March 10, 2024, Lent 4
Matthew 27:27-43
Text Introduction
I realize this text is a few weeks early for the fourth Sunday of Lent, but it’s relevant for us always, but especially today in a way that is less about Jesus’ day of crucifixion, and more about what is happening in a particular moment leading up to the crucifixion.
Today, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, as we continue to explore and consider our belovedness, we are of course focusing on Christ, but we are also focusing on a man by the name of Simon of Cyrene.
Introduction
Our story from Matthew doesn’t tell us how far Jesus carried His cross. We know he has just been beaten and whipped, that he is injured and bloodied to the point of being nearly unrecognizable. We know anyone having to endure such would not be able to stand, let alone walk while carrying a sizeable and heavy weight—such as that of a wooden cross. We know Jesus did take up his cross and was led by his tormentors like a lamb to be slain, but he himself could not carry that cross for long.
We know that Simon, the Cyrene, was “compelled” to pick up and carry the cross of Jesus to the place of crucifixion. Jesus was too weak and frail to carry his cross, and so it was laid on another’s shoulder. Jesus had reached the end of his endurance, was a physically broken and wounded man. After all, there is only so much one person can take—there is a breaking point for everyone— and now, even for the son of God.
And this truth is a key understanding when it comes to our belovedness.
Move 1
If it is true then, that everyone has a breaking point—even the son of God—what does this mean to us? After all, Jesus just said a few chapters before this, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Why would Jesus call us do something he could not do himself? Why are we called to take up a cross when Jesus himself couldn’t take it up? Could it be it’s not about taking up our cross?
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The cross to Christians is a symbol—a symbol of commitment, a symbol of hope, a symbol of faith that reminds us of who we belong to and what has been given to us—because of that cross. But the cross for Jesus was a heavy burden; it was an implement of death. It weighed him down to the point of falling to his knees, crushing his already broken body with its size and mass. Be it wooden and physical, or metaphorical and spiritual, the cross is a burden that weighs on us, but is also the way to new life.
Move 2
Yes, Jesus calls us to take up our crosses and follow him. And with that call there is an implicit message that in doing so we will be given the strength, courage and ability to do so because we are followers of Christ. But then… not long after this call, we see Jesus unable to take up his own cross.
Look at the incongruity of these two messages and it’s not hard for doubt to creep in—doubts about Jesus, doubts about his call to us, doubts about his promises. But if we go deeper than just the surface of the incongruity, I believe we find how Jesus’ promises are not only still true, but they are even stronger than we could have ever realized.
Jesus needed someone to bear the cross for him because even the Son of God has a breaking point. There is great hope and encouragement in this truth because it tells us, and shows us, we are not the only ones burdened down to the ground at times, unable to go on in our own strength. Jesus shows us this is true for all of us—even the strongest and most faithful among us. No one can ever bear their cross alone. And we should never try to convince ourselves we can, because not even Jesus did.
We are not beloved because we bear our crosses. We are beloved who will have to bear crosses.
Move 3
In this season of Lent we look to walk closer with Jesus, become his followers again. We will do this by denying ourselves things we enjoy. But if we are going to become Jesus’ followers, if we are going to deny ourselves and take up our crosses, if we are going to identify with Jesus’ crucifixion, we must also face, once and for all, the truth that no human being can carry his or her own cross.
We can rest assured that Jesus remembers his own cross. He remembers that another had to carry it for him. So why then would he ask us to shoulder a cross he knows will soon crush us to the ground?
He knows we can’t carry it in our own strength. He knows all about the agony, the helplessness, the burden that crosses create. There is a truth hidden here that we must uncover. It is a truth so powerful and edifying, it could change the way we look at all our troubles and hurts.
Though it almost sounds sacrilegious to suggest Jesus could not carry his own cross, that is the truth. And what it means to us today is that Jesus, who is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, experienced for himself what it is like to be weak, discouraged and unable to go on without help. He was in all points tempted, just as we are. But the temptation is not in failing, not in laying down the cross because of weakness—the real temptation is in trying to pick up that cross and carry it on our own. God could have lifted that cross and levitated it all the way to Calvary. But God did not. God could have taken the weight out of the cross and made it featherlike. But God did not. Instead, what God did was give to Jesus one who could help him with the crushing weight of his cross. God gave to Jesus one who would offer him help to carry on.
