四月五日
把十字架搁在他身上，叫他背着跟随耶稣。（路23:26）
我们从西门背十字架的图画，就可看到历代教会的工作；他背着十字架跟随耶稣。基督徒呀!要注意，耶稣这样受苦并非使你不受苦。他背十字架，并非使你得以逃避十字架，而是使你忍受十字架的苦楚。基督豁免了你的罪恶，并非使你得脱忧患。记得这一点，准备忍受苦难吧!可是我们要想到，我们的十字架和西门的十字架一样，并不是我们的十字架，而是我们背负基督的十字架，想到这一点，我们就可以得到一点安慰。当你的虔敬生活受到骚扰，当你为信仰受到百般侮辱的苦炼时，要记得那不是你的十字架，而是基督的十字架。背着我们主耶稣的十字架是多么快乐的一件事呀!你背着十字架跟随他，你有一位很好的伴侣，你所走的路已经有了你主的足迹，那个重担上面已经有了他肩头的血红印记。那是他的十字架，他在你前面像牧人在羊的前面行走一样。天天背起你的十字架，跟从他吧!也不要忘记，你是和他一同背十字架。有很多人说西门乃是背着十字架的一端，并不是整个的十字架，这是很可能的；基督背着最重的，有一根横木的一端，西门便背着较轻的一端。你也是这样；你不过只是背着轻省的一端罢了，基督却背着沉重的一端。也要记住，西门背十字架虽然只有一会儿的工夫，但却得到永久的光荣。就是我们所背的十字架，也不过是一会儿的工夫罢了!不久我们就得到荣耀的冠冕。当然，我们要爱十字架，我们非但不逃避十字架，反而以它为可贵的，直到它“为我们成就极重无比永远的荣耀”。
April 5
“On Him they laid the cross, that He might bear it after
Jesus.” –Luke 23:26
We see in Simon’s carrying the cross a
picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the
cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to
exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that
you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember
that, and expect to suffer.
But let us comfort ourselves with this
thought, that in our case, as in Simon’s, it is not our cross, but Christ’s
cross which we carry. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion
brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you, then remember it is not your
cross, it is Christ’s cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our
Lord Jesus!
You carry the cross after Him. You have
blessed company; your path is marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark
of His blood-red shoulder is upon that heavy burden. ‘Tis His cross, and He
goes before you as a shepherd goes before his sheep. Take up your cross daily,
and follow Him.
Do not forget, also, that you bear this
cross in partnership. It is the opinion of some that Simon only carried one end
of the cross, and not the whole of it. That is very possible; Christ may have
carried the heavier part, against the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne
the lighter end. Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of
the cross, Christ bore the heavier end.
And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little
while, it gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we carry is only for a
little while at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we
should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear,
when it works out for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory.”
