Holy Week: Simon the Cyrene

Matthew 27:32–34; Mark 15:20-24; Luke 23:26 
Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount the idea of service, he said if anyone asks us to walk a mile with them, go another mile.  Roman soldiers were able to command those they protected to carry their belongings for one mile…a repayment to their service.  Simon of Cyrene stumbled upon this as he entered Jerusalem at the end of his pilgrimage.  A man who lacked the ability to walk his cross to the place of death needed help. 

The Roman soldiers, recognizing that Jesus didn't have sufficient strength to carry his cross by himself, "seized" Simon and demanded that he carry the cross of Jesus. No doubt Simon was hesitant, fearing that he might end up sharing Jesus' fate. Yet he knew enough not to provoke the soldiers, so he took the cross as ordered. We don't know much more about Simon than this, since he disappears from the biblical record at this point.

There is much writing regarding what happened to Simon after this event. Most Christian thinkers are compelled because of their knowledge of the Savior and their passion for the narrative to connect Simon with the scattered church both in the writings of Acts and of Romans. Yet, we forfeit that search today to focus on what we know. Simon joined Jesus in his moment of shame, and for that we remember him today…this Good Friday.  

We ought to identify with Simon of Cyrene, who found himself a surprised participant in the crucifixion of Christ. This is especially true since many of us became Christians without really knowing that we were dying to our old selves so that we might live anew in Christ. We were pitched a gospel of salvation and eternal life without the implications of servanthood, sacrifice, and death to sin and self.

Yet what is the thought we should take from Simon of Cyrene?  

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9:23-24)  We All have a cross to bear…yes.  

Perhaps the words of this hymn will penetrate our hearts today: Must Jesus Bear the cross Alone?

    Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
    And all the world go free?
    No, there’s a cross for everyone,
    And there’s a cross for me.

    How happy are the saints above,
    Who once went sorrowing here!
    But now they taste unmingled love,
    And joy without a tear.

    The consecrated cross I’ll bear
    Till death shall set me free;
    And then go home my crown to wear,
    For there’s a crown for me.

    Upon the crystal pavement down
    At Jesus’ pierced feet,
    Joyful I’ll cast my golden crown
    And His dear Name repeat.

    O precious cross! O glorious crown!
    O resurrection day!
    When Christ the Lord from heaven comes down
    And bears my soul away.

Yet, this take goes a step further because Simon wasn’t carrying his own cross, but was joining Jesus in the shame of sin and condemnation…Like the other hymn sings: I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, its shame and reproach gladly bare…

It’s one thing to suffer for our own sins, and to pay our own consequences.  But Jesus asks us to suffer for the sins of others, to take up crosses all around us and in so doing…we have served the Lord.  Jesus says, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you have done for me.”  The day of carrying Jesus’s cross has passed, and we are thankful for Simon of Cyrene and his service to the Lord…

But are we equally thankful for a Savior and Lord that commands us to search for the shame and reproach around us and to reach out to the hurting, broken, hungry, and forgotten…After all, we have to at some point acknowledge our mistake in thinking that this cross was actually Jesus’ to begin with…the perfect Son of God, carried a cross…but not his cross.  It was more Simon’s cross or my cross than Jesus’ cross…

Jesus carried our shame, our sin, and when he chose to put that upon himself and go to the cross, then the old rugged cross became the Cross of Christ, and it transformed into something beautiful and Holy…Just like our lives when given over to Jesus, they too are transformed from shameful and rugged to beautiful and holy.  

This was shared at a station of the cross during the Elizabethtown Carry the Cross Event, Friday, April 14. I pray that on this Saturday between death and life, we might ponder the ways of Jesus and seek to pick up crosses. 

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