There’s Wall Street in New York. There’s Ventura Boulevard, Rodeo Drive, and the Sunset Strip in California. There’s Beale Street in Memphis and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. There’s also the Appalachian Trail, the Wilderness Road carved by Daniel Boone through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, and the Lewis & Clark Trail that stretches all the way from Missouri to Washington state. These are some of the most famous roads and trails in our country where history has been made.
There’s another road worthy of our reflection during Holy Week – a road where history was not only made but where God’s redemptive purposes moved toward fulfillment. It’s called the Via Dolorosa – a Latin term meaning the way of sorrow (or suffering). It’s the road that leads to the cross of Jesus [1].
The phrase Via Dolorosa doesn’t occur in the Bible, but all four Gospel writers tell us that between Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, he carried his cross through Jerusalem to Golgotha [2]. As Jesus journeyed along the road toward his execution, we read in Luke 23:27: “And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.” The very public nature of this somber procession probably served as a deterrent: everyone in Jerusalem should know what happens to those who claim to be a rival to Caesar.
Leading the company would have been a Roman centurion overseeing the execution, followed by a herald announcing the crime [3]. Jesus – and the two other criminals who were crucified with him [4] – would have been next in line, surrounded by soldiers, ordinarily four, who kept them moving forward and would serve as executioners and then as guards until the bodies were taken down from the crosses after death [5]. Mourners were also among the crowd, and likely curious spectators – like those who slow down to look at accidents. Some of the Jewish leaders may also have joined the march – scribes and Pharisees undoubtedly delighted that the Nazarene was finally doomed as a sheep in the fangs of pitiless wolves.
Far from this journey serving as a reprieve from suffering between his trial and crucifixion, the path through the city streets was truly a Via Dolorosa for Jesus – a continuation of the way of sorrow. As we prepare our hearts for Good Friday, let’s pause on this road to consider how the Man of Sorrows suffers on the way to the cross by noting three things: bitter exile, humiliating collapse, and severe judgment.
Bitter Exile
Luke tells us that after Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified, they led him “away.” The other gospel writers are more deliberate in telling us that he was led “out” [6]. Why does this matter? In the Bible, it was unclean people who were taken outside the camp [7]. Additionally, the flesh and skin of sin offerings were taken outside camp [8]. Michael Kruger points out: “This was an important symbolic gesture. To be in the camp was to be near God; to be outside the camp was to be rejected by God” [9].
As Jesus is led out of Jerusalem, the holy city, he is being taken “outside the camp.” To put it another way, as Jesus is led out to the cross on the Via Dolorosa, he suffers bitter exile. Just as Adam and Eve were exiled from God’s favorable presence in the Garden of Eden when they sinned, just as the covenant people were exiled from God’s gracious presence in Canaan because of their sin, Jesus is being exiled. And he’s not just being driven from Jerusalem but from God. His bitter exile from the Father is captured in his cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [10].
Importantly, unlike Adam and Eve and unlike Israel, he’s not suffering bitter exile for his own sins but for the sins of others. He is treated as unclean because he takes on the uncleanness of sinners. As the sin offering who is sacrificed to save his people, he is taken outside the camp. The author of the book of Hebrews picks up on this connection between Jesus and the sin offering in Hebrews 13:11-12: “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” Kruger comments: “When animal sacrifices were put outside the camp, it was a symbolic picture of the fact that the judgment the people deserved had been diverted. The animals had been rejected outside the camp, so the people could stay inside the camp and draw near to God … The location of the cross reveals the fact that Jesus was accomplishing what the animal sacrifices had pointed toward. He took on God’s displeasure and was cast out of the city, taking the place of those who should have been rejected” [11].
“Because Jesus suffered bitter exile on the Via Dolorosa the sweetness of divine fellowship is restored.”
This is indeed good news. Because Jesus suffered bitter exile on the Via Dolorosa the sweetness of divine fellowship is restored. Because Jesus suffered outside the camp, we are brought back into the fold of God’s covenant blessing. Or rather carried back – by grace – in the arms of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep [12]. Arms that would soon be stretched out on the cross to open for us the Via Gloria: the way to glory.
But consider that the Via Gloria involves going to Jesus “outside.” You cannot faithfully follow Jesus without cost. The author of Hebrews goes on to say: “Therefore” – because Jesus suffered outside the gate – “let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured” [13]. Jesus suffered bitter exile before entering into his glory, and, like him, we must be willing to suffer the reproach of the world before entering our glory. As Good Friday approaches, confess the ways your heart still pines for the approbation of the world and compromises for its applause, and aim to so identify with and devote yourself to Jesus that – when called thereunto – you willingly “bear the reproach that he endured.” But take heart: the reproach of the world for Jesus’ sake means reception in heaven.
