NOTES for Mar 15:19-21

According to the letter of the judicial sentence, Christ was condemned only to crucifixion. But too often people are not satisfied with "lawful" suffering. Some are possessed by hatred; others are excited by the thrill of persecution. And so, from the soldiers amusing themselves, and then from the gawking crowd, additional mockery and suffering before death begin. They did not end on that long, endless day, and for twenty centuries now we have continued to inflict wounds on the Lord beyond those mentioned on the Gospel pages.

On that same day Simon of Cyrene had the lot of carrying the cross for a little while, and by doing so he eased the way of the cross a little. Christ forces no one to carry His cross; He calls each of us to carry our own, which cannot be compared with His. We are inclined to avoid even that, but it can happen that by avoiding the carrying of our own cross we refuse Christ any easing of His burden.

And it is good if we see this before it is too late, not together with the centurion who understood Who had been crucified only after the execution had already taken place.