The Wonderous CrossSýnishorn

The Established Steps of a Cyrenian

If you’ve ever found yourself suddenly thrown into a crisis situation, you understand how overwhelming and confusing it can be. It often feels random like you’ve somehow ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Simon of Cyrene must’ve known what that was like.

He was minding his own business when he stumbled upon the horrendous scene of Jesus struggling to carry his cross up the hill to Golgotha. Before he knew what was happening, he was playing a true supporting role in the most significant event in redemptive history.

Carrying the heavy beams would’ve been challenging for a healthy man, but this physical exertion, after Jesus’ scourging, taxed him almost to the point of death. The Roman soldiers, who were experts on how far a man’s body could be pushed before death, knew that if Jesus didn’t have assistance, he would die along the way.

The soldiers, who were probably looking for the strongest-looking man, saw Simon and threw him behind Jesus to carry the vertical beam. It seems like Simon was randomly selected. But was he? Or was God accomplishing multiple things at once; providing assistance for Jesus to fulfill his life’s purpose, and doing a redemptive work?

In Mark’s gospel, Simon is identified by the names of his sons. “And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross” (Mark 15:21).

The mention of Simon’s sons wasn’t a random detail but probably given because early Christians would’ve known and recognized these names.

Years later, in Romans 16:13, Paul says, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.”

Many scholars believe this is the same Rufus, the son of Simon of Cyrene. As the events of the cross unfolded on Friday, and then on Sunday, it’s reasonable to believe Simon, his wife, Alexander, and Rufus were either already believers, or became believers because of this encounter.

We don’t choose our moments of suffering, or the times we are pressed into service; they usually come on suddenly and without warning. But if they lead to salvation, would we have it any other way?

How much of our daily lives are directed by God? Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” If every step is established by God, this includes the ones taken by a certain Cyrenian into Jerusalem and the steps you take today.