33
Characters on the Road to the Cross
(Luke 23:26–32)
When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping 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 tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. (23:26–32)
The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most heinous act of apostasy and rebellion against God ever. The Jewish people had waited for centuries for the coming of the promised Savior and Messiah. But when He finally came, in spite of His unparalleled teaching, revelation of divine truth, offer of eternal life, and divine power over the demonic realm, the natural world, disease, and death, they rejected Him. “He came to His own,” John wrote, “and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).
Jesus’ earthly journey to the cross began thirty-three years before His death in the small village of Bethlehem, near Jerusalem. He was born in the humblest of surroundings—a stable, with a manger for a crib. Soon after His birth, His journey took Him, along with Mary and Joseph, south into Egypt for protection from Herod, who sought to murder Him. After that danger had passed, His parents took Him north from Egypt into Galilee to their nondescript home hamlet of Nazareth. And there His life seemingly paused for thirty years.
When the Son of God reached thirty, His journey took Him to the Jordan River, where He was baptized by John the Baptist, and launched into public ministry. After three years of ministry Jesus came to Jerusalem for the last week of His life. As this section opens, it is Friday morning of that final week. Jesus would be crucified later that afternoon, and dead and buried before sundown. Here Luke records the final steps of Jesus’ journey to Skull Hill (Luke 23:13).
The exact location of the site where the Lord was crucified is unknown. It may have been the traditional site, now obscured by a Roman Catholic church, the more recent one known as Gordon’s Calvary, or a different site altogether. The location of His execution is not important; the redemption accomplished through His death is eternally unequalled in importance.
Temporally, Christ’s journey to Skull Hill lasted thirty-three years. But that was simply the final step of a journey that began in heaven, the dwelling place of the eternal Trinity. Every step of the way was preordained, which is why the Bible describes Jesus as the Lamb slain from [before] the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8 KJV); who had come to “save His people from their sin” (Matt. 1:21); and “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Contrary to the false teaching of some, Jesus’ death came as no surprise to Him. In fact, He had repeatedly predicted it, in all its gruesome details (Luke 9:22, 31; 12:50; 13:32–33; 17:25; 18:31–33; 20:9–15; 22:22, 37).
Obviously, Jesus draws the primary attention on these final steps to the cross. He is the only one who speaks and that only once, and only on one topic—judgment. But along the way other characters appear in lesser roles. We meet the mixed murderers, the supporting stranger, the curious crowd, the weeping women, and the companion criminals.
THE MIXED MURDERERS
When they led Him away, (23:26a)
The pronoun they refers to those listed in verse 13, “the chief priests and the rulers and the people.” The chief priests included the Sadducees, who ran the temple operations, and the high priest and the former high priests, who were all related to one another. The rulers were the members of the ruling Sanhedrin, made up predominantly of scribes and Pharisees, along with some Sadducees. The growing crowd that gathered early that Friday morning was orchestrated and manipulated by the religious rulers into demanding the crucifixion of Jesus. Although they are not mentioned, some members of a third Jewish sect, the Herodians (Jews who supported the Idumean dynasty), no doubt also were present. Of course the Roman soldiers who made up the execution squad that performed the actual crucifixion were also present.
Apagō (led away) is sometimes used as a legal term to refer to leading someone to trial, punishment, prison, or execution (Matt. 26:57; 27:2; Mark 14:44; Acts 12:19).
Driven by their self-righteousness and hatred, these murderers orchestrated Jesus’ execution by means of lies, manipulation, intimidation, and threats—thus bringing about the greatest miscarriage of justice the world has ever seen. The mixed multitude that pressed for His death represents all those who reject Jesus Christ in every generation (cf. Heb. 6:4–6).
they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. (23:26b)
On the way to the place of execution the Roman soldiers in charge of Christ’s crucifixion seized a man and pressed him into service (which they had absolute authority to do; cf. Matt. 5:41). Unlike the Roman soldiers and the centurion, who later believed in Christ (23:47; cf. Matt. 27:54; Mark 15:39), this man’s name is given, Simon, as is the town he was from, Cyrene. Simon was a common Jewish name (there are nine men in the Bible named Simon, including two of the apostles). Cyrene was a city in North Africa, in modern-day Libya. It had a significant Jewish population, according to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus. Visitors from Cyrene were in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost and heard the apostles preaching in their language (Acts 2:10). There were enough men in Jerusalem from Cyrene that they, along with men from Alexandria (another major North African city), formed their own synagogue (Acts 6:9).
