Physical Exhaustion

Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Matthew 27:32)

What can we say about the physical exhaustion that Jesus underwent on the cross? Was there any training or increasing process of physical exertion that could have prepared him for the limits of exhaustion that he would face?

Top athletes train their bodies constantly to reach their maximum potential. They train to find out their limits of superior ability in the face of maximal physical exertion, and then try to go past those limits to increased performance. They use strength training, nutrition plans, adequate sleep, expert coaching, and an array of equipment and helps to achieve their goals. Even Boy Scouts train  several weeks for the strenuous twelve-day hike around Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. No one wants to drop out due to exhaustion which could have been avoided with proper preparation.

But regarding Jesus’ preparation, there is no need to search for the answer; there is nothing that could have prepared him for what he would endure. The events leading up to the actual nailing of the hands and feet to the cross seem enough to have killed a man. You know his body must have been broken and shocked, and he was at the end of his rope. How could he continue? “I thirst” must have been just one small bodily craving and pain response he was experiencing. The others are perhaps innumerable.

Somehow he found the strength to keep moving. Helpfully, a random bystander was enlisted to carry Jesus’ load, identified with the words, “they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene.” Without this substitute cross-carrier, could Jesus have made it to Skull Place? He was obviously exhausted, at the end of his physical limits. They might have killed him right there on the way, or his body may have completely given up, caved in, and expired. If that had happened, would that have been the sacrifice necessary for our sins? What if his physical exhaustion had led to a different physical ending? We aren’t told, but it is a path of theological reflection that some do not mind taking. What we do know is that the physically-exhausted Jesus kept moving forward to the place of execution. Help from an unsuspecting bystander is duly noted.

Looking at the cross begs one to say, this is physical exhaustion, to the max. He kept going to that point of exhaustion for me, for all of us.

“Father, we are grasping for words to describe our gratitude for what Jesus did on our behalf despite the physical pain and exhaustion he experienced.”

Copyright 2019, Freddy Boswell. From the book, Torn Curtain.