Luke 23:26-31 Carrying the Cross
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: December 17, 2018 Luke 23:26-31
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
(Understanding the Text) This is the summarized version. I have always assumed that the Bible says that the reason that they seized Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross was because Jesus was too weak to carry his own cross. However, it does not actually say that in the verses. It does not say why Simon was compelled to carry the cross. However, it is logical to think that this was the reason why they made someone else carry Jesus’ cross.
Simon had no way of knowing the life-changing event that would confront him that day. He had probably heard about Jesus’ miraculous healing power and wise teachings, yet here was Jesus being led to be crucified surrounded by hatred from many people. Confusion and compassion may have swirled around in his emotions as the parade of tragedy came close to him. He stood out from the Jewish crowd in physical appearance but mostly in facial expression. He had not invested hatred or love or grief in Jesus. He was an onlooker who felt compassion yet still maintained an emotional distance from what was happening. The Romans may have seen this and realized that he would not cause them the kinds of problems that they would have if they chose someone else from the crowd. Or maybe it was simply because God was about to force Simon to confront truths that would transform his life. Maybe, God knew that it was time for Simon to make a choice and become involved. This would be Simon’s last chance to know Jesus personally.
(Revelation of God) To worldly appearances, Simon was about to undergo humiliation and become unclean, but in heavenly eyes, Simon was about to perform one of the greatest services possible. He may be the only person in the universe that has ever personally helped God when God could not help Himself. God gives us the opportunity to help Him in His work, but He does not need us. He could do the job better by Himself–better but not more happily. God likes to work with us. And the Father could have made the cross carry itself, so I’m not talking about the Father, but Jesus could not carry His own cross. He was too weak. The Father could not strengthen Jesus directly. The Holy Spirit could not strengthen Jesus directly. Only a human could help. I can think of no other situation in the Bible where a human helped the divine because the divine was powerless to help Himself. Simon seemed to be under punishment by worldly standards, but in reality he was privileged with the greatest gift of all.
Jesus saw His place in the history of the human race. He saw where the choices made by the Jewish people that day would lead them. He saw the starvation of Jerusalem under siege and the crosses lined up on the surrounding hills with the sons of the women of Jerusalem. He saw the heartbreak that the women of Jerusalem would face, and He felt compassion for them. He told them not to cry on His behalf and that He felt sorrow on their behalf. Then that vision of destruction blended in with the final destruction of the world when others who had rejected the action that He was taking that day would flee in terror from Him. He felt compassion for those lost souls also. The actions that happened when Jesus came as Savior would have consequences when the final steps in the plan of salvation moved forward. If the men acted as they did when Jesus was with them in the humbleness of flesh, they would be filled with terror when Jesus came in the fullness of His glory and power. In Gethsemane Jesus had accepted that there was no other way forward and set Himself to endure the excruciating mental pain that He was experiencing. That pain had not gone away, but it was pierced every now and then by the need to comfort the humans around Him. Even under the worst circumstances, Jesus still wanted to heal us. It shows that compassion and the desire to heal are integral parts of God’s very nature.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I pray that Jesus’ character will become an integral part of me. I pray that even under the worst circumstances, I will only react with Jesus’ love and compassion and joy in humans. I know that I am terrible at loving people. I need the Spirit to transform me into Your image rather than my own sinful ways. Heal me and change me, I pray.