Bearing Cross to Golgotha
Life of Jesus · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 394a1aeb80979c43 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Final Passover through resurrection appearances. The crucifixion is commonly dated to AD 30 or 33. The closing stop extends through the forty-day appearance period in Acts; the whole group is not one eight-day interval.
Jesus is led to Golgotha for execution. Matthew, Mark and Luke describe Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross; John describes Jesus carrying it. Luke also records his warning to the mourning women of Jerusalem.
The accounts do not supply a street-by-street route. Simon’s place of origin does not mean Jesus travels to Cyrene, and the selected city marker is only orientation for the Jerusalem setting.
Primary Scripture
27:32 Along the way they found a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
27:33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull,
27:34 they offered Him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, He refused to drink it.
15:21 Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
15:22 They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull.
15:23 There they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it.
23:26 As the soldiers led Him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene on his way in from the country, and they put the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.
23:27 A great number of people followed Him, including women who kept mourning and wailing for Him.
23:28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
23:29 Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
23:30 At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
23:31 For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
23:32 Two others, who were criminals, were also led away to be executed with Jesus.
19:17 Carrying His own cross, He went out to The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
Related Scripture
The appeal to the mountains and hills recalls Hosea’s judgment imagery.
Location evidence
Golgotha is associated with Jerusalem, not the center of this city marker. No exact execution site or modern street route is asserted.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.23494, 31.77744]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Jerusalem: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.23494, 31.77744]. Classification source: rule.
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
For the class
Why does Luke include Jesus’s words to the women during the journey?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: theographic (458)
Record source: editorial
Events and places adapted from Theographic Bible Metadata (github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata), CC BY-SA 4.0. This adapted data is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm