“And when they had mocked Him, they took up the purple robe and put his own clothes on Him, then they laid Him out to crucify Him. A certain man of Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced himto carry the cross”. (Mark 15:20-21)

During Jesus’ days on earth, the gospels depicted him as a caring Saviour. Jesus was always helping other people, standing up for them, standing strong for them; in the midst of the storm, in the midst of their pain. He was always lifting the weak, comforting the broken hearted, healing the sick, and so on.

However, on His way to Calvary, Jesus Christ laboured under the load of the cross. It had been a night of pain. He had been tortured, wounded, bruised, harassed, insulted, spat upon; and now he was carrying a heavy cross up the hill of Golgotha. As He climbed that hill, the son of God, the mighty man, Jesus, had to cave in under the suffering, under the weight of the cross and the frailty of his human nature.

At that critical moment, He could no longer carry His cross. And, insofar as it depended upon His physical body, He could no longer execute His father command to sacrifice His life on the cross.  He couldn’t move an inch anymore. Thus, Jesus Christ came to the point in His life, where His spirit was still willing but His body was weak. And there was nothing He could do about it.

Jesus was still willing to go on with His mission but His flesh had already given up. He just couldn’t move. So right at that point Jesus needed someone to help Him.  That was where Simon of Cyrene stepped in; and for the rest of the way it was this man that carried the cross for Him.

Have you ever felt like giving up lately?