Lesson for the Lord’s Day
And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha. John 19:17
It must have been an incredible sight for those watching to see the Lord Jesus, bleeding and battered, making His way through Jerusalem’s streets to the place outside where He was to be crucified. There is some uncertainty as to whether he was carrying the pole on which He was to be lifted up, or whether He was carrying the cross-member that was to be placed on the pole, the beam on which He was to be nailed. However it was, He was carrying the cross, although, in a very real sense, He had already been carrying His cross for a long time.
He accepted the burden of the cross when the Plan of Salvation was drafted and designed in the council-chambers of Heaven. He always knew that the cross was His destination, and also knew exactly what His suffering and shame was to be as He would make His way to Golgotha.
He knew all about the cross as he, as a lad of 12, debated with the doctors of the Law in the temple, as he later told Mary and Joseph, that He must be about His Father’s business. That business focused on the cross.
He bore His cross all through His earthly ministry. The weight of the cross was very real as He emerged from the waters of Jordan, as he trod the dusty roads of Galilee, as he ministered to the hungry, sick, and sin-wracked people of Palestine, as he entered the garden of Gethsemane. He knew all about the weight of the cross as the rulers and lawyers shouted for His crucifixion.
He bore His cross, and He bore our sins. We remember today how willing He was to bear our sins and carry our iniquities. -Jim MacIntosh