Humiliating Collapse
The actual route Jesus took from Jerusalem to Golgotha may have been anywhere from a quarter to one mile. It was customary for the condemned criminal to carry his own cross [14], as Jesus did according to John 19:16-17: “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.” But apparently Jesus could not keep pace and experiences humiliating collapse.
Remember that Jesus at this point has been up all night, has endured the agony of Gethsemane, and Pilate has already had him flogged – a practice that alone was known to have caused death for some [15]. So Jesus proves too weak to carry his own cross.
Enter Simon the Cyrene “coming from the country.” He was conscripted to carry Jesus’ cross [16]. This is best understood as an act of expediency rather than compassion – the Roman officials have a job to finish and likely feared Jesus wouldn’t be able to reach the place of execution unless relieved of the burden of the cross. Since it would have been unthinkably insulting to have a Roman carry it, they press “a passer-by into service” [17].
The Bible supplies only a few details about this Simon. He was from Cyrene, a city in northern Africa (in today’s Libya). According to one source: “In the first century, one-fourth of the population of that city were Jews. Moreover, the Cyrenians seem to have been rather numerous in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, where they had a synagogue bearing their name” [18]. For this reason, some propose that Simon was a Jew [19] who was in the city to celebrate Passover [20]. Some suggest that he may have even been a follower of Jesus – if not at this time, then later. This is posited because Mark describes him as “the father of Alexander and Rufus” as if these names would’ve been familiar to his early Christian audience. Furthermore, many regard this Rufus to be the believer greeted by Paul in Romans 16:13. While these speculations are quite possible – perhaps even probable – we know very little with certainty.
Despite the temptation to wonder about what Simon’s appearance on the Via Dolorosa meant for him, and consequently what it might mean for us [21], the focus should be on what it meant for Jesus. This is part of his sorrow on the way to the cross. The assistance of Simon the Cyrene does not mark an interlude in his suffering. This is not a drop of consolation in the cup of his passion. Rather, this adds to his humiliation. He is stripped of all kingly dignity. What kind of king must be relieved on his ascent to his throne? But Jesus doesn’t ascend to his throne – he descends to it – with humiliating collapse.
“He endured humiliating collapse in order to lift you out of the pit of condemnation. He endured humiliating collapse in order to confer honor, dignity, and status upon you as an adopted son or daughter of God.”
But remember that he collapsed not simply under the weight of the cross but under the weight of your humiliating sins. Each step on the Via Dolorosa was driven by his love for you, believer. He endured humiliating collapse in order to lift you out of the pit of condemnation. He endured humiliating collapse in order to confer honor, dignity, and status upon you as an adopted son or daughter of God. In light of this, as you prepare for Good Friday ask for grace to walk in a manner worthy of the honor, dignity and status that is yours as God’s child as you strive to give yourself more fully to him who gave himself for you.
Severe Judgment
There’s a final thing to note on the Via Dolorosa. Luke alone tells us there were “women who were mourning and lamenting for him.” These “daughters of Jerusalem,” as Jesus calls them, should not be confused with the women who followed him during his ministry [22]. It’s possible that many or most of these women were strangers to Jesus – perhaps in Jerusalem only to celebrate the Passover. Furthermore, their mourning isn’t necessarily to be understood as involuntary emotional outbursts of grief. Among the Jews, mourning was sometimes practiced as an established ritual [23]. When someone died – or in this case, when someone was condemned to be executed – weeping was “customary and seemly” [24].
“He is not walking the Via Dolorosa as a victim but as the Redeemer. His death on the cross is not his fate to be lamented, but his work to be accomplished.”
Nevertheless, Jesus will surely receive these tears of sympathy to comfort him on the way to the cross, right? Wrong. He does not welcome their lament. Instead, he instructs them in Luke 23:28: “do not weep for me.” It would seem like this is a most appropriate time for tears: the only truly righteous man who ever lived has been rejected and unjustly condemned to die by the hand of sinners. Even so, their tears are misguided. Jesus is not an object of pity – a poor, unfortunate casualty of Roman cruelty and injustice. He is not walking the Via Dolorosa as a victim but as the Redeemer. His death on the cross is not his fate to be lamented, but his work to be accomplished.
But the mourners don’t get it – they don’t get him. They are hardly the only ones. His own people rejected him, he’s been falsely accused, betrayed, denied, abandoned, mocked, beaten – even his Father will soon forsake him [25]. Despite the crowd, the Via Dolorosa is a lonely, isolating walk for Jesus where his mission is misunderstood and his identity as the long-awaited Messiah remains unrecognized. But how could it be otherwise? Paradoxically, Jesus must suffer the severe judgment of the crucifixion because of their blindness and at the same time for their blindness that they might be healed and saved.
But Jesus doesn’t simply deflect their tears. He says: “weep for yourselves and for your children.” Then he gives the reason: “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us’” [26]. This is surely a reference to the severe judgment that would befall Jerusalem just a few decades later in AD70 when the Romans destroyed the temple and demolished the city [27]. Jesus ends with an ominous question in Luke 23:31: “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” In other words, if they exact such cruel punishment upon the innocent, what will they do to actual rebels?
