Simon of Cyrene
Mark 15:16-22
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is,
the governor’s headquarters),2 and they called together the whole battalion.3
17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of
thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the
Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and
kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped
him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to
crucify him.
21 And they compelled a
passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of
Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place
called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).
Malchus and Mark, Annas and Caiaphas along with the Servant
Girl, all background characters in the Passion account, through whom we have
explored a bit deeper into the story.
Tonight perhaps a more famous minor character, Simon of Cyrene.
As with most of these minor characters there isn’t much we
know about them. The account of Simon
carrying Jesus’ cross is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, but not John’s
Gospel. We are told he is from Cyrene,
which was a Greek city in northern Africa, what is now Libya. But that doesn’t mean he was dark-skinned,
since Cyrene was a Greek city and also had a Jewish population. Simon, whatever his ethnic background (and
that, of course, doesn’t matter) was likely in town for the Passover feast like
everyone else.
We are told that he was the father of Alexander and
Rufus. And there is a tradition that
Alexander and Rufus were two of the early Christian missionaries based in
Rome. Mark’s Gospel, which mentions
them, was written to Roman Christians after all. Paul also mentions a Rufus in Romans 16. And it’s also possible that Simon was among
the “men of Cyrene” who preached the Gospel to the Greeks in Acts 11.
But all of these were common names at the time, and for all
our speculation about what happened with these men we again must limit
ourselves to what the text of Scripture tells us. And that is simply that Simon was compelled
to carry the cross for Jesus.
I mentioned a while ago some of the “divine ironies” of the
Passion narrative. Caiaphas’ prophecy
that one man should die for the people – a truer statement than he knew. That Jesus was betrayed with a kiss. That Jesus Barabbas was freed, and Jesus of
Nazareth condemned. That the soldiers
mocked Jesus as King of the Jews, and Pilate wrote the same title for his
cross. Even the crowd that cried out,
“his blood be on us and on our children”.
So many of these statements, events, and details of the Passion account
hold a meaning far deeper than the participant knew at the time.
Here, too, we have another one of these. That Simon would carry the cross for Jesus,
when Jesus bore the cross for Simon, and for the world.
Think of the weight of that cross. In 1870, a French architect determined the
Jesus cross weighed 165 pounds, assuming it was three or four meters high, with
a cross beam two meters wide. And so if
Simon carried just the cross beam maybe we are talking 50 to 70 pounds. But the true weight of the cross that Jesus
bore was much more, for upon his shoulders was the sin of the world. And it crushed him. But the yoke that he gives to us is easy and
the burden is light. He, Jesus, does the
heavy lifting when it comes to sin.
There is some debate whether the Romans chose Simon to carry
the cross because he was a sympathizer of Jesus, or perhaps precisely because
he was an obvious outsider. Or maybe it
was just random. But Jesus precisely
knew and chose this cross, willed to bear it for us, prayed that his Father’s
will would be done by it. None of this
happened by accident. He clearly spoke
of the whole thing, plainly, to his disciples for some time.
Simon carried the cross only part of the way, but at
Golgotha that cross went back to Jesus again.
Jesus would endure the full measure of the suffering appointed to him,
the full measure of what our sins deserve.
Simon’s participation was symbolic, it was temporary, it was a small
part. Jesus does it all, does it for
real, and does it well, for all people.
Here's another interesting detail. Simon was on his way in, Mark tells us, from
the country. But the entourage with
Jesus is on their way out – out about a half a mile, from the house of Pontius
Pilate called Fortress Antonia, outside the city to the Place of the Skull,
Golgotha. So when the Romans nabbed
Simon for this grim task, they made him turn around, and go in the opposite
direction. The cross changes our course,
as well, doesn’t it? It changes
everything. We were headed toward
judgment, death and hell. Jesus takes
that all away, and turns us around. He
charts a new course for us, through his own cross, a new destination in the
mansions of heaven. He goes to prepare a
place for you there. But first he
prepares it by going to his cross.
One might consider Simon to be the prototypical “innocent
bystander”. He was minding his own
business when the Romans forced him into this grizzly duty. But, of course, there really is only one
innocent here, and that’s Jesus. The
only one without sin of his own. Simon
deserved that cross, not Jesus. You and
I deserve that cross, not Jesus. But the
spotless Lamb of God goes uncomplaining forth.
The innocent for the guilty. The
righteous for the unrighteous. The great
exchange – Christ gives his blood, his life, for ours. And he who had no sin was made to become sin
for us, to destroy that sin, once and for all, in his body, on the tree.
What an honor Simon had, to take part even in this small
way, to assist our Lord in this holy task.
And what an emblem Simon becomes of every disciple, every follower of
Christ, as he carries the cross behind Jesus.
For Jesus calls us, also, to cross-bearing.
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For
whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-45)
Simon stands as a reminder to all of us who follow Jesus,
that doing so also means bearing our own crosses, as Jesus calls us to do.
A wise old pastor friend once remarked to me, “We don’t get
to choose our own crosses.” How true it
is. Simon didn’t choose, he was chosen
to carry Christ’s cross. And if I got my
way, I wouldn’t choose a cross either. If
I had to choose my cross, I would choose the lightest, most pleasant cross,
perhaps one covered with comfy cushions.
A cross that would be no cross at all.
But that’s not how it goes, is it?
God allows us to suffer, and in a sense, he lays our crosses
upon us. Jesus calls us to take up those
crosses, and to follow him and his cross. For only his cross can make any sense
of our own cross-bearing. Only in his
cross and victory over sin and death do our crosses become the easy yokes and
light burdens that they are. Only
through him does suffering produce endurance, character, and hope that does not
fail.
If your cross is a physical ailment, a bodily disease, even
if it leads to death, Christ’s cross has
gone before you. Life awaits you. He who believes in Jesus Christ, even though
he dies, yet shall he live. We have a
bodily resurrection in store for us. And
what a joy that will be!
If your cross is an emotional hurt, a sorrow or grief, a
pain of loss. Remember this is Jesus,
who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, even unto death. And at the last, he will wipe away every tear
from our eyes.
If your cross is persecution for the sake of Christ, then
blessed are you. “Rejoice!” Jesus says,
“for so they persecuted the prophets before you”. You’re in good company. And great will be your reward in heaven.
If your cross is worry or anxiety, cast it on him, for he
cares for you. If you cross is a broken
relationship you cannot fix, some fracture between you and a loved one… a
parent, a spouse, a child, a friend. And
you’ve prayed and worked for reconciliation but it simply will not be this side
of heaven – then perhaps your cross is to forgive for your part, and simply
bear that loss, praying God’s will be done.
If your cross is some sin, some baggage of guilt and shame
that you can’t seem to shake. If the
weight of your past is a drag on your conscience, and a ball-and-chain to your
soul. Then bring that burden to Jesus,
and let him carry it for you. Confess it to your pastor, and hear the precious
absolution.
All our little crosses pale in the shadow of his cross. All our cross bearing is child’s play
compared to the burden he bore. And all
our crosses will be laid down one day, in that brighter future that is ours
because he has gone before us with his cross.
Thank you Simon, for your service to Christ, and to us,
reminding us that though we bear our crosses, Christ has gone before us. Thanks be to God, and glory be to Jesus. Amen.
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