Jesus. Luke 23:26 #They -- The centurion and soldiers appointed by Pilate. R5221:3 It was customary to have four soldiers attend each prisoner to execution. R2473:5 Pilates soldiers who, heartless and brutal, made sport of the Masters adversities. R2786:5 #Led_him_away -- Not willingly, but by reason of the stress laid on Pilate by the Jewish nation. R5221:3 Along the narrow streets of Jerusalem to the Damascus gates. The entire distance from the castle Antonio to the hill-top called Calvary is about three-fourths of a mile. R3900:2 The narrative seems to imply that Jesus bore his own cross on the way to Calvary, and that he fell beneath its weight. R5221:3, 4171:5 His weakness was not the result of inherited blemish or sin, nor of imperfection, but the result of sacrifice. R4138:2, 1359:4 #One_Simon -- Evidently a strong and rugged countryman, who was passing by. R5222:1 We know nothing respecting Simon, except Mark relates that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus, giving the suggestion that these two sons may subsequently have become followers of Jesus, and well-known amongst the disciples. R2473:2 Tradition declares that he afterwards became one of the Masters disciples. R5222:4 Simon represented in this case all of the Lords faithful ones who help to bear the cross, following his example, walking in his steps. R5222:4 The disciples of Jesus missed the opportunity. One had said he was ready to die with the Lord, and so said they all. In the moment of testing they did not display this courage. It is much easier to attest great loyalty than it is to manifest it when the test comes. R5222:1, 3370:1, 2473:2 We are to remember that the disciples were common people, despised as Galileans, and had reason to fear the wrath of the chief priests and rulers. R3901:2 If we are disposed to envy Simon his privilege in the bearing of the cross, let us reflect that many of the Lords brethren are daily bearing symbolic crosses, and that it is our privilege to assist them. R3370:1 #The_cross -- Perhaps 12 to 14 feet long, with a cross-beam of at least 5 feet. Since there are no light woods in the vicinity of Jerusalem and olive, a very heavy wood, is most common, we estimate its weight at 150 to 200 pounds. R5221:6 The crosses were not so large and heavy as generally illustrated in modern paintings. The evidence is that the feet of the crucified were usually only twelve to eighteen inches from the ground. R2473:2 As the wooden cross was not our Lords heaviest burden, so, too, his followers have crosses which the world sees not, but which the brethren should understand. R3370:1 The cross has become fashionable, worn as an ornament, with little thought of what the original signified of shame and ignominy. R2787:1 The Lord will send the aid necessary, even though, as in this case, it be impressed, and that because of the sympathy of the worldly. R3370:1 #Bear_it -- While he, from exhausting labor and daily sacrifice for the good of others, endured weakness and weariness, yet men did not recognize the real cause of his physical weakness, but esteemed him stricken and smitten of God, as though he were a sinner like other men, and therefore, like them, subject to physical decline and death. R1359:4 We have no opportunity of doing anything of this kind for the Master himself. But he is still with us in the brethren. What a precious privilege this affords us of still helping to bear the Masters cross. R5222:1 Now the cross is with us. There is still room for bearing it and experiencing crucifixion of the flesh as the representatives of him who loved us and bought us with his own precious blood. R3901:3, 2787:1, 2473:3 #After_Jesus -- Implying that Simon did not carry the cross entirely, but merely assisted Jesus, carrying the hinder part of it, which usually dragged. R3369:6, 2787:1 Whether this means that Jesus walked before and that Simon carried the cross behind him, or whether it means that Simon walked back of Jesus carrying the end which otherwise was dragging, we cannot surely know. If the latter, it furnishes a more striking illustration of how we are to walk in his footsteps and join with him in carrying the symbolic cross. R3901:1 His weakness was not the result of inherited blemish or sin, nor the weakness of imperfection, but of sacrifice. R4138:2 When we think of our Lord as a perfect man, we would not think of him as being the strongest of men. R5221:6, 2787:2 The coarseness and brute strength which we find in many men is to be esteemed a degeneration, as truly as is weakness and effeminacy of others--only that the degeneracy has manifested itself in another form. R2787:2 The cross will not be too heavy for us. The Lord will bear the heavy end of it; and our experiences will be only such as will be for our good and will work out for our blessing. R5222:4
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 01:49:40 +0000
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