Simon of Cyrene (Holy Week Devotional)

“As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.”

- Luke 23:26

I wonder how Simon thought the day was going to go when he entered Jerusalem early Friday morning. He was probably there to celebrate Passover—it was customary for local Jews to make a pilgrimage to the holy city at that time of year. But that early in the morning, only an hour or two after dawn, no feasts were yet underway—so maybe he was sightseeing, or looking for a place to buy breakfast, or seeing if he could do some business before the Sabbath began.

Whatever his plans were for that day, they never came to pass. Instead, his quiet morning in Jerusalem was interrupted by the sudden commotion of a local criminal’s march to the gallows. Wave after wave of Roman soldiers, Jewish mockers, and curious bystanders filled the street, each shouting something different but all pointing at the same wretched man in the center, a wooden cross laid across his back. Drawing closer, Simon got a good look at the man—bruised, bloody, and crowned with thorns, this man was the picture of Rome’s cruel justice.

Suddenly the man stumbled in the dirt right at Simon’s feet, his body crashing to the ground and his cross with it. Simon looked down at him in pity and bewilderment, only to feel a hard shove in his own back. Turning to face his assailant, his eyes met those of a stony Roman centurion. “You’re a Jew, aren’t you?” spat the soldier. “Help your king! Carry his cross.” And so, whether Simon was afraid of the soldiers, sympathetic to Jesus’s plight, or some mixture of the two, he picked up Jesus’s heavy cross and followed behind him as they made their way to Golgotha.

Simon’s morning may have started like any other, but without warning he found himself thrown into the battle between God Almighty and the forces of darkness and was called to play his part. He didn’t get to pick his moment or wait until he was ready—he was pushed into the fray at a time not of his choosing.

This is often the case in the Christian life. Given our druthers, we’d all like to take our sweet time growing in faith, but more often that maturity comes through the fits and starts of unexpected trials. It is not usually the Bible study that teaches you about perseverance, but the bad diagnosis; it is seldom the sermon that propels you to renewed faithfulness, but the exhaustion and depression of hitting rock bottom. As nice as it would be to learn about Jesus at your own pace, sometimes he just falls at your feet. In those moments, do you walk away or pick up the cross?