As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.

Matthew 27:32

Three of the Gospels record this event.  Cyrene was 900 miles away, in North Africa.  Simon was obviously a Jew.   He was probably there to participate in the Pentecost celebrations. That is about all we know.  He was not in the group of sorrowing women and John who loved Jesus who were leaving Jerusalem. He was coming into Jerusalem.  As far as we know, he had no relationship with Jesus.    When he awoke that morning he had no idea of the part he would play in the Crucifixion of Jesus.

I see in this story the story of us all who love Jesus.  We were going about our own business when for unknown reasons we were compelled to carry the Cross of Christ.  We had no idea what we were getting into.  As a sixteen-year-old lad, I also heard a voice, “Come, carry Jesus’ Cross.”  I am now 89, still amazed by it all.

How this affected Simon we are not told.  I would like to think that carrying the Cross like that changed his life.  As he got under the burden of the Cross, Jesus was at his side, beaten and weak.  For a while, Simon bore the Cross of Christ on his own shoulders!  It was not his Cross, but Jesus’.   That said, it became his Cross!

I like to think that Simon carried the Cross, with Jesus at his side, to the hill of crucifixion when the Romans took over and pursued their ugly task.  I can see Simon, standing there in a whirlwind of emotions.  Did he linger to see Jesus nailed to the Cross?  In my mind’s eye, I think he did.  He was linked with Jesus by the Cross they bore, together.

We are like Simon, amazed by it all, most amazed by the fact that we are involved!  We, like Simon, are linked with Jesus in his suffering.  The heavy cross that laid on Jesus laid on Simon that day.  So, shall it be forever!