How Far Did Jesus Carry The Cross?

How far did Jesus carry His cross? What was the distance and how difficult must that have been for Him?

The Offense of the Cross

Paul writes, “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2nd Cor 4:3-4). This explains people’s reaction that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (Cor 1:18). This might be one of the few Scriptures that non-Christians will believe. It seems foolish to them because they are blinded. Christians should understand that “we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” but “to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things” (2nd Cor 2:15-16)? It cannot be avoided because for “this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1st Pet 2:21).

Why the Cross?

Perhaps the foolishness of the cross to unbelievers is that they see themselves as being okay and even as a good person but the Bible tells us otherwise as Paul writes that “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” and “no one does good, not even one” (Rom 3:10-12). This means that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) because my and “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Ezekiel wrote that “None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die” (18:24). When the book of life is opened someday and the lost are “judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Rev 20:12) and thinking they’re basically a good person and had done a lot of good things, then “they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done” (Rev 20:13) and if their “name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15). Good works are useless on the Day of Judgment (Eph 2:8-9). Try telling a judge in a court of law that you did a lot of good things and see if that helps you get out of your crime. At the end of the age, the book of life will be opened and “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

The Passion

Christ’s Passion started long before Calvary. I would argue that it began long before the Passion Week as He said a year or more earlier, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45) and that “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:18) since “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). As Jesus’ hour drew near, He said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27). Just before His betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was in such anguish that His sweat became mixed with blood (Luke 22:44) and He cried out “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch” (Mark 13:43). Of course, then He was taken and tortured and bruised and beaten, all for our sake or for our iniquities (Isaiah 53), so that He would take upon Himself the wrath of God previously directed toward us and then placed on His Son for the removal of God’s wrath that is still on all who disbelieve (John 3:36b). The precious blood of the Lamb of God takes our sins away. It is a free gif that came at an infinite price (Eph 2:8-9).

The Via Dolorosa

Jesus walk up Calvary hill was called “The Via Dolorosa” or “the way of suffering.” John writes in 19:16-17 that they “delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.” This would mean Jesus would be delivered over to the Roman authorities beginning at Pontius Pilate’s palace and the distance between there and Golgotha is roughly 650 yards or so, but we must remember that Jesus was carrying the crossbar (the patibulum) across His shoulders and it weight between 80 and 110 pounds and going uphill! He had also lost a lot of blood and fluids from His frequent beatings and bleeding. It was only through the help of Simon of Cyrene that Jesus was able to make it all the way to Calvary because He had been beaten so badly and so much so that He almost didn’t look human (Isaiah 52:14).

Conclusion

Isaiah wrote a lot about Jesus Christ, the coming “suffering servant” and Messiah. He even wrote that Jesus was beaten beyond recognition so much that Isaiah writes “many were astonished at you – his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Isaiah 52:14). Jesus “was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3) but of His shed blood shall many live forever!

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.