SIMON OF CYRENE
“AND AS THEY led Him [Jesus] away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.” (Luke 23:26).
Three of the Gospels in the New Testament mention a man
by the name of Simon in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He is only mentioned once in each of the
accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as told by St. Matthew, St. Mark
and St. Luke. There is much that we can
learn, however, from the scant details of his story.
Scripture tells us that Simon was from the city of
Cyrene which is in present-day Libya. Cyrene
was at least 850 miles from Jerusalem – a very long trip for folks in Jesus’ time. During this period, there was a strong Jewish
community in Cyrene of about 100,000 or more.
Simon may have been a member of this community and made the long trip to
Jerusalem for the Jews’ yearly Feast of Passover. If so, this would have required considerable
dedication and substantial expense to make such a trip in those days. Regardless, there is no doubt that the
providence of God was at work in bringing Simon and the Savior together.
On the day that Jesus was crucified, at the very moment
that He was being led out of the fortress of Antonia where He was condemned, making
His final trek to Golgotha, Simon of Cyrene crossed His path. Simon was just “coming out of the country”. Possibly going up to the temple to offer the
sacrificial lamb that the feast day required for his family to obtain
redemption according the Law of Moses. His
plans were disrupted though, by the Roman soldiers. They grabbed him and forced him to bear the
cross of the Lamb of God Who was already bearing the sins of the whole world. Jesus Himself was only able to carry His
cross a very short way. Matthew 27:13
indicates that He only made it a little outside the fortress. He had just gone through a great deal of
physical and emotional anguish, and His flesh was weakened by the beatings, the
scourging, the crown of thorns pressed into His skull, along with the mocking
and spitting that He endured. The
Prophet Isaiah foresaw the Lord’s passion and wrote, “…His visage [appearance] was
so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men…” (Isaiah
52:14).
An average man, depending on his physical condition,
can carry only about 20-25% of his body weight for an extended distance. That means that a man who weighs 220 lbs.
could carry up to 55 lbs. The cross
itself is calculated to have weighed between 70-300 lbs. The reason for the broad range of weight is
that some scholars believe that it was the whole cross being carried while
others argue that it was just the crossbeam.
The latter say that the upright portion of the cross was already planted
at Calvary beforehand. The distance from
the fortress where Jesus was condemned to where He was to be crucified was
approximately ¾ of a mile. So, just carrying
Jesus’ cross would have been a grueling task in itself. Simon was innocent of any known crime. Even so, bearing Jesus’ cross that far seems
like an extraordinary punishment to place on a man.
Jesus had often preached, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; and Luke 9:23). Lest anyone think that Jesus was unable to do
the very thing that He required out of everybody else, let me just say this: Jesus Christ carried His cross every day
of His life. He laid down His
life by not having a wife or children. He
denied Himself fine food, fine clothing, and a dwelling place of His own. He often went without proper food or rest in
order to minister to the masses that constantly would throng Him. He denied Himself the honor and the respect
that was due Him as the Son of God. St.
Paul tells us, “…being in the form of
God, [Jesus] thought it not robbery
to be equal with God: but made Himself
of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8). It was the multitude of daily crosses that
Jesus carried all His life that exemplified a life that was committed to dying
to self so that the life of God could shine through Him. The act of being nailed to a physical cross
and giving His last breath for the redemption of mankind was the culmination of
everything His Father had sent Him to earth to do.
Consider this: if Jesus Christ had lived His life in a
self-serving, arrogant, and entitled manner, would His sacrifice have
mattered? There are many people who have
given their lives for some cause or another, but never rose from the dead, ascended
to heaven, nor sat down next to the throne of God. Jesus was the Lamb of God, without spot or
blemish, Who willingly allowed Himself to be led to the slaughter.
Our crosses are not the troubles or difficulties that
life often sends our way. They are deliberate
choices that we make from day-to-day to die to self. The Lord lays choices before us, and it is up
to us to make the right decisions. We
can either serve ourselves, or we can serve God by serving others. Jesus said, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I
might take it again. No man taketh it
from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.”
(John 10:17, 18). A man must “DENY himself, and take up his cross” in
order to really follow the Lord.
It was Jesus’ cross that Simon carried to Calvary, but
it became Simon’s cross as well. What
was this man from Cyrene thinking the whole time that he followed behind the
battered Christ? Had he heard of this
man from Galilee while he was still far away in Cyrene? Had he made the long trip to Jerusalem partly
with the thought of perhaps seeing and hearing this miracle worker? Did he come here with a hunger and a thirst
for more of God in his life? Did God, in
His infinite love and wisdom lead Simon to just the right place at just the
right time for him to encounter the Savior of the world? We know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, and to them who are the called according to His
purpose (Romans 8:28). We also know that
the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delights in his way (Psalms
37:23). There is also a clue in the
Gospel of Mark that indicates that something life-changing happened to Simon
that day. Mark writes, “And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who
passed by, coming out of the country, the
father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His [Jesus’] cross.” (Mark 15:21). There is a reason that Mark adds that Simon
was the father of Alexander and Rufus in his Gospel. At the time that Mark wrote these words, the
names of Alexander and Rufus were familiar names to Mark’s readers indicating
that they may have become fellow believers.
The Apostle Paul mentions a Rufus at the end of his letter to the
Romans. He wrote, “Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.” (Romans
16:13). We cannot know for sure, but
some of the early Church Fathers draw a connection between Simon’s son and the
Rufus who Paul salutes in Romans.
Simon’s story reminds me that Jesus’ cross is a cross
that we all must bear if we are to follow Him and enjoy life eternal. Paul wrote, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). By embracing the cross of Christ by faith, we
accept, not just His death, but also His life.
The cross is very offensive to the world, however, because it implies
suffering and self-denial for us. The
fact that Simon of Cyrene is such an obscure figure in scripture, who appears
briefly and then disappears, speaks to the idea that he represents all of us. Bearing the cross is something that none of
us can avoid if we want to follow the Lord.
The fellowship of Christ’s sufferings is a very precious communion. It makes us partakers of His passion in an
intimate way. When Simon touched the
cross, he touched the blood of Jesus. The
suffering of the cross was not theoretical to Simon; it was real. When he walked behind Jesus, he was walking
in his footsteps. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.” (1 Peter 2:21). Paul couldn’t have expressed the intimacy of
the cross any better than he did to the Corinthians: “[We are] always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians
4:10, 11).
Like Simon, our path has crossed the Savior’s, too. It is not by coincidence. God has arranged it. It is meant to be life-altering and
revolutionary in every way. It is
impossible for me to believe that Simon was not changed because of that day;
and because of his transformation, his family was changed as well. The Christian life is full of obstacles and
crosses that we must bear, but God has given us the victory over every one of
them in Christ. Paul said, “For Thy [God’s] sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him [Jesus] that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans
8:36-39). Amen!
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