Simon was seemingly chosen at random while coming in from the country to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Unless he had been in the city earlier in the week, he would not necessarily have known anything about Jesus. The soldiers placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. This was not the usual procedure, since the condemned were required to carry their cross to the execution site. Perhaps in His weakened condition from scourging the Lord could no longer carry the cross by Himself and needed help. Or it may be that He was not moving fast enough to suit the soldiers.
Simon was in fact not chosen at random; God was sovereignly reaching down to draw him (cf. John 6:44). Mark 15:21 further describes him as “the father of Alexander and Rufus.” That note obviously meant something to his readers, or Mark would not have included it. According to the traditional view, Mark addressed his gospel to a Gentile audience, initially the church at Rome—of which Simon’s son Rufus was a prominent member (Rom. 16:13). Paul also refers to Rufus’s mother, Simon’s wife, as having been like a mother to him.
Here was a stranger, seemingly plucked spontaneously from the crowd to help carry Jesus’ cross. Having gone all the way to Skull Hill with the cross, Simon would undoubtedly have stayed and experienced the full reality of the crucifixion. At some point he embraced the gospel of the Lord whose cross he had carried. His wife and sons also became believers and were known to the church at Rome. One of them, Rufus, was singled out by Paul as a choice servant of the Lord, and Simon’s wife ministered to the apostle (Rom. 16:13). The church at Cyrene, in which Simon undoubtedly played a significant role, developed and grew strong, eventually sending out missionaries to preach the gospel to the Gentiles at Antioch (Acts 11:20). One of its members, Lucius, even served as one of the pastors at the Antioch church when Paul and Barnabas were sent out as missionaries (Acts 13:1).
THE CURIOUS CROWD
And following Him was a large crowd of the people, (23:27a)
Many in the large crowd of the people that was following Christ had enthusiastically greeted Him on Monday at the triumphal entry. But He did not fulfill their expectations; He showed no sign of being the military and political deliverer they longed for, the one who would free them from the yoke of Roman tyranny. Instead of attacking the Romans, He attacked the temple operations (Luke 19:45–46), the heart of Israel’s religion, and the leaders themselves (Matt. 23:1–36). The Lord’s talk of His own imminent death further perplexed them, since there was no place in their theology for a dying Messiah (cf. Matt. 16:21–22).
The vacillating crowd did not know whether to praise Jesus or reject Him. Eventually, they reached such a state of confusion that the leaders of Israel were able to persuade them to demand His crucifixion. They were aware of His divine power, and hoped that He might be their Messiah. But they ultimately turned against Him, persuaded by their leaders’ blasphemous lies that His power was from Satan, not God. They were also disappointed. After Christ’s death, “all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts” (Luke 23:48) in a universal sign of grief. They wanted Him to be their Messiah; probably until the very last, some of them were wishing that Christ would be the one who would fulfill their desires. Perhaps, at the last moment, He would come down from the cross, as His enemies mockingly challenged Him to do (Mark 15:32), and lead an assault against the Romans.
As throughout His ministry, the crowd had an interest in Jesus, but few made a true commitment to Him. Their minds were dark. They were ignorant; they were not responsive to the truth He taught. Their feelings toward Him were ambiguously selfish. They were not His enemies, but neither would they confess Him as Lord. Ultimately they were manipulated to cry for His death.
