“They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus” (Mark 15:21).
Reflecting on Black History Month, it was nearly two decades ago that retired minister, Rev. Henry Masters wrote and published a book about the African man summoned from the crowd to carry Jesus’ cross to Calvary. Masters produced his own full-length musical about Simon of Cyrene that was performed as a special Lenten program at Dallas’ Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in 2022.
News from the Michigan Conference of the U.M.C. reported: “Others might write Simon off as a bitpart biblical character, briefly mentioned by three of the gospels. Masters finds him fascinating — and highly relevant in a 21st-century America still struggling with race relations. ‘Black men, in particular, get caught in circumstances they didn’t create but have to deal with,’ Masters said. ‘That’s Simon.’” It was Friday of the Passover festival. It was 8:30 in the morning. Simon and his sons, Alexander and Rufus, were coming in from the country where they had been sharing the villa of a friend. Since it required a small fortune to travel the distance from Cyrene to Jerusalem, Simon had probably waited till both his sons had reached the age of twelve, the age of Jewish manhood, so that the three could attend the Passover together. They were coming early so as to witness the festival from its beginning.
They approached the gates of Jerusalem laughing and talking about all the sights they were soon to see, only to be met by a mob, a crucifixion detail, coming out of the city gates. Simon was embarrassed for his children. He was horrified that they should have to witness such a grisly ordeal. Holding their hands, Simon attempted to guide his sons around the people; but in an instant, the flat of a Roman spear slapped his shoulder. He was told that in accordance with the Emperor’s law he was being compelled to serve Rome by carrying the cross of a condemned man to the place of execution—that small hillock in the distance—Golgotha.
Silencing his small sons, Simon knelt to the ground and lifted the heavy crossbeam to his shoulder, and for half an hour trudged behind the accused up the hot, dusty road to the summit that intersected the highways of the empire.
Surely the day came when Simon was obliged to tell his sons his own understanding of what happened that morning. What did he tell them? Mark’s gospel was written to Christians in Rome. He would hardly have mentioned to the church the names of Simon’s sons, Alexander and Rufus, had they not been known to the church! Even Paul wrote to Rome, “Greet Rufus, eminent in the Lord.”
In The Greatest Story Ever Told, Fulton Ousler describes well those who, though not to blame for all the tragedy of the world, are compelled to carry the cross of a Stranger: “Simon the unknown Cyrenean bent to help Jesus carry his cross, his two little boys following him in tears. When he straightened up he had become a figure in history.
“He had done no crime; his pleasure was spoiled; it was an aching nuisance to take such a load—and the way to the hill of Golgotha was still a long one. But because of that half hour’s unpaid toil, Simon won immortality.”
Hear again the words of Thomas Shepherd’s hymn: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone And all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for ev’ryone, And there’s a cross for me.”
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