Day 4: Jesus and Simon Are Made to Carry the Cross
John 19:17 (ESV)
and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
Matthew 27:32-34 (ESV)
As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
From the laundry room floor, I heard the sounds of a normal school day morning, cereal being poured into bowls, my husband unzipping backpacks and tucking the lunches inside. For the past 20 minutes I’d been laying here, crying a deep, loud, raw, unstopping cry. It wasn’t the laundry making me this way. I was carrying a burden that felt far too heavy. I was weary. I wanted to give up. I knew God was with me, but where was He?
As Jesus carried His cross to Golgatha, He’d been beaten, bruised, and weakened. Certainly, He struggled under the weight. To move the journey along, a man was pulled from the crowd and forced to walk behind Jesus and carry His cross. The Bible tells us little about this man, Simon of Cyrene. How did he find himself with the crowd that day? Was he there to jeer? To worship? To watch? We know only that he was there, and somehow that is enough.
Laying there on my laundry room floor, it occurred to me that maybe God WAS with me in this darkness. Maybe by looking for the flash of light and the instant fix, I was missing the little ways He was there. God was showing up in my life through people. I cast my thoughts back through the last few days. There was the friend who grabbed my kids after school because I’d hit traffic on my way home from work. There was the friend who faithfully texted me every morning to see how I was. There was the friend who’d just dropped off dinner two days ago. There was my husband who turned around at the sight of my tear stained face this very morning and wrapped me in a hug.
God didn’t design us to be independent and self-reliant. He designed us with weakness and failings. He knew we’d struggle. He designed us to walk alongside one another and carry each other’s burdens.
God could have written His story differently. He could have shown us a Savior who was strong and powerful until His last breath. But instead, God gave us a Savior who was helped by others to shoulder his burden. Whose burden can you shoulder? And who has been helping to shoulder yours?
Day 8: Jesus is Resurrected!
Matthew 28:1-10 (ESV) Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the...
Raised Forever
Easter is the celebration of all celebrations! Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death and is raised to life. The resurrection of Jesus is not some legend that has been passed down through the ages meant to give us an excuse for another holiday. In Easter we see the...
Day 7: Jesus’ Body is Taken Down From the Cross
Mark 15:42-47 (ESV) And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and...
Day 6: Jesus Dies
Mark 15:33-35 (ESV) And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of...
Day 5: Jesus’ Garments Are Divided
John 19:23-25 (ESV) When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not...
Day 3: Jesus is Mocked and Tortured
Matthew 27:27-31 (ESV) Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his...
Day 2: Jesus is Condemned
Matthew 27:15-26 (ESV) Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for...
Day 1: Jesus is Arrested and Tried
Mark 15:1-5 (ESV) And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And...
A Hallelujah Holiday
Keeping the Savior at the CenterWhen many of us think Easter, egg hunts and chocolate bunnies immediately come to mind. True, many of today’s Easter festivities focus more around the coming of spring than the resurrection of our Savior, but the heart of the holiday...