Luke 23:26 English Standard Version (ESV) And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

Nowhere in the synoptic gospels does it actually say that Jesus carried His cross at all, nor that He fell. What we may have seen in movies is a screenwriters attempt to solicit emotional drama in the moment but it is not scriptural. Does anyone teach us that it happened that way?

Jesus was not burdened by Rome to carry His cross, Simon was burdened to do so. What happened that day was meant to lay heavily on our hearts. The burden of love compels us to pick up our cross and bear it. Jesus was not allowed to fall under that weight. When we fall under the weight of it, we feel like we have failed God. We are wrong to feel that way because Jesus never fell down nor does He fall down now.

The world would have us think He fell and failed but it is a lie. When we fall we have not failed, that is a lie. We are human and that weight is too much for any of us to bear. Christ in us has the strength to bear up under the weight of it now, given the opportunity. He is faithful and never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:7 English Standard Version (ESV) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

God is love, Jesus is God, Jesus abides, love abides, and love bears all things.

Our humanity expects to perform to the highest levels of performance and when we fail our own expectations we feel like we have failed God. That is a lie. God knows all things from the beginning to the end. He does not judge us by our own standards, our expectations. God knows the truth in all matters.

We should know the truth also.