“Carrying his own cross, Jesus went out to the place called the Place of the Skull (in Aramaic, Golgotha).”
John 19:17 (NLT)
Jesus practiced what He preached. Before He ever asked us to take up a cross, He shouldered His first — beaten, bloody, bruised, humiliated, and disfigured — yet still obedient. Even in unbearable pain, He moved forward. This means we have no excuse to avoid our own cross when it feels heavy or unfair.
As Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Help does not come before obedience — it comes after we step out in faith and bear the weight ourselves first. The Holy Spirit empowers us, but He will not carry what we refuse to pick up.
Simon of Cyrene did not arrive until Jesus had already begun the journey. Simon didn’t remove the cross; he helped shoulder it so Jesus could endure. In a very real sense, if Simon had not come, Jesus may have died in the street and never made it to Golgotha to fulfill Scripture and secure eternal life for us. That matters.
Our cross is not what saves people — Jesus’ cross is — but our obedience is often the bridge God uses to bring people to Him. Today, thank Jesus for Simon, pick up your cross, carry the message of Christ, and when you see a brother or sister being crushed beneath their burden, help them lift it again and keep moving forward.