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Mark 15:21
New Catholic Bible
Mark 15:21
New Catholic Bible
21 The Way of the Cross.[a] They compelled a passer-by who was returning from the country to carry his cross. The man was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
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- Mark 15:21 Those condemned to death were usually forced to carry the crossbeam of the cross, often 30 to 40 pounds, to the place of crucifixion. Jesus starts out by doing the same (see Jn 19:7), but he is so weak as a result of his scourging and overall ill-treatment that the soldiers decide to have someone else take over that task. The man chosen is Simon, a man from Cyrene, an important city of Libya, North Africa, with a large Jewish population, who is probably in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. Alexander and Rufus: the sons are named probably because they were known to the early Christians to whom Mark’s Gospel is addressed.