re: Jesus and the cross
Tragic, isn't it, that all of Jesus's followers had deserted him, except maybe John, who had the night before entered Caiphas's house (where he was known) and seen what he had seen and now was lurking on the edge of the crowd watching Jesus struggle. Peter had hidden himself for he was being searched for after his murderous assault on Malchus, the High Priest's servant in the garden, and his dangerous appearance at the gate of the High Priest's house. Yet no one -- not even John -- stepped forward from the crowd to help Jesus struggling with his unwieldy cross up Calvary. The Temple soldiers (for Pilate had, according to John, turned Jesus over to the High Priest's party), feeling no remorse, only impatience, forced Simon (an auslander from Cyrene) to carry the cross behind Jesus. Of the Evangelists, only John claims to have been at the crucifixion, and the reports of the others claim that the soldiers were Romans. The question remains -- why did not Jesus insist on carrying his own cross? Were the soldiers, whoever they were, helping Jesus out of kindness, cruelty, or of pity? |