THE WEEPING WOMEN
and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping 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 tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (23:27b–31)
The women who were mourning and lamenting Jesus were not His mother, Mary Magdalene, or any of the other women who accompanied Him and the disciples (Luke 8:2–3); they were professional mourners. It was traditional for women to mourn at the death of someone (cf. Luke 8:51–52), particularly someone prominent like Jesus, who many had hoped would be the Messiah. But though they were official mourners who were doing their duty, surely it was not without a measure of sincerity and sympathy. Nowhere in the Gospels is there a record of a woman who was hostile to Jesus, rebuked Him, or spoke evil of Him. These women were likely no exception.
Mourning translates a form of the verb koptō, which literally refers to pounding one’s chest in a strong expression of grief. It symbolizes the agony of death. Lamenting refers to crying and wailing, or singing a dirge (the same verb used here is translated “sang a dirge” in Luke 7:32).
This mourning was not the fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10–14, which refers to Israel’s yet future mourning when they “will look on [the one] whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (v. 10). The time will come when the people will pound their chests and wail and lament, mourning over the tragic reality that they killed their own Messiah, but this was not that time.
These women represent those who were sympathetic toward Jesus, who were attracted to Him, finding in Him truth, tenderness, and compassion. They were not like the curious crowd, who were fickle, vacillating, and indifferent, nor were they like the mixed murderers, who hated and resented Jesus. But neither were they His true followers, those who had believed savingly in Him. Christianity is filled with people who are in some measure sympathetic to Jesus yet are not truly His disciples (Matt. 7:21–23; John 6:60, 66).
Jesus, however, did not seek that kind of sympathy. Instead of thanking the women, He rebuked them. Turning to them the Lord said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me.” The phrase Daughters of Jerusalem is used in the Old Testament to refer metaphorically to Israel as a whole (Mic. 4:8; Zeph. 3:14; Zech. 9:9). Instead of weeping for Him, Jesus told them to weep tears of sorrow, remorse, and repentance for themselves and for their children in light of the judgment that was coming (cf. Luke 13:34–35; 19:41–44; and the exposition of 21:20–24 in chapter 20 of this volume). They, not Jesus, were the real victims.
The judgment that would fall on them in A.D. 66–70, when the Romans devastated Israel and destroyed Jerusalem, would be so severe that Jesus solemnly warned, “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.’” That was a shocking statement. Barrenness ran counter to the hope of every Jewish woman and was the worst stigma imaginable, as the stories of Hannah (1 Sam. 1:2–11) and Elizabeth (Luke 1:7, 24–25) illustrate. But speaking earlier of that time of terrible judgment Jesus had said, “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people” (Luke 21:23). Such women would endure greater suffering than those without children.
Christ’s prediction, “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us,’” further indicates the severity of the imminent judgment. The Lord was quoting Hosea’s warning to the apostate northern kingdom of Israel regarding the destruction of its capital city of Samaria by the Assyrians (Hos. 10:8). When the sixth seal judgment hits during the tribulation, the unbelieving world will “[say] to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Rev. 6:16–17). Israel’s judgment in A.D. 66–70 was thus a preview of the future judgment of the world.
Jesus did not offer a final invitation to the people who were accompanying Him on the way to the cross, but rather pronounced a final doom on them. Their perspective was totally skewed. They needed to shed tears not for Him, but for themselves in light of their impending judgment.
The Lord concluded His warning with the proverbial saying, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” He is the green tree, full of life and fruitfulness. If this is what the Romans did to Him, what will they do to the dry, dead, barren nation of Israel in A.D. 70?
THE COMPANION CRIMINALS
Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. (23:32)
The final two characters on the road to the cross were criminals, who were being led away to be put to death with Jesus. As noted in the discussion of Luke 23:19 in the previous chapter of this volume, they may have participated with Barabbas in the insurrection and like him been sentenced to be crucified.
These two men illustrate the two options that face every person. Those who, like the one who repented (23:40–43), “confess with [their] mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in [their] heart that God raised Him from the dead … will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). On the other hand, those who, like the unrepentant man, reject Jesus will face eternal judgment (John 3:18). For more information on these two men, see the exposition of Luke 23:39–43 in chapter 34 of this volume.