Matthew 27:31-34 31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. 32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him [i]sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.
There was a famous painting illustrating the meaning of Christmas. A shadow was cast across the manger in the shape of a cross, and within that cross-shaped light lay the baby Jesus. The artist was conveying the grand Biblical truth that Jesus was born specifically to die on the cross. You gain a distorted, worldly understanding of Christmas if you view the story without the cross—the manger without the sacrifice.
The entire meaning of the manger is derived from the cross. No true Christian would want to think of the birth of Christ without considering the ultimate purpose of that birth: He was born to die to save sinners. The angel who announced His birth said, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus,” for He would save His people from their sins.
Worldly celebrations often attempt to hide the gore, shame, and pain of the cross behind festive activities, sentimentality, and gift-giving. All these superficial things disappear like a mist when brought under the sun of the preaching of the cross. In the fourth century, the original intention of celebrating Christmas was to divert minds from worldly sins and festivals toward the glory of Christ and His sacrifice. However, people eventually forgot the cross while continuing the celebration.
By providence, one week before Christmas 2022, our regular study of the Gospel of Matthew has brought us to the place where Jesus is crucified. This is the climax of Matthew and the apex of the entire Bible. Our journey has brought us to the place called Golgotha, known in Latin as Calvary.
The Power of the Cross
As we study the suffering and death of Christ, the cross becomes increasingly glorious. I am beginning to understand why Paul said he desired to preach nothing except “Christ and him crucified.” The apostles and reformers sparked great revivals and changed the world through this preaching. Christ crucified is the answer to the evils of this world.
While preparing for the Madurai Christmas meeting, my topic was “Born to give us a second birth.” Without the New Birth, a sinner is like a dead body, unable to perform anything spiritual. This New Birth is solely the sovereign work of God; no sinner or pastor can bring it about. While God uses the entire Scripture to raise a dead sinner to life, history shows that the Holy Spirit primarily uses the preaching of the cross. As Jesus said in John 3:14-15:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
It is through the preaching of the cross that Christians grow in sanctification and churches experience revival. As we climb this infinite mountain of Christ’s sufferings—having seen Gethsemane, His arrest, and His six trials—we come to the aftermath of the mockery in verse 31:
“And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.”
The Journey to Golgotha
The Romans typically forced prisoners to carry their own crosses from the governor’s palace to a site outside the city. Soldiers would place the cross on the prisoner, driving them forward with whips and kicks to ensure they moved quickly. They paraded these prisoners through the main streets, where thousands of people could see them, as a vivid warning against violating Roman law.
This morning, we take that journey to the mountain where our Lord accomplished His greatest work. It is the journey toward the salvation of everyone who will ever enter heaven. In our journey to Calvary, we will observe two stops: the help received on the way and the arrival at our destination.
As soon as Pilate ordered the crucifixion, the soldiers forced Jesus to bear the cross. Consider the state of His body at this stage. His last meal was during the Passover in the Upper Room. He had tasted no food or drink since then. From there, He went to Gethsemane, where He strained for hours in prayer, sweating blood. He was then arrested and taken through trials before Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod.
Throughout this ordeal, He was punched, slapped, and spat upon. He was unrefreshed by sleep and nearly killed by the scourging. Finally, He was mocked by hundreds of soldiers. By the time He reached the street, His body was utterly exhausted and traumatized.
John 19:17 tells us:
“And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.”
The First Stop: Simon of Cyrene
Jesus carried His cross for a portion of the distance alongside two other criminals. The cross was likely a full structure weighing around 100 kg, as it had to support a man’s body. It would have been laid across His shoulders and strapped to His arms. Though He possessed a strong body, He was so weakened by fasting, blood loss, and the brutality of the previous hours that He staggered and fell repeatedly.
The soldiers, seeing that the two thieves were moving faster, grew impatient. They did not pity Jesus, but they wanted to finish the work quickly. On the way, they found a man to provide help.
“Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross.” (Matthew 27:32)
Under the Roman system, soldiers had the right to compel anyone to perform government duty or carry a burden. They caught a man named Simon from Cyrene, located in North Africa. He was likely a member of the Jewish dispersion who had traveled a great distance to attend the Passover feast.
Simon was just passing through, perhaps on his way to the temple, when he encountered the procession. He saw the soldiers beating a man who had collapsed under a heavy load. What seemed like an unforeseen coincidence was about to change this man’s life forever.
No Roman soldier would demean himself by carrying the cross of a condemned Jewish criminal. Therefore, they forced Simon to do it. The text says they “compelled” him, suggesting he initially refused. To a Jew, the cross was a symbol of being cursed by God. No matter how much pity Simon might have felt, helping with a “cursed” activity was a horrible prospect.
Imagine Simon’s frustration: “I traveled all the way from Africa to worship Jehovah, and now I am forced to carry this cursed wood for a beaten man.” Despite his grudging refusal, he had no choice. He took the heavy cross upon his shoulders, and the journey continued with Simon bearing the weight while Jesus staggered alongside him, surrounded by soldiers.
The Second Stop: The Daughters of Jerusalem
“And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.” (Luke 23:27)
A great multitude followed the procession to Golgotha, including a group of women who were mourning and lamenting. We do not know if they were all believers, but in the natural tenderness of women—less hardened than the men who mocked Him—they were overcome with emotion. Seeing Jesus staggering and unable to bear His cross, they broke into the kind of unbridled wailing and shrieking typical of a grieving Indian home.
However, Jesus turned to them and said:
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23:28)
Even in His own agony and weakness, our Lord’s compassion was perfect. He told them, “Do not weep for Me; weep for the curse your husbands have brought upon you when they cried, ‘His blood be on us and our children.’” He warned them of a terrifying judgment where the barren would be called blessed because they would not have to watch their children slaughtered or dashed against rocks.
He concluded with a haunting proverb: “For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” (Luke 23:31). Jesus is the “green wood”—the sap-filled, innocent Messiah. If the Romans and the divine wrath of God treat an innocent person this way as a sacrifice, what will be done to the “dry tree” of a sinful, barren Israel that has rejected its Savior? This was a direct prophecy of the destruction of 70 A.D., a catastrophe from which the land has struggled to recover for 2,000 years.
Arrival at Golgotha: The Place of the Skull
Finally, the procession arrived at the destination.
“And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull…” (Matthew 27:33)
Golgotha is an Aramaic word; in Latin, it is Calvary. Both mean “The Skull.” This was not because actual skulls were lying about, which would have been an abomination to the Jews, but because of the mountain’s shape. It was a barren, smooth, round hill that resembled a human skull.
The scene at the summit included the staggering Son of God, Simon bearing the cross, and two other criminals (malefactors or low-level evildoers) who were led with Him to be executed. From a distance, a devoted group of women, including Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, watched in horror. While the male disciples had forsaken Him and fled, these noble women remained to witness His final hours.
The First Act: Refusing the Cup
The first act of the crucifixion was an offer of “mercy” from the soldiers.
“They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.” (Matthew 27:34)
They offered Him a mixture of wine and gall (or myrrh), which acted as a narcotic and a sedative—a primitive analgesic to numb the senses.
Why did the soldiers offer it? It was not out of compassion. These soldiers were professional executioners trained to be heartless. They offered it for convenience. They knew that a man about to be nailed to a cross often experiences a surge of adrenaline, giving him superhuman strength to kick, push, and scream. To get their bloodied job done efficiently without a struggle, they drugged the prisoners.
Why did Jesus refuse it? Jesus tasted it, perhaps out of thirst, but once He realized it was a narcotic, He resolutely refused. There are two vital reasons for this:
- To Demonstrate Voluntary Suffering: He wanted to show that His sacrifice was a free and uncompelled act. He would not take a drug to make Himself passive; instead, He would submissively stretch out His own arms to receive the nails. He chose to take the blows and the mockery with a clear and composed mind.
