Good Friday Reflection
I imagine each of us has attended or watched a parade before. It was a family tradition to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV as a kid. All along the parade route, thousands upon thousands of people would line the streets of New York City to try and see their favorite balloon, float, marching band, or celebrity. Each person attending undoubtedly tried to position their spot along the parade route to be in the right place at the right time, and I’m sure it took a great deal of advanced planning and effort to get their desired spot. How many of us, though, have been in the wrong place at the wrong time?
There are approximately 31,000 verses in the NIV Bible, and he is mentioned only in passing in 3 total verses. Yet he is mentioned by name: Simon from Cyrene. The accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke indicate that he was simply “passing by” or “on his way in from” another place. Cyrene was not some suburb of Jerusalem. Cyrene was in North Africa, likely modern-day Libya, so Simon was clearly not on his home turf. Biblical Scholars believe he may have been in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. Regardless of the reason, Simon found himself standing along the route Jesus carried his cross. Each Gospel account also describes how the Roman soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ Cross.
“As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.” - Luke 23:26
The Gospel accounts don’t record how Simon felt about being forced into carrying Jesus’ cross, but I wonder what he was thinking and how he felt. Was he angry at the Romans? Did he say to himself, “Are you kidding me…why me?” Did he know who Jesus was and have compassion for him? As Christians and disciples of Jesus, we know that carrying our cross is inevitable. Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 10:38,
“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
The sentence of crucifixion was one of the most barbaric and shameful means of execution that the Romans utilized. Add to it the brutal scourging Jesus received from the Roman soldiers, and it’s clear that the goal was not only to break someone physically but also to destroy them psychologically. The cross was a despised and shameful instrument of death used by the Romans. And in the case of Jesus, it ultimately meant the shame of total separation from his Father. Yet in Hebrews 12:2, we are told, Jesus,
“…, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…”
No matter how difficult a trial or our suffering might be, like Jesus, we must endure and bear the shame of our own cross because “if we endure, we shall also reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12).” If you are like me, we try to have it both ways – I long to enjoy the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, yet still long to be accepted by this world. Friends, we must bear the shame of the cross! No matter how inconvenient, upsetting, or shameful it might be to be forced to carry our cross, our battered, beaten, and broken Savior walks alongside us with each painful step.
In carrying Jesus’ Cross, Simon from Cyrene became the last person to aid Jesus. In this case, it may not have been Simon’s cross, but nevertheless, it cost him something. If the scene from the movie “The Passion of The Christ” is at all accurate, Simon of Cyrene also received jeers and ridicule from the crowd. Meant for Jesus or not, Simon of Cyrene likely caught a few lashings from the Roman soldiers. Undoubtedly, Simon’s life must have been forever altered. Simon saw Jesus up close. He likely looked into the eyes of Jesus as he took the cross from him. Jesus’ blood and sweat from the beams of the cross soaking into Simon’s garments. Notably, the gospel of Luke documents that the soldiers made Simon carry the cross behind Jesus. Imagine that. The immense weight of the cross bearing down on Simon, looking ahead as he marched toward Golgotha, only to see Jesus’ broken, torn, and bleeding body in front of him. Watching as Jesus put one staggering foot in front of the other and uttering not a word in protest. There was no way Simon of Cyrene was going to walk away from that encounter unchanged. Even Jesus’s closest disciples, Peter, John, and James, didn’t experience this kind of closeness or intimacy with Jesus.
So, today, Good Friday, as we reflect on all that Jesus endured for you and me, we must ask ourselves a few questions.
Am I willing to let God pull me into a narrative that’s much larger than what I’d planned? Am I willing to carry my cross and follow Jesus down unexpected and difficult paths? Am I willing to be ridiculed and possibly endure physical hardship for Jesus? Do I trust Jesus to walk alongside me? By carrying my cross for Jesus, am I willing to let Him change me forever? And finally, what sin or shame in your life could be holding you back from carrying your Cross for Christ daily?
In closing, I leave you with the words of Peter found in 1 Peter 3:18.
“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.”
Amen.
Doug
