3/11/13. Luke 23:26-31. ON THE WAY TO THE CROSS – my devotional

Luke 23:26-31                                                                                        Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

Key Verse: 23:28                                                                                   3-11-13

“Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.” (NIV 2011)

      Dear Lord Jesus. Thank you for showing us the power of the Gospel. Thank you for revealing the power of the Gospel in bringing new life in our relationships…our families. I can see through the “Art of Marriage” seminar that we are holding, that there is power for real change. We can truly be set free from the chains that hold us prisoners and allow us to be truly set free to grow in oneness with Jesus and oneness with each other and so that the love of God may be revealed through our lives. Please bear much fruit through the seminar. Change many hearts. Transform us all, all 12 couples. And now, please prepare my heart for easter. Help me to meditate deeply on all aspects on the death of Jesus. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Simon of Cyrene (26)

In Verses 26 we meet a great man of faith named Simon. “As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.”

Simon, a pilgrim from Cyrene in Africa, was pressed into service to help Jesus carry his cross. Who was this Simon?  His home town appears to be in Cyrene, Libya, which was located in northern Africa, in the eastern part of present-day Libya. It was an ancient Greek city, which from the 4th century bc was a great intellectual center, with a noted medical school. It also had a Jewish community where 100,000 Judean Jews had settled during between 323-285 B.C. The Cyrenian Jews had a synagogue in Jerusalem, where many went for annual feasts. Simon was a Jew. There was a large Jewish community in Cyrene and Simon was probably there to participate in the Passover.

It was not easy for Simon to come all the way to Jerusalem. Travel was not easy. He would have to travel thousands of miles, either sailing in a Roman cargo ship, with all of the suffering that entails, or traveling the Roman roads, where he could have be waylaid by bandits or suffered thirst in the desert sands. But it was Simon’s faith in the God of Israel that drew him eastward. His heart was bent on worshipping the God of the Jews at his HolyTemple. Simon was truly a man of great faith who was willing to sacrifice and endure inconvenience and suffering in order to worship his God.

He did not know how much suffering he was going to be called to endure. Look at verse 26 again, “As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.”  Jesus was stumbling and falling under the heavy weight of the cross. He had stayed up all night long being prosecuted by the religious leader’s kangaroo court. He was beaten and flogged. He had lost a lot of blood and so he was weak. That is why the Roman soldiers seized Simon and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. At first Simon protested, making sure that the Romans knew, and every around him knew, that he was an innocent man. Taking the blood soaked beam from Jesus’ shoulders, Simon looked into Jesus’ eyes. He didn’t see the eyes of a guilty man, nor the eyes of an angry man, nor the eyes of a defeated man. What he saw was the look of a man on a mission to save others. Jesus’ eyes showed that he wanted to go to Golgotha, he wanted Simon to bear the cross and help him to that destiny. Jesus wanted Simon to share in his suffering so that he may believe and share in his glory. . The Passion of the Christ movie portrays Simon as a Jew forced by the Romans to carry the cross. Though at first he is unwilling, as the journey to Golgotha continued he showed compassion to Jesus and helped him make it to the top of the mount of Calvary. His heart was being changed.

Simon was on his way in from the country. His intent was to draw near to God and worship him. Jesus was on his way out of Jerusalem. Jesus is God. He was suffering and about to die on the cross so that people like Simon can worship him from the heart, anywhere, any time, not just at the Temple. Simon was about to meet his savior face to face. He is going to be confronted with the suffering of Jesus, and have to come to grips with it. He was intent on going one way, but Jesus was entering into his life and turning it in the opposite direction. For Simon, meeting the suffering Christ would turn his life completely around. This experience would change his life to walk in the opposite direction, following in the footsteps of Christ himself. This is God’s grace.

Simon was well on his way to seeing all that Jesus was doing for him before this event. As a Jew, he would have understood the significance of Isaiah 53, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted”. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”, “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa 53:4,6, 7,12, (NIV 2011)) All of these verses will have come alive for Simon, especially during his worship at the Passover and even more so when he saw Jesus’ death and resurrection. At first Simon would have cursed his predicament as bad luck. But he found that his “bad luck” as God’s opportunity to the greatest privilege of his whole life–he could carry the cross of the Savior of the world, meet him personally and be changed.

It was after Simon helped Jesus carry his cross did he come to realize who Jesus is and was his heart moved. There is something to be said of coming to Jesus and picking up our own crosses and following him, even before we get a full understanding of who Jesus is. It was after I decided to study the Bible and go to church and even go to the campus with M. Ruth Hwang, that my heart fully realized who Jesus is. It took a month, after I first started studying the Bible before I was born again and entered into a personal relationship with Jesus. This is kind of like Simon.

When I did meet Jesus my heart and life were totally changed. I knew with certainty that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. There is no way that I could ever go back to my old way of life for my heart was changed. I tasted the kingdom of God. My life could now only go upward and outward. Upward towards God and heaven and outward towards others. I think that this is how Simon felt.

Simon’s heart was indeed moved by Jesus’ suffering. His life was totally changed. He must have successfully instructed and encouraged his own his family to come to Christ.  In the Bible, there is evidence that he and his sons became influential Christian leaders in the early Christian church. Tradition states his sons Rufus and Alexander became missionaries. Rufus, mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:13 could be the son of Simon. Some also link Simon himself with the “men of Cyrene” who preached the Gospel to the Greeks in Acts 11:20. Indeed, when one meets Jesus personally and shares in Christ’s sufferings, their whole family will touched by the love of God.

