Who helped Jesus carry the cross?
The Gospels name one man who carried the cross of Jesus: Simon, from the North African city of Cyrene, stopped on the road as the execution party made its way out of Jerusalem. He did not offer — he was seized — yet writers have long noticed how much God did with that forced errand.
The Man on the Road
Simon came from Cyrene, a Greek city on the coast of North Africa, and he was walking into the city as the crowd was walking out of it. One commentator gathers what the record tells us about him:
C E StuartThen they led Him away to be crucified, forcing on the way one Simon, a Cyrenian, a Greek-speaking Jew, to bear the cross behind Him. Was he a disciple? Clearly he had taken no part with the crowd, for he was coming from the country, and so must have met the procession on its way to Golgotha. He was also, as Mark tells us, the father of Alexander and Rufus — that Rufus, very likely, who is mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:13.
Forced, Not Volunteering
The word used is one of compulsion. Simon was pressed into the job by soldiers who had no interest in his plans for the day.
Hamilton SmithThe violent soldiers, indifferent to the liberty and rights of others, compel one returning from his work in the field to bear the cross.
The same absence of kindness runs through the whole scene. Another writer refuses to read the moment as a gesture of mercy toward a suffering man:
C StanleyIt was the custom to force the condemned man to carry his own cross to the place of execution. From John we learn this was done to Jesus. After all the beating, scourging, blows to the head, and torture, we read, "He went out, bearing his own cross" (John 19:17)... Was this pity for Him in His extreme weakness? No — from everything we have seen, they may have feared He would die on the way, and so they might lose the satanic pleasure of watching Him die on the cross.
What John Leaves Out
John's account says the Lord went out carrying His own cross; the other three record Simon. The two are not in conflict — they describe different stretches of the same road.
William KellyNotice how Luke's account brings together John's statement and that of Matthew and Mark. The Lord must have borne the cross alone until relieved of some part of it by Simon.
A common addition to the story — that Jesus collapsed under the weight — is one that commentators warn against, since the text never says it:
L. M. GrantThe Lord alone is spoken of here as bearing His cross. As they went, we read elsewhere that Simon was ordered to do this after Him (Luke 23:26)... Let us note here that there is no suggestion in the history that the Lord was overburdened by the weight of the cross, as some have said: this is merely human imagination.
A Cruel Errand That God Used
Mark alone names Simon's two sons, and that small detail is read as a trace of what came out of that morning for his family.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinMark tells us very definitely who Simon the Cyrenian was, who was compelled to bear His cross — the father of Alexander and Rufus (see Romans 16:13). God did not forget this service; Simon's sons became believers.
The One Thing Simon Could Not Carry
Carrying the wooden beam is not the same as carrying sin. On that, the writers are united: the work done at Golgotha had no assistant.
J. N. DarbyWho shared the cross with Him, as suffering for sin, and fulfilling righteousness? We indeed share it with Him so far as suffering for righteousness' sake, and for the love of Him and His people, even to death; and so we shall share His glory too. But clearly we could not glorify God for sin. He who knew no sin could alone be made sin. The Son of God alone could bear this burden.
Simon as a Picture
Within that limit, Simon is still held up as an image of the follower's place — walking behind Jesus with the world's hostility pressing on him.
Leslie M. GrantSimon's bearing His cross does illustrate the fact that there is a certain sense in which believers are privileged to bear the cross of the Lord Jesus. Certainly this does not involve His atoning sufferings, but a path of rejection by the world for His sake.
Summary
- Named. Simon of Cyrene, a Greek-speaking Jew coming in from the country, is the one man Scripture records as carrying the cross of Jesus.
- Seized. He did not offer; soldiers compelled him, and commentators read the act as cruelty rather than pity.
- Behind. The Lord carried it first and alone; Simon was given part of the load, and walked behind Him with it.
- Blessed. The forced errand ended in blessing for his household — his sons Alexander and Rufus appear as men the early believers knew.
- Alone. Nobody helped with the real burden. Only the One who knew no sin could be made sin, and He bore that by Himself.