Simon of Cyrene



One of the most interesting characters in the account of the crucifixion is Simon of Cyrene.  Cyrene was in North Africa, in what is modern day Libya.  It was over eight hundred miles from Jerusalem.  Simon had come to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage to celebrate Passover.  Perhaps he had worked very hard to save up the money he needed to make this journey.  It might have been a once-in-a-lifetime trip for him.  It could have been the highlight of his life to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover with his Jewish brethren.  Mark says Simon was just coming into the city from the country.  It was very likely that he had never heard of Jesus and didn’t know what was going on in Jerusalem that morning.  Perhaps he had no interest in Jesus whatsoever!  He was just passing by.  Yet, as he tried to make his way through the crowd a Roman soldier seized him and shouted at him over the din of the people, “You there!  This man can carry his cross no farther!  You carry it for him!”

            Try to picture this situation!  Simon had been traveling in a dusty caravan for weeks.  He had probably stayed overnight in an inn not very far from Jerusalem.  When he got up that day he washed himself and probably put on his best clothes, maybe even new clothes, so he would look his best when he arrived at the temple later that morning.  He was so excited to see the great city and to lay his eyes on the magnificent temple!  The noise was confusing.  He didn’t hear happy, celebrating voices.  Instead he heard angry shouting and mocking and he saw a procession of condemned men approaching his position.  Suddenly he felt himself being jerked out of the crowd by a Roman soldier.  He saw a bloodied and beaten man struggling with a cross.  Two soldiers lifted the cross from the man and laid it upon Simon’s own shoulders and before he knew it, Simon was trudging with the cross toward the place of execution.  I doubt he knew at that moment that his name would go down in history and people would still be talking about him two thousand years later!

            Jesus had said, “Anyone who wants to follow me must deny himself and take up his cross” (Luke 9:23).  All of Jesus’ disciples had enthusiastically vowed that they were able to drink from the same cup as Jesus.  They had promised to stay with him even if it meant death.  But where were they now?  They had all disappeared!  Not one of them was nearby to help Jesus.  There was no friend in the crowd to carry the cross so a stranger was drafted to do it!  Jesus calls on his followers to be cross bearers.  When it comes to carrying the cross of Jesus we must be more like Simon than the disciples! 

GOD'S VIEW OF OUR SIN



2 Samuel 12  David and Nathan

2 Samuel 11 gives us the story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of David’s soldiers who was away fighting with the army at the time.  When Bathsheba turned up pregnant, David sent to the army to have Uriah brought home so the adultery might be covered up.  To David’s chagrin, Uriah was a loyal soldier who would not consider enjoying the privileges of home while his comrades were in battle.  Uriah would not sleep with his wife so David’s sin would eventually be discovered.  Desperate, David arranged to have Uriah betrayed on the battlefield and Uriah was killed.  David took quickly took Bathsheba as his wife and surely David thought he had gotten away with his treachery.

In 2 Samuel 12 David is confronted by Nathan the prophet who points the finger at the king and reveals his sin.  The conversation that goes on between the prophet and the king is powerful and emotional.  But the thing that strikes me is the strong emphasis that is put on the fact that in killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba for himself David had sinned against God!  Undoubtedly he sinned against both Uriah and Bathsheba but when you read the chapter you see that the clear emphasis is place on his sin against God.  Notice these passages:

12:9  “Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes?”

12:10  The Lord says, “Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me…”

12:13  David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

12:14  Nathan says to David, “By doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt.”

David had seduced Bathsheba into committing adultery.  He had destroyed her marriage to Uriah.  He plotted against Uriah and finally had him killed.  But the thing that stands out above these other things is that David disobeyed God’s word!

This is extremely personal between David and God!  It’s not just that David broke the rules.  He considered the word of God to be insignificant!  He caused God to appear insignificant in the eyes of his enemies who hated him.

What a weak view of sin we have in our American Christian culture!  We really do act as if sin is merely the breaking of rules or the failure to be good.  We see sin as something that is all about us.  Our failure.  Our shame.  Our disobedience.  But sin is so much more than that.  Sin is a personal affront to God and a disregard of his word and his holiness!  As we see things, focus is laid almost solely on the person we hurt when we sin.  God and his word are just left out of it!  It should be just the other way around.  Yes, apologies are necessary when we’ve hurt others with our sin but God is the one we have infinitely offended!

Perhaps if we looked at our sin in this light we might be less likely to treat it so lightly!