Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out Simon Of Cyrene!
The Questions
1) Who is this Simon of Cyrene, anyway?
2) What do these verses tell me about God’s character?
3) What do these verses tell me about people?
Luke 23:23-33
23 But they kept up the pressure, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified, and their voices won out. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand 25 and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.
26 As they led him away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus. 27 A large crowd of people followed him, including women who were mourning and lamenting him. 28 But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. 29 Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the women without children, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall onus!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two others—criminals—were also led away to be executed with him. 33 When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
Original Intent
1) Who is this Simon of Cyrene, anyway?
On this day as Jesus is being led to The Skull for His crucifixion, Simon was “coming in the from the country”. (verse 26) Mark 15:21 notes Simon was, “passing by”, painting the picture that Simon may not have been fully aware of all that was happening. He may have heard of Jesus, but was he yelling, “crucify him!” just moments earlier? The text does not really indicate this.
The book of Mark also notes Simon has two sons, Alexander and Rufus. It is not known if they were with Simon at this unusual moment. However, this detail, in correlation with other verses from Acts, gives the impression that Mark’s readers were familiar with the sons at the time the book of Mark was written. Possibly, Simon’s family was hospitable to the disciples during Jesus’ ministry.
Why was Simon picked? Did he have a different skin color (coming from the area of Liberia in Africa)? Was he young and muscular, able to carry the crossbar of the Jesus’ cross? Or did he just have a confused look on his face? However it happened, Simon the Cyrenian did not walk away from the encounter unchanged.
2) What do these verses tell me about God’s character?
These short verses encompass big encounters during which Jesus keeps His purpose in focus. From His intentional responses of silence before Pilot and the crowds to His purposeful conversation with the women on the road, Jesus moves forward to complete His mission of propitiation (taking our punishment on Himself) and calling people to recognize their helpless state before God.
In verses 23-25, Jesus has been up all night, enduring mockery, beatings, and scrutiny from both Pilate (a Roman governor) and Herod (a Jewish governor), yet found innocent. Jesus remained silent through all it, never once defending Himself. He knew neither of these governors had power beyond what was given to them in that moment by God the Father. This has been the plan from the beginning of the world to reconcile God’s people back to Himself. That is precisely why Jesus lived on earth – to complete the mission of the Gospel.
As Jesus, weary and exhausted, moves towards the cross, He continues His purpose to warn and teach others. There are different theories as to why the women of verse 24 were lamenting, but as some of the last people Jesus spoke to, He tells them to mourn over a deeper sadness of sin and the destruction. He is speaking of Israel’s sin of refusing to acknowledge Him as the Messiah and foretells of Jerusalem’s coming destruction in AD 70.
3) What do these verses tell me about people?
In contrast to Jesus staying kingdom-focused, we humans are first inclined to hone in on how we are feeling in the temporary years of life on earth. In verse 25, Luke notes Jesus was handed over to “their will.” The will and pressure of a group of people (starting with the Pharisees and any who felt threatened by Jesus’ presence, abilities, and popularity) who influenced Pilate to go against his own conclusion of Jesus’ innocence. (Luke 23:13-16) Pilate was focused on the temporary physical worries in handing Jesus over for crucifixion. Many of the people yelling to crucify Christ were, only days prior, welcoming Him with a parade. But, they too, fell into the influence of the temporal worries.
The ladies lamenting over Jesus as He walked to Golgotha only saw a man on a road to His gruesome death. They could not see the victory that was approaching in only three more days. Judging by Jesus’ response, they neither saw their own personal sin or the impending destruction of Jerusalem that God would allow as consequences of Israel’s sin. We see in people the failing struggle to look past the emotion and fear of the moment, to the God who orchestrates a mighty plan of redemption to rescue them from their sin!
Everyday Application
1) Who is this Simon of Cyrene, anyway?
Most of us can relate to an experience of “why me?” Bible commentators have pointed out the unique situation of Simon of Cyrene literally carrying out Jesus’ words earlier in his ministry: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24
One may say Simon did not have a choice. He well could have asked, “Why Me?!”. He was pressed by powerful Roman guards before a large and upset crowd. Whatever Simon himself was thinking (surprise, sadness for Jesus, fear for what could happen to himself after reaching Golgotha, pressure, fatigue, stress, etc.), it was a scene with much to process. But God was using every single moment of it to draw people to Jesus. To Simon, the event may have felt out of control or senseless. But God’s sovereignty was over him, leading him, to become a worker of the early church.
What in your life feels heavy, coincidental, and perhaps senseless? Because our human nature inclines us away from God, an encounter with Him and His purposes of sanctification rocks our boat; it feels unusual, strange, and painful. Lean into Jesus with your questions and remember He is in the business of making us new!
2) What do these verses tell me about God’s character?
“Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17). These are Jesus’ beginning words when as He transitioned into public ministry and calling His disciples. His message echoes that of John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus’ formal ministry. Such a call may sound harsh, but He did it all out of love for His people.
Jesus went to extraordinary lengths to point people to repentance and salvation. What is keeping you from mourning your own sins against God? Or, perhaps, from waking up each morning with a renewed sense of gratitude and purpose for another day of living in the salvation God has provided you? What is your distraction from God’s first call on every Christian’s life to love God first and most and, from that love, warn the lost? Take in and rejoice how Jesus never lost focus of the greater picture of redemption! Jesus did not get caught up in the latest entertainment, styles, or politics. He was singularly caught up in drawing people to the realization of their need for and freedom in repentance and forgiveness. Seek God to show you how to be more like Jesus in these ways.
3) What do these verses tell me about people?
Setting a goal to be more like Jesus can be motivating for a season, but when the rubber meets the road, the holes in self-discipline, patience, and trusting the Lord for His purposes in the situation really start to show. Perhaps one can hold their tongue decently at work or in an environment one is afraid they might have great loss of income or respect by outsiders. But attempting to hold the tongue in honoring a child or spouse seems impossible. I have often found myself crying to Jesus, “I can’t do it!”
In our strivings to be like Jesus, it is important to realize the truth of the matter – we are not like Jesus. We need Jesus to be like Him. Jesus did not call us to only wash the outside and look like Him in good deeds alone. He calls people to be cleansed on the inside (the heart, mind, and right standing before God) (Luke 11:39-40). This is why He came – to offer internal and eternal cleansing (from which our ought good deeds flow). Call to Him for help, no matter where you are in your faith journey! Even if you don’t think you have sin to deal with, call on Jesus and He will show you more of Himself!
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Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with Simon Of Cyrene!
Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
Memorize It!
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Your question sticks with me: “What is your distraction from God’s first call on every Christian’s life to love God first and most and, from that love, warn the lost? ” I am thanking Him for His amazing love and praying it overflows to those I meet today. Thanks for adjusting my lens this morning!
Thank you for reminding me of my own words. It’s easy to get distracted. But God is gracious!
“love Him first….and Most”
First can easily become a checkmark to me. But Most requires a constant, moment-by-moment submission.
Good words, my friend!