What's Up With Simon the Cyrene?

What's his role? Why?

Luke 23:26-32 | Gospels during Lent: Matthew 21-22

Simon from Cyrene is a really interesting character in this whole thing. He is mentioned neither earlier nor later than this small role. John’s gospel doesn’t include him at all.¹

Why would Simon carry Jesus’ cross? It’s a phenomenon to ponder because so much of the passion story is meant to convey that Jesus bore the burden of the cross for all of humanity. My yoke is easy and my burden is light seems to imply that Jesus will carry things for us, not the other way around. But Simon is another man - not Jesus, the son of God - and he helps Jesus in this moment of pain and struggle.

It’s rather beautiful if you think about it.

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Luke 23:26-32

As they led Jesus away, they grabbed Simon, a man from Cyrene, who was coming in from the countryside. They put the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. A huge crowd of people followed Jesus, including women, who were mourning and wailing for him. Jesus turned to the women and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Rather, cry for yourselves and your children. The time will come when they will say, ‘Happy are those who are unable to become pregnant, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never nursed a child.’ Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ If they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

They also led two other criminals to be executed with Jesus.

Prayer

God,

What a role Simon the Cyrene got to play in Jesus’ path to the cross. Did he even know what he was doing? Of course he didn’t, but what was his attitude about it all like? Had he even heard of Jesus? It seems like he was just a passerby and got randomly selected to carry the cross. Was he just afraid of the Roman soldiers? Did he try to refuse them? Where did he go once he got the cross to Golgotha?

I want you to know that I’m here for random acts of carrying out Jesus’ cross, even if I’m unaware about it all. Often I feel unaware about the nature/meaning/purpose of the cross, at least in terms of exact understanding. So help me to carry the cross regardless of my desires for perfected knowledge about it all.

I’d like to be a participant in the salvation of the world, even if in small part.

By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

1. In fact, John gives a conflicting account, saying that Jesus carried his own cross.