It is Holy Week, and thoughts of the crucifixion of Jesus are on our minds.
As many times as I have heard the story or read the Scriptures, I always manage to garner something new. A part of the story that is common to the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke is that of Simon of Cyrene. Only one verse is given to him in each of these accounts, but the most detail is given in Mark 15:2, where it says, “They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.”
Who was Simon, and why was he placed in this story? That is a question that I want to examine.
Jesus had spent the night and morning facing a trial, several beatings, and torture. His strength was depleted and His body was broken. The flogging that He suffered was brutal. He was then tasked with carrying the cross to the place of the crucifixion. Walking down the half-mile path to Golgotha, the crossbeam alone probably weighed about 100 pounds.
Falling, Jesus could not continue.
The soldiers, perhaps ready to get it over with, find the nearest man in the crowd to carry the cross for Jesus. Simon picks it up and follows Jesus to Golgotha. This is a literal rendering of Matthew 16:24 coming to life: “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Simon was not from the area; in fact, he was just coming in from the country when he happened upon the situation. His home was in Cyrene, a city on the Mediterranean coast of Africa in what is today Libya. He had traveled over 800 miles to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem.
It seems that picking up the cross had a profound impact on Simon. He most likely had never heard of Jesus until that moment. Church tradition says that Simon and his sons became leaders in the early church. The mention of his name in Scripture implies that he was known by the early church. Perhaps he was part of the group from the church in Cyrene who came to Antioch to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus to the Greeks, as mentioned in Acts 11:20. Paul sends greetings to Rufus in Romans 16:13.
Most likely, Simon was a witness to the death and resurrection of Christ, and it changed him.
It seems that a simple command from a Roman soldier was used to change the life of a man in Cyrene who would go on to spread the message of the gospel in a mighty way. But that is how God works. He can take a seemingly insignificant incident and do great things.
Happy Easter!
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Rev. Jon Huebner is pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church in Mt. Airy, Georgia. He can be reached at [email protected].
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