Who helped Jesus carry the cross?

Simon the Cyrenian, father of Alexander and Rufus: he was made to carry the Lord's cross. Matt. 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26.

Mark next carries his readers from the judgment-seat to the Praetorium, in the court of which the Lord is made the sport of the soldiers, and fresh indignities and mockeries are silently endured by Him as Isaiah had prophesied: "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth" (Is. 53:7). Then they led Him away to be crucified, compelling on the way one Simon, a Cyrenian, a Hellenistic Jew, to bear the cross behind Him. Was he a disciple? Evidently he had taken no part with the populace, for he was coming from the country, and so must have met the procession on its way to Golgotha. He was also, as Mark informs us, the father of Alexander and Rufus — that Rufus, very likely, who is mentioned by Paul in Rom. 16;13.

On the Way to Golgotha. — Now again have we to notice the independence of our historian as he takes his readers from Gabbatha (John 19:13) to Golgotha (Matt. 27:33), and relates what took place by the way. The procession, as we might call it, consisted of the Lord, bearing His cross, with Simon the Cyrenian, bearing by compulsion (Mark 15:21) the lighter end of it behind Him (Luke 23:26). Two others, malefactors, doubtless bearing also each one his own cross, formed part of the group, the attendant soldiers completing it. But far outnumbering these who figured in the procession was a great multitude of the people, and among them many women. These last bewailed and lamented Him (Luke 23:27), all their sympathy, it seems, being extended to Him, but none to the others who were about to suffer for their crimes, for all knew He was innocent. As they moved along the wailing might have been heard probably at some distance. But now words fell from His lips — prophetic words — and Luke has preserved them: "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 the green tree, what shall be done in the dry" (vers. 28-31). His death, He here intimated, would be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (21:23), and by the troubles that will yet fall on that nation and that city (Matt. 24:15-21). Messiah, the Shepherd of Israel, cut off, the Jews have had, and will yet have to feel bitterly His absence in their hours of trial who alone can shield them. And having cut Him off by death, they must of necessity wait God's time and grace for His return.

(V. 21). The violent soldiers, indifferent to the liberty and rights of others, compel one returning from his labours in the field to bear the cross. Simon the Cyrenian had the honour of bearing the actual cross for the One who suffered on the cross for all the world. God, apparently was not unmindful of this small service for the Lord; for we are told that this Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. This seems suggestive of the Rufus mentioned in Romans 12:13, and would imply that Alexander and Rufus were well known converts when Mark wrote his gospel.

Nevertheless the Spirit of God gives us more. "And as they led him away, they laid hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian,576 coming from [the] country, and put on him the cross to bear [it] after Jesus." There was no restraint now, but if man were lawless, God remembered Simon another day, and his sons are not forgotten in the record of life. (Compare Mark 15:21 and Romans 16:13.) It may be a terrible truth that God looks down from heaven and beholds the children of men, and sees none so worthy of reprobation as those who misuse selfishly the highest privileges of His mercy; but when we know Him, or rather, are known of Him, it is not the least of our comforts that God takes account of everything, and knows how to reply in His grace to those who have power and not on the side of the oppressor.

But, further, every indignity upon the way was heaped upon Him. "The soldiers led Him away into the court [called] Praetorium, and they call together the whole band. And they clothed Him with purple, and bind round on Him a crown of thorns which they had plaited. And they began to salute Him, Hall, King of the Jews!" There was no contempt too gross for Him. "They struck His head with a reed, and spat on Him, and, bending the knee, worshipped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own garments on Him, and lead Him out to crucify Him." And now, in the spirit of the wickedness of the whole scene, "they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus (cf. Rom. 16),161 to carry His cross." It would appear that these two sons were afterwards well-known converts brought into the Church; hence the interest of the fact mentioned.161 God's goodness, I suppose, used this very circumstance, wicked as it was on man's part. He would not allow that even His Son's indignity should not turn to the blessing of man. Simon, the father of these two, then, was compelled to bear His cross by those who held the truth, if at all, in unrighteousness.

In Luke 23 Jesus is found not before Pilate only, but Herod; and the two men who heretofore hated each other are here reconciled, now that it is a question of rejecting Jesus. It is only Luke who gives us this touch. What a league of peace over the rejection of the Saviour! At any rate the scorning of Jesus proceeds; and Pilate, carried away against his conscience by the will of the people, gave sentence that it should be as they required. Jesus is led away to the cross, and Simon is compelled to bear it after Jesus; for now man shows his needless cruelty in every form.

576 Luke 23:26. — "Cyrene," the modern Tripoli. Cf. Acts 6:9. Observe how Luke's account brings together John's statement and that of Matthew and Mark. The Lord must alone have borne the cross until relieved of some portion of it by Simon.

John (John 19:17-37). Several marked peculiarities are noticeable in the fourth Gospel, appropriate to the theme of the Evangelist. In general, we may say that they suggest the divine dignity of our Lord, recalling His words: "No man taketh it (My life) from Me … I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again." Thus, He is seen bearing His own cross. This in no way contradicts the fact that they compelled Simon the Cyrenian to bear it after Him. From the Gospel of Mark we would judge that at the beginning of the journey to Golgotha our Lord was bearing His own cross; and on the way, meeting Simon coming out of the country, they took the cross from our Lord and put it upon him.

While we are told elsewhere that Jesus went forth bearing His cross (Jn.19:17), yet Luke does not mention this, but speaks of Simon a Cyrenian being enlisted to carry the cross (v.26). The Lord first bore it, then it was transferred to Simon. But Scripture does not support the assumption of many that Jesus collapsed because of the weight of the cross. Let us not dare to go beyond the Word of God with such inferences. But this occurrence does teach us that there is a sense in which the disciple of the Lord Jesus might bear the cross after Him, as one identified with Him in His rejection by the world. Not everyone was consenting to His death. A great company (and women particularly mentioned) followed Him in mourning and lamentation. His words to them are striking. Rather than to weep for Him, He told them to weep for themselves and for their children, for the rejection of their Messiah would mean unspeakable sorrow and trouble for Israel. Rather than the normal blessedness of childbearing (Ps.127:3-5), the day was coming when those would be counted happy who had no children to suffer the anguish that Israel had invited upon herself in the cry, "His blood be upon us and on our children" (Mt.27:25). History has seen such days on many occasions for Israel since that time, but the worst is not yet. When He says they will cry to the mountains and hills to fall on them and cover them, this is a prophecy that reminds us of Revelation 6:15-17, though in Revelation it is not only Israel involved, but the nations also.