Holy Week, Tuesday, April 4 – Bystanders on the Way to the Cross

“There was a man walking by, coming from work, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. They made him carry Jesus’ cross.” (Mark 15:21, The Message Bible)

                Just an innocent bystander. Just passing by. Really didn’t want to get involved.  Just trying to mind his own business; get home and enjoy a glass of wine on the patio.

                But that was not how the day unfolded for Simon from Cyrene.

                Instead, he was jerked out of the crowd by a Roman soldier. One didn’t dare argue with or resist a Roman soldier. Jesus was exhausted and weak from his torture and was incapable of carrying his cross the rest of the way to Golgotha. Perhaps, Simon had stopped to gawk, becoming a curious spectator to this ghastly spectacle of Roman cruelty.  Since he and his family seem to be well known to Mark, perhaps, Simon was a follower himself (or became one after) and was watching with horror and trepidation.

                Whatever, he is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is forced to pick up the cumbersome cross and hoisting it on his own shoulders, follow the grisly parade to the Place of the Skull. I wonder if he stayed to watch the execution itself.

                It seems to be human nature to become rubberneckers when there is some calamity happening. I have known of people who have chased fire trucks when one goes by. Crowds gather at car accidents, fires, natural disasters, and the like.  After last year’s derecho storm, I drove around our city just to see all the damage. Sometimes, the crowds get involved by shouting taunts out at the participants. I expect that there was a lot of that sort of behaviour as Jesus passed by.

                The flip side to that gawking is that it also seems to be human nature to want not to get involved. We want to keep on going. We want to avoid any risks that getting involved might entail. It is one thing to stand at the side of the road and watch, but it’s quite another to voluntarily help and get one’s hands as dirty. There are some folk who do it, all the time, performing rescues, providing food or shelter, wading into danger to help others, offering medical aid. But we have also heard too many stories of people hearing calls for help or actually witnessing a crime of violence who did nothing. (It is really annoying to see people taking selfies at these events and yet do nothing.)

                How would we have felt if pressed to take up Jesus’ Cross and put it on our own backs and shoulders?

                We usually think in terms of Jesus bearing the Cross on our behalf. “They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin…” (1 Peter 2: 24 -125, TMB)

                It is Paul who wrote about sharing the sufferings of our Lord. “I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.” (Philippians 3: 1- 1--, TMB)

                It is a two-way relationship, this bond of the Cross. We are not just spectators in the crowd. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34, New Living Translation)

                Following Jesus may lead to making some tough, difficult, even uncomfortable choices. It may press us into action. It may mean that we cannot cross to the other side of the road and avoid the mess of humanity heaped, beaten and bruised, lying in a ditch. Instead, we are called to bind wounds, provide comfort and aid, spend ourselves even if it is costly, risky, inconvenient and troublesome.

                Simon makes us think of our relationship with Jesus because of the Cross. We can’t bear the death of Jesus on that Cross, but we can lighten his load a little, for a moment.  Even though it pains us, “for you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.” (Philippians 1:29, NLT)

 Dale