- To Fully Experience the Wrath of God: His greatest suffering was still ahead of Him. It was not Gethsemane or the scourging, but the hours on the cross where the infinite wrath of a holy God would fall upon His soul. To be an atoning sacrifice, He had to consciously feel every terror of hell and every pang of divine judgment. There is no “gall” in hell to numb the pain of the lost; therefore, our Substitute drank the cup of wrath to its dregs without any sedative. He wanted to ensure His awareness was complete so that He could truly say, “It is finished.”
Application
What was it that made the Lord take that staggering step forward toward the mountain? He traveled that road in such weakness and unbearable agony that He could not even bear His own cross. The crowd looked on in shame, making Him an object of taunts and jabs. Soldiers cursed and kicked Him, dragging Him toward His death. He could barely walk, yet He moved forward while the Jerusalem feast crowd mocked and spat upon Him, assuming He was a false prophet cursed by God.
His public shame was heightened by being placed in the company of two convicted criminals. In fact, He appeared the worst among them. There is no evidence those thieves were scourged or mocked; their bodies were not bruised like the Lord’s. They did not wear a crown of thorns with blood streaming down their faces. A visitor to Jerusalem that day, seeing the three men, would have instinctively thought that the one dripping with blood and spit was the most wretched criminal of all. Yet, He was the only innocent person to ever live on this earth.
Why did He take another step when He was too weak to carry the wood? Every step He took serves as a testimony to His determined, immutable love and His thirst for our salvation.
The Voluntary Cup
Never forget that He had a real human body—a body exactly like our own, just as sensitive and vulnerable to intense pain. In any other case, it would have been legitimate to take the offered wine to lessen the physical agony. How could He refuse it? How could He willingly offer His hands to be driven through with nails?
He was “intoxicated” with another wine—the divine love He has for you and me. Jesus chose to face death in full consciousness, wanting nothing to numb His senses as He tasted death on our behalf. No one took His life; He laid it down. At every moment where it appeared He was being forced, He was actually choosing and embracing His path. The depth of His love is found in its freedom: “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative.”
Scripture says that while we were yet sinners, Christ suffered and died for us. This is the grand display of God’s love. Our lives can be transformed when we realize we are loved to such an infinite extent by the greatest Person in the universe.
The Illustration of Simon
We can learn how to appropriate this love by looking at the man called Simon of Cyrene. In all three Gospels, Simon is introduced as being attached to Christ’s cross. Mark even identifies his children, Alexander and Rufus. Tradition tells us that Simon became a Christian and his life was completely changed. His sons likely became leaders in the early church at Rome, as Paul mentions a “Rufus, chosen in the Lord” and a woman who was “a mother to me”—the wife of Simon.
Simon’s experience provides a beautiful picture of the Gospel. He was a sinner who deserved to die, yet the cross was transferred from him to Christ. He must have realized, “I was the one upon whom they laid the cross by chance, but I was the one who was truly guilty before God’s law. I should have been the one crucified, but the penalty was transferred to Him.” That glorious transaction—our sins and wrath transferred to Christ, and His righteousness and forgiveness transferred to us—is the heart of our faith.
Your Response: Pity or Penitence?
Whatever your previous relationship with Jesus, it is meaningless until you see what Simon saw. Jesus does not want your pity; He does not need you to stand with the wailing women and cry, “How terrible.” He says, “Do not weep for Me; realize your condition as a depraved sinner and weep for yourself.”
The cross Simon bore is the symbol of the curse that we deserve. Your attachment to Christ is only saving when you see that He died in your place as a voluntary choice of sovereign love. Simon also illustrates the fruitful Christian life. To follow Jesus is to deny yourself and take up your cross—the instrument of execution for a life centered on self and sin.
True faith produces transformation that impacts those around you, just as Simon’s faith transformed his family. As Paul said in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
The terms of following Christ have never changed: you must say “no” to self and “yes” to your cross. If you do not, the day is coming when you will cry for the mountains to fall on you and the rocks to hide you. The wrath He bore on the cross will be unleashed in the last day upon all who are not saved through Him. May the gore of Golgotha be the open door of life to you this day.