Fatigue and exhaustion fill Jesus’ face as he carries the cross. The text connects this with another time earlier in Jesus’ ministry when he also grew tired, stopped at a well, and spoke with a Samaritan woman (John 4). Another related passage comes from Matthew 16, when Jesus first told his disciples that the Son of Man would suffer, be killed, and rise again; he then said that his disciples would also “take up [their] cross and follow me.”

The image also shows Jesus getting help carrying his cross, visually combining the gospel accounts of this moment. Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe Jesus falling with his cross; a man in the crowd named Simon of Cyrene was then forced to carry it for him. John 19, however, asserts that Jesus carried the cross himself. The artists here have synthesized the stories by showing Jesus in pain under his cross and also adding a man who offers support.