The catastrophic destruction of AD70 serves as a preview of the final judgment [28] – and the sobering reality is that we are all guilty before God and therefore justly deserving of severe judgment because of our sins. The proper response is to weep. Weep for those persisting in unbelief and in their rejection of Jesus and for the everlasting judgment that is coming upon them. Weep for your own sins that weighed Jesus down. But know there’s a Via Salvatio: a way of salvation. The green wood took upon itself what the dry wood deserved – he was cut down and burned in the fire of the Father’s wrath, he suffered severe judgment so those who believe in him might be forgiven and reconciled to God.
So yes, weep – and in weeping, turn from your sins, look to Jesus and be saved. But as Good Friday approaches, don’t weep for the blessed Redeemer on the Via Dolorosa. His death is not a tragedy. It is good news: victory and life everlasting for all who believe.
[1] The exact path out of the city to Golgotha in Jesus’ day is not known with certainty, but a traditional route is visited by throngs of people annually, especially on Good Friday. The path is marked with fourteen stations of the cross starting at the Antonia Fortress (assumed to be the Praetorium) and ending inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. See Leen Ritmeyer and Kathleen Ritmeyer, Jerusalem in the Year 30 A.D., ed. Barbara Ball, Second revised edition. (Jerusalem, Israel: Carta Jerusalem, 2015), 70.
[2] See Matthew 27:31-32; Mark 15:20-22; Luke 23:26-31; John 19:16-17.
[3] L. C. Fillion, The Life of Christ: A Historical, Critical, and Apologetic Exposition, trans. Newton Thompson, vol. 3 (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Company, 1938–1941), 522.
[4] See Luke 26:32.
[5] Fillion, The Life of Christ, 522.
[6] See Matthew 27:32; Mark15:20; John 19:17.
[7] See Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 4:12, 21; 9:11; 16:27.
[8] See Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:3; 12:10-15.
[9] Michael J. Kruger, Hebrews for You (The Good Book Company, 2021), 228.
[10] See Matthew 27:46; cf. Psalm 22:1.
[11] Kruger, Hebrews for You, 228.
[12] See John 10:11.
[13] See Hebrews 13:13.
[14] It was likely the crossbeam, called a patibulum, that was carried, which would weigh around 60 pounds. See M. S. Mills, The Life of Christ: A Study Guide to the Gospel Record (Dallas, TX: 3E Ministries, 1999).
[15] “So hideous was the punishment [of flogging] that the victim usually fainted and not rarely died under it.” See Henry E. Dosker, “Scourge, Scourging,” ed. James Orr et al., The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915), 2704.
[16] According to Roman law, one could be, by sheer compulsion, pressed into immediate civil service. This reality is reflected in Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:41: “if anyone forces (Greek root ἀγγαρεύω) you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” The same verb is used in Matthew 27:32: “They compelled (Greek root ἀγγαρεύω) this man to carry his cross.” Incidentally, Luke 23:26 uses a stronger word translated “seized” in the ESV (Greek root ἐπιλαμβάνομαι). Luke uses this same root elsewhere to indicate aggressive force (see Acts 16:19; 18:17; 21:30).
[17] Geoffrey Grogan, Mark: Good News from Jerusalem, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2003), 264.
[18] Fillion, The Life of Christ, 524.
[19] Keener points out that Simon was a typical Jewish name. See Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993).
[20] We know from Acts 2:10 that Jews from Cyrene were in Jerusalem several weeks later for Pentecost.
[21] Some say that Simon illustrates how we as Christians are to bear our cross as we follow Jesus – embracing self-denial and enduring suffering, trouble, pain, and sacrifice for his cause. While it’s true that we’re to bear our cross, it is our cross, not the literal cross of Jesus. Furthermore, we are to willingly take up our cross and follow him. Simon was not a willing cross bearer on this occasion.
[22] See Luke 8:1-3.
[23] See Luke 8:52.
[24] Walter A. Elwell and Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale Bible Dictionary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 918.
[25] See Psalm 22:1.
[26] See Luke 23:28-31.
[27] The horrors of the Roman destruction in AD70 are chronicled by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 37-101). See The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, trans. William Whiston (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 543-772.
[28] Past judgments often serve as previews of future judgments in the Bible. For example, Noah’s flood serves as a preview of final judgment in Matthew 24:37-39 as does the destruction of Sodom Gomorrah in Luke 17:28-30, 2 Peter 2:6, and Jude 7. Sodom and Gomorrah’s judgment is also used to describe judgment coming upon Edom in Jeremiah 49:17-18. Finally, God’s judgment on Israel during the wilderness wanderings serves as warning of pending judgment for unbelief in 1 Corinthians 10:6-11 and Hebrews 3:7ff.