Carrying the Cross to the Hill of Calvary
Article #14 on the Passion of Jesus Christ
An Expulsion Outside of the City
(Matt. 27:31-33, Mk. 15:20-22, Lk. 23:26-33, Jn. 19:16-17)
Only five days ago, Jerusalem gave Jesus the welcome of a King! Literally, multitudes of people were proclaiming the Man to be the long-awaited Messiah, while crying out the word, Hosanna! Being interpreted, this means: “Save now Lord!”. Then the sinless Son of God was suddenly cast out of Jerusalem.
“Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away. And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:” - John 19:16-17
The sacred moment finally came for Jesus to embrace the Cross! Having preached about its necessity to everyone, everywhere, and especially to His disciples, the Son of God showed no hesitation in picking it up and carrying it to Calvary. This is John’s explicit emphasis (John 19:16-17). However, seeing that Jesus was bearing it with much difficulty, and thus moving slowly, the Romans caught a bystander and forced him to bear it with Jesus along the way.
“And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.” – Matt. 27:31-32
“And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.” – Mk. 15:20-21
Jesus wasn’t the only one being conducted to the hill. Two other criminals were being led in the procession. However, for Jesus this was a difficult journey… even from a physical perspective.
“It can be easily concluded that prior to and leading up to the time of the crucifixion, Jesus Christ had undergone significant blood loss through the scourging process, buffeting, and smiting of the people (Matt. 26:67, 27:30, Mk. 15:19, Lk. 22:63-64, Jn. 19:3, Matt. 27:26, Mk. 15:15, Jn. 19:1). His body was likely debilitated by dehydration, extreme exhaustion, stress reactions through the release of stress hormones, low blood pressure, and low blood perfusion due to profuse blood loss. He was likely experiencing deeply excruciating, stabbing, explosive, and electric-like pain due to the opening up of the chest cavity, and wounds inflicted throughout his body and head by the scourging process and smiting on the head and body by His accusers. This is evidenced by the fact that Jesus Christ was unable to carry the cross, weighing up to 60 kg (132 lbs), though he sought to, and thus, Simon of Cyrene was found and made to bear it with him (Bordes (2020), Matt. 27:32, Mk. 15:21, Lk. 23:26, Jn. 19:17).” – Dr. Preethi Morris
Simon and Jesus bore the physical burden together until arriving to the designated hill of crucifixion. However, something else altogether was weighing down Jesus Christ! The Cross was much heavier for the Son of God. Sharing the weight of 132 lbs for the journey would have required heavy breathing, and with each breath the pain was radiating all throughout the chest cavity of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, something else was paining the Man much more than what anyone realized. Literally, the pain is incomprehensible! Therefore, the Son of God was inconsolable.
A Dreadful Legal Procession of Spectacular Sorrow
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.” - Lam. 1:12
O Christ, what burdens bow’d Thy head!
Our load was laid on Thee;
Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead,
Didst bear all ill for me.
A victim led; Thy blood was shed;
Now there’s no load for me.
The Man’s appearance was so stricken with agony that some of the more sensible bystanders wondered if there had ever been any sorrow like this before. Something spiritual was happening. This was a sorrow that far exceeded the sorrow of the Jews in Babylonian Captivity (Lam. 1:12). Even to look upon the Man of Sorrows was distressing to many spectators because it was such a ghastly sight! It was comparable to how a dreamlike personal tour of Hell might make someone feel as a spectator. Can you imagine it? Certainly, it would be horrifying to see and hear the distressed souls of sinners burning and suffocating in the infernal dungeon! Nevertheless, the same eternal wrath that powers Hell was manifestly present in time for the Passion of Jesus Christ. Moment by moment, the Son of God was suffering the equivalent of a thousand Hells! Therefore, imagine how difficult it was for the Son of God to make this treacherous journey outside of the City.
The Jews of the day had their own opinions about what was happening to Jesus of Nazareth, but what they think doesn’t really matter. “What is the chaff to the wheat?” (Jer. 23:28). Believe it or not, this journey to the Cross was much more impressive than the miraculous passage of Israel through the crystal walls of the Red Sea. God-Incarnate was doing wonders! Insomuch that the survival of the Jews in the Red Sea crossing is nothing in comparison. The bystanders of Jerusalem couldn’t see it. They were too busy minding earthly things (Php. 3:17-19). Nevertheless, myriads of Angels and legions of Devils were marveling at Jesus Christ! Step by step, they were wondering how the Man was surviving and pressing forward in the accomplishment of an impossible feat. For, in making this half-a-mile journey to the Cross, the Son of God was passing through a furious ocean of divine wrath.
“…Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” – Isa. 33:14
The physical weight of the Cross alone, by itself, didn’t make the Son of God stagger and collapse along the way. No! The weight of the world was upon the shoulders of the Lamb of God (Isa. 9:6-7). Even as John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)! Amazingly, this proclamation resounds at every juncture, in every scene, as the Evangelists of the Gospel conduct the reader from Gethsemane to Calvary. Accordingly, this journey outside of Jerusalem was a significant part in the story of redemption.
“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” – Heb. 13:11-12 (Ex. 29:14, Lev. 4:11-12, 21, 6:30, 8:17, 16:27)
Behold! Sin must be taken, and borne, if it is going to be taken away. While everyone else was going about another day as usual, Jesus Christ was absorbing the wrath of God in every second of every minute during the journey from the palace of the Governor to the hill of Golgotha. Literally, this is what Heaven was seeing as Jesus Christ carried the Cross to the hill of Calvary! Paul was quoting from Leviticus 4:4-12 in Hebrews 13:11-12. Are you seeing the same thing? Let the heart of every believer pause, and pray to God, “Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.” (Ps. 119:18).
