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During the time of the crucifixion,
there was man of Cyrene whose name was Simon. As written in the Holy
Bible (Mark 15:21), Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. He
is only mentioned in the Holy Bible during the time the soldiers asked
him to carry the Cross for our Lord Jesus Christ. "Now as they led
Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was
coming from the country, and on him they laid the Cross that he might
bear it after Jesus" (Luke 23:26). Some might ask the question of,
"Why did they not want the Lord Jesus to die on the route to Golgotha"?
"Why did the Lord Jesus Christ have to die on the Cross and not some
other way?" The following points will explain these questions.
- Death on the cross was considered shameful,
so the Lord chose the kind of death that was most shameful and most
horrible at that time. This is why St. Paul says that the Lord,
"endured the Cross, scorning its shame" (Heb. 12:2). So there was
humiliation on the Cross, and because of this St. Paul said, "Let
us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore."
(Heb. 13:13), for the Cross was considered a disgrace.
- In the Old Testament, death by crucifixion
was considered a curse, and it was said that whoever was hung upon
a cross was accursed. The Lord intended by His crucifixion to bear
all the curses, which could fall on mankind, which the Law indicated
(Deut.28), so that He could give us a blessing, and so that there
should be no more curses in the future.
- Crucifixion was a manner of death in which
the person who was to die was literally raised above the earth,
so the Lord Jesus could say that after He had been 'raised' above
the earth, He would draw all men to Himself. Just as the Lord Jesus
Christ was raised on the cross, so was He raised in glory in His
Ascension. Also by His crucifixion He raised us with Him from the
level of dust and earth.
- In His death the Lord Christ stretched out
His arms to all mankind, in a gesture of His acceptance of all people.
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