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Continuing our analysis of the penultimate chapter of Luke’s Gospel, this week, please read verses 26-33. If possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 23:26-27 (New International Version – NIV)
‘As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.’
I recently watched a very troublesome video clip on Twitter that showed a man, surrounded by many others, being quite severely beaten. Everyone who was standing and watching appeared to be supportive of the cruelty being inflicted on this man. I don’t know the reason for it but the context is that there was a lot of drink involved and I guess this man, in his drunken state, picked on the wrong person and was now paying a very severe price.
As the crowd encircled the man and seemingly encouraged the fighting, suddenly, one person emerged from their ranks and stood in opposition to what was happening. He took his place between the fighters and broke things up. It took a lot of bravery to do this and I’m sure that many of us wouldn’t have even tried. Thankfully, his actions paid off and the violence came to an end soon and the crowd dispersed leaving the bleeding man on the floor.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve read a lot about the people who welcomed Jesus on that wonderful Palm Sunday. Jesus rode into town on a donkey while an apparent adoring crowd shouted His praises proclaiming Him as Messiah. Just days later, it seems that this same group of people have completely changed their mind and with lung-bursting shouts, they scream at Pilate begging for His murder. As we read all of this, it is very easy to fall into a mindset that concludes that Jesus is completely opposed and that everyone in Jerusalem is against Jesus. This impression is, I believe, incorrect based on what we read in our verses today.
Firstly, we have a group of people that were called His disciples. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, the 12 men who Jesus handpicked. We know that many of these ran away at the arrest of Jesus. Some stayed close but I’m absolutely sure that these were not included in the crowd shouting for the death of Jesus.
Then we have a large number of people who were followers of Jesus. We know that these numbered in the thousands because of the miracles such as the ‘feeding of the five thousand’. While I certainly can’t say that ALL of these people retained their desire to follow Jesus, I think it’s fair to say that there were at least SOME who still followed Him.
There is a third group of people who were just like the man I described earlier who chose to break up the fight. These people neither opposed Jesus nor did they wilfully follow Him as such. They were there that day and could be considered as ‘empathisers’.
We also have a group of people who simply had no interest whatsoever. What was happening in front of them was just an event that they observed but felt nothing.
Lastly, we have those who deliberately opposed Jesus and wanted nothing to do with Him and by very definition are consenting to His death.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus was making His way to Calvary for all of these groups of people. There is a tendency for us to distinguish between them and to give preferential treatment to some of the groups. My prayer today is that we rise to the incredible challenge that Jesus sets before us. “love your enemies”. May we love as Christ loved us.
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