Reflective Bible Study

We’ve taken almost an entire year moving up to this point in the gospel narrative, and we now come to the passages that describe the road leading to the cross. However, in this event that all four gospels include, we discover something amazing: The four gospels don’t describe the same thing. In a unique turn of events, one of the gospels seems to contradict the other three.

Let’s read together this event and discover what happened. To represent the first three gospels, let’s read from the gospel of Mark, chapter 15, using the New Century Version. Starting in verse 21, Mark describes to us what happened by saying:

²¹ A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming from the fields to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. ²² They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. ²³ The soldiers tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he refused. ²⁴ The soldiers crucified Jesus and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots to decide what each soldier would get.

The road to Golgotha in Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include a previously unknown character. Simon from Cyrene had been minding his own business and was simple coming into the city when the soldiers spotted him and perhaps because Jesus was having difficulty carrying the cross because of the whipping and beating that they had done earlier, the soldiers force Simon to carry Jesus’ cross.

The way Mark describes this scene, and specifically that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus implies that the early church members knew who both Alexander and Rufus were. This makes me think that carrying Jesus’ cross had a powerful impact on Simon, and being forced into this situation drew Simon to Jesus in a way that no other event could have.

We don’t know if Simon had known, followed, or heard Jesus preach before this point. It is very possible. All we do know is that Simon, possibly reluctantly, steps into the pages of history to help Jesus when He needed help, and that at least two of Simon’s children were known among those in the early church.

However, John’s gospel describes Jesus’ road to Golgotha differently. John, chapter 19, verse 17 tells us that:

¹⁷ Carrying his own cross, Jesus went out to a place called The Place of the Skull, which in the Hebrew language is called Golgotha.

Is this a glaring contradiction between the gospels and a reason to distrust what John wrote? On the surface it might be, but part of me wonders if John is describing something different from what the other gospel writers included.

First off, John was the disciple who was most likely present for this. The other disciples had scattered and were hiding, so they would have learned about this event from others, and the gospel writers, specifically Mark and Luke who were not direct disciples, learned about what happened from other sources.

On one level, we could understand John to be clarifying a misconception that had been growing among the early church that Jesus barely made it very far with the cross. At the most basic level, John could be describing how Jesus successfully carried the cross all the way to the hill He was crucified on, but then lacked the strength to carry it up the hill. On seeing this, that is when Simon is recruited. This is one possible way we could harmonize this supposed contradiction.

However, on another level, John could be speaking more spiritually than literally here, and John could be describing Jesus’ “cross” not as the wooden structure that He would be hung from, but the burden that He carried taking all of humanities sins with Him to the crucifixion. In this symbolic understanding, Simon, while helping with the wooden beams for an undetermined length of the trip, could not have helped Jesus carry the emotional weight of the cross weighing on His heart.

John doesn’t give us many, if any, clues about how literal we should take this verse. The verses that surround it sound pretty direct and not symbolic, so it makes sense that this would be more of a literal description, but why would John be so direct about this when the other gospel writers are clear that Jesus received help?

It’s possible John emphasizes the event this way because he wants to draw our attention onto how Jesus bore His cross, specifically the cross that only He could bear, because that is what He challenged His followers to do as well. Luke, chapter 14, verse 17 records Jesus telling the crowd of followers: “Whoever is not willing to carry his cross and follow me cannot be my follower.” This challenge is problematic when we read in three of the four gospels that Simon carried Jesus’ literal cross to Golgotha.

However, Jesus’ challenge to His followers includes a layer of symbolism mixed within the literal. Many of Jesus’ followers were crucified on crosses, however not every one of them. Some of Jesus’ disciples traveled outside of the Roman Empire to share the good news of Jesus, and while they were persecuted for what they shared, they didn’t face any literal crosses.

But every one of Jesus’ followers, from the first century to where we are today has faced challenges, and our faith in Jesus that pushes us against the current of the world’s culture challenges us, and some might describe it as a cross we bear for Jesus. Earlier this year, we read about Jesus telling His disciples and His followers that they would be hated because of Him, and that if the world hated Him, it would not treat them any better.

In this regard, John’s gospel describes Jesus carrying a burden that only He could carry, and the only burden that He alone could carry is the sins of humanity. This is the strongest case for a spiritual reading of John’s somewhat contradictory passage.

However, regardless of whether Jesus only received a little help with getting His literal cross up the Golgotha hill, or whether Simon helped Jesus with His literal cross while Jesus was struggling with the emotional, spiritual cross that only He could bear, we can know that Jesus pressed forward towards the cross to take the punishment we deserved.