Move 4
As some might see, and as the crowd no doubt saw, the crucifixion scene was not a series of blunders, not the revealing of a great charade. Though Christ died at the hands of sinners, the entire plan was born in the heart of God from the foundation of the world.
God put Simon there, ready to play his part in the plan of redemption. God was not caught by surprise when God’s Son could no longer carry the cross and thus fulfill prophecy. God knew Jesus would take up His cross, follow God’s path toward Golgotha, where he would lay down under its crushing weight of death. But God knew we cannot carry our own crosses. God knew we would always need help to withstand the crushing weight of the burdens we carry in our lives. And because God knew, God sent Simon of Cyrene to Jesus. And because God knows still, God sends to us not only Jesus, but others too, who—if we ask them, if we allow them to see our struggle, our pain, our agony, our helplessness—will be there for us, and with us, and help us pick up and bear the cross we are having to carry. We are not beloved because we bear our crosses. We are beloved who will have to bear crosses—but we are told, and shown by Jesus himself, we were never meant to carry those crosses alone.
Conclusion
No doubt each one of us has trials and hurts we are experiencing in our lives—they are crosses we are trying to carry, and most of the time, too often, we try to carry them on our own and end up dropping us to our knees, crushing us with their weight. Our sin then becomes trying to get up on our own. Our mistake becomes trying to carry them without anyone’s help, especially the help of Jesus.
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Today each one of you carried a cross into this time of worship. You carried spiritual crosses, and you carried physical crosses. And with the cross you have there, I invite you to name the cross you carry, the cross or crosses weighing you down, crushing you to the ground.
Then, today, or in the days to come, I invite you to give that cross to Jesus. But I want to encourage you as well to share that cross, or crosses, with someone else—with a Simon of Cyrene in your life. Go to them—a spouse, a partner, a parent, a family member, a dear friend—hand them your cross, tell them what the cross is, what it is about, why it is a cross you bear… and then ask them to help you carry that cross, ask them to help you bear that cross. Ask them to use their belovedness to help your belovedness.
In this season of Lent, Jesus is saying to us, “Before you take another step, face a moment of truth. Forget about denying yourself things and instead deny your self-will, your self-righteousness, your self-sufficiency, your self-authority. Admit you can do nothing in your own strength— you cannot overcome that which is crushing you through your own willpower—your temptations cannot be overcome by your self-efforts alone.”
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Lent reminds us we are always at the starting point of new life. On his way to death that leads to resurrection and new life, Jesus laid His cross down, and he was helped by the belovedness of another one of God’s beloved. So, let us in this season of Lent, follow his example, and lay down our crosses and let Jesus, and others, help us carry them. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, March 10, 2024, Lent 4
Gracious and loving God, as Jesus walked the way of the cross and accepted the service of Simon of Cyrene to carry his physical burden for him, we pray you bless each of us with the wisdom that we do not have to bear our crosses alone, and that we should not even try.
Speak to us this truth, again and again if necessary. Take away our inherent belief that life is individualistic, that we are forever on our own, that we are made to lift ourselves up, alone, by our bootstraps.
Remind us Creator God, that we were created in your image yes, but by your creative hand you saw it was not good for us to be alone, to be on our own; but that it is better for us to be with others; to be supported by those who love us; to support those we love.
But you showed us too that cross bearing is not just for those we know and love, but it is also for those who are simply your beloved.
Simon of Cyrene was called out of a crowd, and asked to bear a cross—and he did so because he knew it was needed, because he knew it was right, and because he knew he could do what was being asked of him.
So bless us with these deeper truths about how it is you call us to live, how you call us to carry our crosses, and how you call us to help others carry theirs.
Bless us with wisdom to know when we are not always strong enough, and then bless us with the strength to ask when we need the strength of others.
Bless us with grace and compassion to see another who is being crushed by their cross, and offer ourselves in their time of need, reminding us that when we do we have done it for your beloved, as your beloved, in the name of your beloved son who showed us the belovedness of carrying crosses.
Hear now the prayers that come from our hearts, and shared with yours, in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”