It is because of the new life that Jesus gave to me and Julie that my kids could come to saving faith. They have Christian faith. They are struggling to differentiate themselves from the world and find their place in the Kingdom of God. Jenn, my oldest, is becoming an influential Christian at McGillUniversity with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. There can be long line of Christians in our family because I came to see what Simon saw, that the suffering Jesus is the Messiah.

In the Bible we hear about a term called, “sharing in Christ’s sufferings”. Romans 8:16-17 reads, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”  Simon was literally sharing in Christ’s suffering. In doing so he shared in his glory also. The question is, how has God called each of us to share in the suffering of Christ? There are many ways.

It may be that you have decided to accept a certain calling, a new responsibility in your Christian life, even though you feel inadequate and even fearful to do so. Whatever it is, it will be something where you’ll feel pain and perhaps even shame (like Simon did carrying the cross). But you’ll know that you must embrace God’s call.  That is when you must shoulder your cross with all of it’s burdens and looked up to see Christ walking ahead of you. Then you will realize you are following in Jesus’ footsteps. Then you will know what it means to walk in his power as you share in his sufferings. The cross of Christ will transform you and empower you and lift you up, because you’ve suffered with Christ and followed Christ. We must all come to that moment in life that Simon came to. This is one component in becoming fervent believers and followers of Christ.

I need to share in the suffering of Jesus. In the preparation for a Christian conference, there is a web site where Christian workers pray and assign themselves to some self assigned mission. They have found a cross to carry. I must carry the cross of being a husband and father. I must be a mentor to the few people who God has put in my life. I need to be sincere towards Christian education at KBC and UBF. I need to have some personal spiritual disciplines that will help me to grow and mature in faith.

There is another thing to remember, we are called to bear other peoples’ burdens. Just as Simon bent his back to bear someone else’s burden, we must help each other with the crosses we all bear. Jesus once said, (See Matthew 24:34-40, especially verse 40), “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” There are brothers and sisters all around us who are carrying heavy burdens. It looks like they are shouldering the burden all by themselves. They need someone to come alongside them and help them on their journey. They need to some to help them to lift their eyes to see Jesus walking ahead of them. Look around you. Who are they?

I have many people that I can help lift their burdens. I think that the Art of Marriage Seminars are helping to lift the burdens from 11 couples. I could be a mentor to several people. I thank God for helping me to be a mentor in Stephen’s life. I can help my wife and kids carry their burdens. I have to be here for Julie, my wife, to help her bear her burdens. There are my co-workers at work that I can be of assistance to. One day I hope that I can be used to help a few First Nations People to carry any burden they may have. Lord, show me how I can help lift the burden of others in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 2: Weep For Yourselves (27-31)

A sorrowful scene is revealed in verses 27-31. Let’s look at these verses. “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. ²⁸ Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁰ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’³¹ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Many people followed the grim procession, weeping. They saw Jesus as a young man, like their sons, and were sorrowful that his life must end so tragically. But Jesus saw how utterly corrupt the world had become because of people’s sinful hearts. He would die for the sins of the world; but they must live in a world ruled by sin and headed for destruction. 40 years from his crucifixion, the Roman General Titus would come and besiege Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish people would starve, suffer and die. Parents would see their own children starving. That is why Jesus said in verse 29, “ For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’”  The mothers would not have to bear seeing the suffering of their own children at the hands of the Romans.

Jesus knew that it would just get worse. He said in verse 31, “For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”  Jesus was with them. They heard him preach, they saw his love, and they saw the miracles. That is what is means that the tree is green. The kingdom of God was coming to them newly and freshly. But there will be a time when the tree is dry, when the memory of Jesus’ earthly ministry fades. That is when the tree is dry. If they are behaving like this when Jesus was alive, what will they do later? They times will only get worse. Ultimately, the times will continue to unfold until the time of the end, when all people will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. It is the time when Jesus comes again as judge of the living and the dead. Those who are prone to yell, “Crucify him!” will have no where to hide. They will have to face the judgment alone, without a Savior. They will have no place to turn, no Savior to plead their forgiveness. Their shame and guilt will be so great that all they will be able to say is, “…mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”

Jesus wasn’t feeling sorry for himself saying, “Poor me.” No he was bearing his cross like a conquering general. He was concerned about the spiritual condition of those around him and their eternal destiny.

We should not cry at Jesus’ suffering. It was the will of the Father that he suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. This was the pinnacle of all of God’s history. This is the event the ancients looked forward to and wrote about. This is the victory that the angels in heaven were awaiting. Why cry? If anything there should be tears of thanksgiving and even a victory shout, because Jesus was about to crush the head of Satan (Gen 3:15) and open wide the Kingdom of God to all who believe. Wow! I want to cry, but I want to cry tears of joy!

They must also weep for those who do not know Christ, that they may repent and believe and be saved. Look at verse 28 again, “Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.”  Jesus wanted them to care about other’s eternal salvation. I should care about other’s eternal destiny. I need to weep for my kids and their kids. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and un prayed for.”

In light of this passage, may God show us ways to participate in the remaining suffering of Christ. May we share in Jesus sufferings and in doing so have a clearer picture of who Jesus is and enter into a closer relationship with him. May we see his glory and rejoice that he suffered and died and rose again, so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may become God’s children.  May we weep in prayer for others that they may experience the glorious salvation that is in Christ.

One Word: Share in Christ’s sufferings and see his glory.