Jesus bore His cross like He challenges us to do. We have been brought into the world to do something that only we can do, and while each person’s responsibility will look a little different, Jesus has challenged each of us to carry the cross of His commission like He carried the cross of His big mission to this world!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, be sure to seek God first and place Him first in your life. Know that God brought you and I into this world for a reason and He challenges each of us to live out His mission for our lives. If we don’t know His mission for our lives, we are challenged to grow closer to Him to learn what His mission for each of our lives is, and to then step out in faith as He slowly reveals to us what He wants us to do for Him.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn from God directly. The Bible is the best place to learn about what God is like, and the Bible is the best foundation to have when growing closer to Jesus. Don’t take anyone else’s words or ideas about the Bible and let them distract you from reading and discovering the Bible for yourself. As I always challenge you to do, read the Bible for yourself to discover what it teaches you about God, about Jesus, and about what He has promised for each of us!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

One evening during the week leading up to His crucifixion, Matthew’s gospel describes Jesus sitting and answering the disciples’ questions about the time of the end. In Jesus’ response, which we will break into several episodes, we discover not only some warnings and challenges for God’s people to pay attention to, but also some parables that are worth us learning from so we can stay connected with God when we face challenges in our own lives.

Leading up to this conversation, Matthew includes a couple of verses to set the stage. Our passage for this episode is found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 24, and we will read it from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, Matthew tells us that:

¹ Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ² And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Let’s pause briefly here because the disciples’ question is interesting. In what seems like a single question, the disciples actually ask three different questions. These three questions are: When will the temple be destroyed; What will be the sign of Jesus’ return; and What marks the end of the age.

It is quite likely that the disciples believed all three of these events to be one and the same, but when looking back on history, we can see that at the very least, the temple being destroyed was an event that happened earlier than the other two events. Looking forward, while we can picture the other two events covering the same point in time, it is possible that these remaining two events are both unique as well.

After receiving this set of questions, let’s look at Jesus’ response. While Jesus responds, let’s also pay attention to which question He is responding to.

Continuing in verse 4:

⁴ [And] Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. ⁶ You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. ⁸ But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰ At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴ This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Pausing briefly, this first portion of Jesus’ response is almost like a summary of what Jesus will then share in greater detail. This summary isn’t as exclusively focused on the destruction of Jerusalem, but on history leading up to Jesus’ return.

Then Jesus shifts focus and gets more specific. Continuing in verse 15, Jesus continues saying:

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸ Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance.

While Jesus continues sharing, we’ll stop reading here because we are about out of time, and I want to point out some things that stand out in my mind in what Jesus has just shared.

When Jesus shifts focus and then zeros in on specifics, He first focuses on warning His followers about the coming destruction of Jerusalem. In this warning, Jesus gives them a sign they should look for, and it is a sign that mirrors what Daniel spoke about.

While there is speculation that what Daniel spoke about had already been fulfilled, if this is the case, Jesus simply recycles Daniel’s prophecy and tells His followers to pay attention for it to happen again. Other people believe that since Jesus draws our attention onto this prophecy of Daniel, it had not been fulfilled earlier but was waiting until Jesus repeated it and focused us onto the first-century temple destruction.

However, the warnings for God’s people about the temple being destroyed are the least relevant parts of this passage for us to focus on in my mind. This is simply because this has already happened. Instead, I think that the other part of this passage is much more significant.

After talking about the destruction of the temple beginning a great persecution of God’s people, Jesus tells us that for the sake of God’s people, this great persecution would be cut short. After this happens, we must be on our guard. Jesus warns us in verse 23 and 24: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

In this warning, which is valid for all of Jesus’ followers at every point in history, we should not believe anyone who comes claiming to be the Jesus of the gospels who has returned to earth. Let’s simply say that if any doubt is present in our minds, that is God telling us this was not Jesus’ return. Jesus’ return will mark the end of the world as we know it, and any “return” that is less than this is the return of a false messiah.

This passage doesn’t tell us that God won’t send messengers or prophets to bring us back to God or to remind us to focus on Jesus’ return. Instead, this is a warning to beware of people coming who claim to be Jesus Christ and a warning to avoid and reject people who claim to be a middleman for God. Jesus came the first time to open the way for us to come directly to God, and through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross while He was here on this earth the first time, we are able to stand before God with Jesus’ righteousness covering our sins.

When Jesus returns, there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Jesus has returned, and His return will mark the end of this world as we know it. In this warning, Jesus tells us that any secret return or return that is any less grand is a false second coming from a false messiah.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and take Jesus’ warning seriously. If someone comes to you claiming to have found Jesus, don’t believe them. When Jesus returns, His return will be visible to everyone, and His return marks the end of this world as it has been. Any return that is less than this is not Jesus returning.

However, don’t take my word for this. Instead, pray and study this truth out for yourself in Jesus’ teaching in the Bible. While I wish we had more time to cover this in our podcasts together, I would rather you take and learn this truth for yourself than have you simply hear it from me. When you study the Bible for yourself, you grow personally and you have a much stronger relationship and foundation with God than you could ever have if you simply heard it from me or someone else.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!