(Mark 15:21-32 ESV)
Today we learn that a man, I presume a farmer but I could be wrong. He was coming in from the country. He was the father to Alexander and Rufus. This man, Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service as the cross bearer for Jesus.
Simon of Cyrene carried his cross to a place called Golgotha. Golgotha means Place of a Skull.
Jesus was crucified, his garments were divided among them by the casting of lots. He was crucified during the 3rd hour. (which would be about 9 in the morning).
I was curious if inscriptions of the charge against a person was always used, since they had one for Jesus. According to the Christian Answers, this was a normal thing to do but they didn't always use the three main languages used at the time. (Latin, Greek and Hebrew). And this answered my next question of how Mark knew the two men with him where robbers. The inscription above Jesus read "King of the Jews".
I find it sad that even when Jesus was suffering a horrible death that people still had to come by and mock him. My heart cries out ENOUGH ALREADY.
They used his own words against him saying "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" As well as "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe". Even the men dying with him reviled him.
It just shows, I guess, that they really didn't know what they were doing and that they really didn't understand who Jesus was.
Could Jesus (if he were a disobedient son of God) saved himself from the torment of the cross? FOR SURE. But he wasn't a disobedient son. He did as his Father commanded him. It was not an easy thing, but he knew that it was a necessary thing. My heart just weeps for how my LORD was treated.
Does your heart weep?
Have you truly considered today what the Lord did for you? What he went through so that YOU might have a right relationship with God the Father? Is that knowledge changing your life? Is that love of God showing forth in your actions?
I pray that today it does. That it makes a difference in how I treat my loved ones and those others around me. May I live a life that is sacrificial.