Bible Synapse
Who carried the cross: Jesus or Simon of Cyrene?
Hard question · The death and resurrection of Jesus · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
“And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull”.
And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
“as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.”
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
Simon, “who passed by, coming out of the country”, was compelled to bear the cross.
And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
They laid the cross on Simon, “that he might bear it after Jesus”.
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
The objection
John says Jesus went out to Golgotha carrying his own cross. Matthew, Mark and Luke say the soldiers made Simon of Cyrene carry it. Critics take this as a plain conflict.
The answer
Both happened, one after the other. A man condemned to crucifixion was normally made to carry his own cross, or at least its crossbeam, to the place of execution, and John tells us that Jesus set out in that way: “he bearing his cross went forth” (John 19:17). The other Gospels take up the story on the way. Matthew says it was “as they came out” that the soldiers found Simon (Matthew 27:32); Mark, that Simon was passing by, coming in from the country (Mark 15:21); and Luke, that they laid the cross on him “that he might bear it after Jesus” (Luke 23:26). The verb ‘compelled’ (Greek angareuō) is the word for soldiers pressing a civilian into service, as in Matthew 5:41.
So Jesus carried the cross out of Pilate’s headquarters and some way along the road; then, probably because the scourging had left him too weak to go on, the soldiers made a passer-by carry it behind him. John does not deny that Simon helped, and the other Gospels do not deny that Jesus began by carrying it himself. John’s emphasis suits his theme that Jesus went to his death willingly; the others name Simon, whose sons Alexander and Rufus were evidently known to Mark’s first readers (Mark 15:21).
Other answers Christians give
Simon shared the load
Some older commentators, such as Adam Clarke, pictured Simon helping Jesus to carry the cross rather than carrying it alone. Luke’s words “after Jesus” fit either picture.
From the classic commentators
He bore it all alone first; when he could no longer carry the whole through weakness, occasioned by the ill usage he had received, Simon, a Cyrenian, helped him to carry itAdam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, on John 19 (1810–1826)
Sources
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible: John 19 (1810–1826), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: John 19 (1871), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 27 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub