Matthew 16:24

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me.

Mark 15:21

The Crucifixion

15:21 The soldiers ⁴  forced ⁵  a passerby to carry his cross, ⁶  Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country ⁷  (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

Luke 23:26

The Crucifixion

23:26 As ⁸  they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, ⁹  who was coming in from the country. ¹⁰  They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. ¹¹ 

[16:24]  ¹ tn Grk “to come after me.”

[16:24]  ² tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[16:24]  ³ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[15:21]  ⁴ tn Grk “They”; the referent (the soldiers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:21]  ⁵ tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”

[15:21]  ⁶ sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon.

[15:21]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “was coming in from his field” outside the city (BDAG 15-16 s.v. ἀγρός 1).

[23:26]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[23:26]  ⁹ sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help. Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. Mark 15:21 names him as father of two people apparently known to Mark’s audience.

[23:26]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps, “was coming in from his field” outside the city (BDAG 15-16 s.v. ἀγρός 1).

[23:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “they placed the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.”