Single Crosses

Mark 15: 21  And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

To some this verse may only be an historical record, or perhaps it testifies a willingness of man to do good, one to another.  Yet this one verse encompasses so much more.  It testifies to man’s inhumanity and injustice to man.  Who was Simon to have been selected for this task?  Was he somehow different than those around him, or was it simply a random injustice?  Had he broken some hidden ordinance or was he simply just another body to be ordered around by the powerful elite?  It matters not the reason, only that they compelled him to suffer for Jesus’ sake. 

Here we have two crosses.  One cross is the cross of Christ which takes away the sin of the world.  This is the cross which only He could bear.  The other, is the cross of Simon, of suffering he did not request but which the world compelled him to accept.  Yet, these two crosses, separated by possession, are singular by procession.  One cross of Christ’s atonement proceeded through the streets of Jerusalem and up to the hill of Calvary, possessed by Simon in the journey and by Christ at journey’s end. 

In bearing the cross of Christ, Simon was bearing his own cross.  First, he suffered the weight of the cross.  As soon as the “world” compelled him to take up the cross, the weight fell on his shoulders.  As Christians we should constantly feel the weight of the cross.  It is this weight which makes us conscious of our responsibility.  The weight of the cross is not physical, it is a commanding weight; the weight of bringing the gospel, which the cross represents, to a dying world.  We are to bear the gospel and the world compels us to do so, just as they had compelled Simon. 

Do you suppose those in the crowded streets of Jerusalem knew that Simon was only the bearer and not the wearer of the cross?  For bearing the cross of Christ, Simon became the recipient of suffering and ridicule from the world around him.  Simon suffered in Christ’s place.  Not only did he bear the wooden cross, but the suffering cross, as well.  Do you suppose the soldiers gave him a sign to wear which proclaimed him free of guilt or proclaimed by crier his innocence?  Simon suffered for no other reason than bearing his cross and following Christ.  As the mob proved by his suffering and ridicule, the soldiers by whip or goad, and the cross by weight, the cross of Christ was indeed, for a time, Simon’s. 

Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Luke 23:26  And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

The Bible never fails to amaze me in its complex simplicity.  Simon is a man bearing his cross for Christ.  Yet, he followed after Christ, just as Believers are to follow after Christ.   Simon, on that fateful and glorious day, followed Christ as they went to Golgotha.  Every time Simon looked up from the weight and suffering he could see Jesus making His own way toward certain suffering and death.  Simon knew for whom he bore the cross, even though many around him didn’t.  Simon knew the man before him would die in suffering and shame.  Simon knew his own suffering could not compare to that of the man he followed.  Simon, perhaps, before the end, bore his cross with joy, if for no other reason than that he could not suffer the penalty.  How joyous is our bearing?  We can’t suffer the atonement of the cross because we simply don’t qualify.  But, we can suffer the cause of the cross.  Doesn’t the world compel us? 

As you survey the world and its wickedness, doesn’t it cry for help?  Knowing the joy of Christ’s gift of eternal life should compel us, for the world’s sake, to suffer the cause of Christ.  Has the world found any answer for its sin?  Which scientist has discovered the cure for sin, or has developed a vaccine against its wages of death.  Neither, the cause, nor consequence can be overcome by the world.  And, though scholars, scientists, politicians, statesmen, kings, and queens have not the cure, a simple child can lead the world to it.  But the world, in its wisdom, would rather berate, beat, and belittle a child than to hear the cure.  What do you suppose the world does to an adult?  Some have borne the cross and suffered death.  Some have suffered less. 

Christ does not ask us to suffer death, or even torture.  He only asks us to be willing to suffer.  It is not a suffering for the sake of suffering, but suffering to bring the good news to a dying world.  The world will always cause suffering and strife when the truth is spread.  Some suffering is as little as a frosty glare, others torture and death.  In either case we are to bear our cross willingly.

The first evidence of bearing the cross of Christ is becoming Christ-like.  As Simon became Christ-like through his suffering in bearing the cross, so too should we become as Christ.  How often, as he was ridiculed, do you suppose Simon yelled out that it was Jesus’ cross and not his own?  How often have you proclaimed Jesus and suffered for it?  How many look to you and see Christ?

How much of Christ’s cross are you willing to bear?

Can you bear any less than all of it?