Luke 23:26, commentary and pictures

As they led Him out of Pilate's court toward Calvary, Jesus was too weakened by hunger since the Passover supper, agony in Gethsemane, a night of trial and mockery from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod and back to Pilate, and scourging and crowning with thorns to carry further the heavy cross laid on His bruised shoulders. That cross was the one prepared for Barabbas, with the two thieves who were to die with Him also bearing their crosses. After He staggered and fell fainting beneath it and could go no farther, the rulers seized Simon a Cyrenian coming in from the country and compelled him to carry it behind Him to the place of execution. He fell fainting twice beneath the cross, while others hold that He fainted three times under three placings of it upon Him. Simon had not himself believed though his sons were disciples, but his forced service awakened his sympathy and led him at Calvary to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and the world's Redeemer and ever after to bear His cross cheerfully, while a vast multitude including the sorrowing disciples followed toward Calvary with blighted hopes.

Jesus Faints Under Cross

He was too exhausted to carry the cross after going without food or drink since the Passover supper with His disciples, agonizing in Gethsemane, enduring betrayal and the flight of His disciples, being taken to Annas then to Caiaphas then to Pilate then to Herod then again to Pilate through a night of insult upon insult and mockery upon mockery, and suffering scourging and a crown of thorns. Through it all He bore Himself with firmness and dignity and spoke no word but what tended to glorify God, until after the second scourging human nature could bear no more. The cross laid on Him as He passed the gate of Pilate's court and was hurried outside Pilate's house toward Calvary was the cross prepared for Barabbas, laid on His bruised and bleeding shoulders, while the two men to die with Him were companions of Barabbas on whom crosses were also placed.

Weakened by weariness and pain and suffering and loss of blood from scourging and blows, He carried the heavy load only a few rods or a few steps before staggering and breaking down and falling fainting and as lifeless to the ground. After reviving and being forced forward He staggered a few steps more and fell again so He could carry the instrument of torture no farther. The crowd showed no compassion but taunted and reviled Him because He could not carry it. In His weary, suffering condition the load was too heavy for Him to carry far, and He was too weak from His suffering to carry it farther so another had to bear it after Him.

The fall beneath the cross happened twice. Those who count three placings hold that He fainted three times beneath three placings of the heavy cross on His shoulders for His crucifixion. His persecutors saw it was impossible for Him to carry it farther to the place of execution and were puzzled to find one who would humble himself to bear the humiliating load. But the Jews themselves would not and none even of the mob that followed Him would stoop to bear it, because the defilement would prevent them from keeping the approaching Passover.

Simon Carries After Jesus

The priests and rulers seized Simon, a Cyrenian coming in from the country and meeting the crowd from the opposite direction, and at their instigation the cross was placed on him and he was compelled to carry it behind and after Jesus to Calvary and the place of execution. He was taken from the crowd and made to bear it after he had stopped in compassion at the scene.

Simon himself had never been connected or joined with Jesus and had not accepted Him, though his sons were disciples of Jesus. He had heard of Jesus and his sons believed in Him, but he himself was not yet a disciple. The man seized to bear the cross after Jesus to the fatal spot was a follower who believed on Christ but had not openly professed faith.

The forced burden stirred his deep sympathy for Jesus and became the means of his conversion and a blessing to him. What he witnessed at Calvary and the words uttered by Jesus caused him to acknowledge and accept that He was the Son of God and the world's Redeemer. For that providence giving him personal evidence he ever after felt grateful to God. Carrying the cross led him to choose to take up Christ's cross and thereafter bear it cheerfully.

Following Mourning and Warning

Jesus was led from the judgment-hall to Calvary followed by a vast multitude. News of His condemnation had spread throughout Jerusalem, and people of all classes and all ranks flocked toward the place of crucifixion. Because the priests and rulers were bound by a promise not to molest His followers if He Himself were delivered to them, the disciples and believers from the city and the surrounding region joined the throng. Companies of angels were marshaled in the air above the place as the cross was carried, while the disciples followed to Calvary in sorrow and bitter weeping and grief and despair. They remembered how a few days before they had followed Him into Jerusalem crying Hosanna in the highest and strewing garments and palm branches, expecting Him to take the kingdom and reign as a temporal prince and king over Israel, and now with blighted prospects and hearts stricken with fear they slowly followed One disgraced and humbled and about to die.

The account to which the verse belongs shows Him facing the power of the Jewish priests and rulers, who forced even the Roman governor to carry out their will, with His own nation clamoring for His blood while Barabbas is chosen in His place. It shows Jesus approaching the cross and descending into the depths of humiliation as the Bridegroom taken away from His disciples, in whom their hopes of eternal life were centered. They see Him in the hands of wicked men crowned with thorns, clad in the purple robe and mocked and struck, scourged as the worst of criminals and lifted up to die as a malefactor instead of taking His place on David's throne, and then the disciples have cause to mourn and fast, and their faith is tried and their hope and courage fail. Led away to crucifixion in weakness and faintness, He is stretched upon a wooden cross, nailed through His hands and feet, and left hanging in agony for hours, with darkness covering the scene as the sun hides its light.

The verse shows Jesus on the way to Calvary bearing the cruel cross, and warns against placing burdens on people that Christ would have them released from.