“And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the LORD. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away, As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.” - Lev. 4:4-12
In being expelled from Jerusalem, the Son of God was painfully aware that this was an essential part of the Atonement, as the law required that the cursed bodies of these beasts would be taken outside of the camp for annihilation. The Hebrews knew that this wasn’t a walk in the park. A legally required priestly procession must carry the bullock outside of the camp! Furthermore, seeing that the Tabernacle was located in the center of the Israelite camp, with the arrangement of the other Tribes purposely encamped around it (Num. 2:1-34), this journey would have provided a rare glimpse into the ghastly nature of the Atonement as the priestly procession passed by the tents of average Israelite families.
“The priest then took the bullock, and gathering up all the innards, every part of it, the skin, the dung — all mentioned to teach us what a horrible thing sin is, and what the Surety was looked upon as being when He took our sin — he took it all up, and either himself personally, or assisted by others, took it away out of the camp. We are told that in the wilderness, so large was the camp, that it may have been the distance of four miles that this bullock had to be carried.
I think I see the sad procession — the priest all smeared with blood, carrying the carcass of the bullock, taking it right away down the long line of tents, first through the abodes of one tribe and then of another, through the long streets of tents, while the people stood at their doors and saw the ghastly sight. It was killed at the altar of burnt offering. Why was it not burnt there? That altar was holy, and as soon as ever sin was laid upon the bullock, it ceased to be any longer looked upon as a holy thing. It could not therefore be burnt in the holy place, it must be right taken away. So the priest carried it away — a terrible load — till he reached the usual place where the ashes were kindled, and he put the bullock there, and heaped the hot ashes upon it till the whole smoked up to heaven, and was utterly consumed as a sin offering.” – C.H. Spurgeon, The Sin Offering
“If you have read the order of the burnt offering, you will have noticed that when the bullock of the burnt offering was offered, it was washed, to show the perfection of Christ as He is a sweet savor, all pure and clean, but in this case there is added that humiliating word, “with the dung.” What a humiliating type of Christ! Ah, but what are your sins and mine that were laid upon Jesus? How could our iniquities and transgressions be better set forth than by that bleeding, mangled mass, which the high priest had to carry out away from the camp, as though it were a thing abhorred, which could not be endured in the camp any longer? It is your Savior made sin for you and put away on your behalf.” – C.H. Spurgeon, The Sin Offering
The prophetic typology of the law conveys the reality of what Jesus Christ was ordained to accomplish in the Atonement. This sacred journey outside of Jerusalem was the ultimate priestly procession. One saintly Man carried a cursed load that was far more horrifying than any gory mess of animals in all of Jewish history! Mark every footprint of this journey. Count every step! The burden being borne was far more serious than the transportation of the Ark in the days of David & Solomon. David counted “six paces” and sacrificed oxen and fatlings in a massive assembly of solemn and holy celebration, the likes of which Jerusalem had never seen (2 Sam. 6:13, 1 Chron. 15:1-28). This moment in history was perhaps only eclipsed by the day when Solomon oversaw the transportation of the Ark into the Temple, when he and Israel commemorated the successful journey of the Ark with innumerable sacrifices (2 Chron. 5:1-6). How much more do the paces of our Priest, the Christ of God, demand our serious worship?
Moreover, for the exact same reasons, the ascent of Jesus Christ up the hill of Golgotha was far more ceremonious and legally significant than when the Aaronic Priesthood ascended the Altar of Sacrifice in the courts of the Temple in the Old Testament. This is where the epic journey comes to an end for the High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek. Mark every footprint of this ascent. Count every step! This is when a hill for condemned criminals on the outskirts of Jerusalem became much more sacred to God than the Temple, when at last the Lamb of God summited the mount as the Champion of the Atonement.
Despite the immense and unimaginable burden that was put upon Jesus Christ, the Man was still perfectly sound in His mind throughout the exercise. The physical weakness exhibited while carrying the Cross was not due to a fatal degree of blood loss, because this would have caused Jesus to be delirious with episodes of fainting and unconsciousness. The Evangelists would have recorded this in the Gospels if such things were happening. Rather, Jesus went on to endure the physical torture of a crucifixion for hours after this, demonstrating alertness and coherency of mind until the very last breath. Furthermore, the one and only thing that our Lord said along the way shows to us an unquestionable presence of mind.
“And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.” - Luke 23:26-32
The carnality of the mourners was a grief to the Savior! The daughters of Jerusalem wept for Jesus Christ while remaining oblivious to the real reasons for which He was suffering. The seemingly pious worshipers were rebuked with a fiery warning for such spiritual blindness, even that they should cease to weep for Christ, and begin weeping for themselves. Why? Because divine judgment will come upon all those who spiritually disregard the Passion of Jesus Christ.
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” – Dan. 9:26
The blindness of Jerusalem was unjustifiable. The Messiah’s fate to be “cut off” was foretold exactly 173,885 days before it happened! Therefore, those who never came to realize why the Messiah was condemned to die in the first place, namely that it was “not for Himself” (Dan. 9:26), were also unable to see the danger on the horizon. The armies of the Prince were coming to make war against Jerusalem because they were commissioned by God to destroy both it and the Temple. Jesus forewarned of the same in parables just days before the crucifixion.
“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” – Matt. 21:33-44
