John omitted the detail that Simon carried Jesus' cross (Matt. 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26), which might have detracted from John's presentation of Jesus as the divine Savior. He also made no reference to Jesus' sufferings on the way to Calvary that Luke, who had a special interest in Jesus' humanity, stressed (Luke 23:27-32).
The soldiers led Jesus from Pilate's judgment seat to Golgotha. Normally an execution squad consisted of four legionnaires plus a centurion (cf. v. 23).583John did not comment on Jesus' painful journey to the cross probably because He wanted to stress His deity. He did mention the fact that Jesus bore His own cross, however, probably for the same reason (cf. Gen. 22:6; Heb. 13:11-13).
Criminals condemned to crucifixion such as Jesus normally carried all or only the crosspiece (Lat. patibulum) of their cross.584This was common procedure in crucifixions, as John's original readers undoubtedly knew.
All the Gospel writers identified the place of Jesus' crucifixion as "the place of the skull."All but Luke gave its Aramaic title, namely golgolta("skull") the transliteration of which is Golgotha.585Why the place bore this name remains a mystery. Most modern scholars believe that the site was the traditional one over which the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands. There is little support for the fairly recent suggestion that Gordon's Calvary was the correct location. The idea that Golgotha was on a hill came more from hymns than from Scripture.
