Easter Meditation 1: Simon of Cyrene

Christian Standard‘s former editor and publisher Mark A. Taylor originally wrote this, the first in a set of six meditations, for use by folks in his church during the week leading up to Easter. This is the first time we are sharing these on our website. We will post a new meditation each morning through Saturday.

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Day 1—Simon of Cyrene: Burdened by the Cross (Mark 15:16-22)

By Mark A. Taylor

My wife and I concluded two or three decades ago we would no longer ask friends to help us move. We decided this for two reasons.  

(1) Most of our fellow boomers had become too weak of back and unsteady of limb to be heaving sofa beds onto U-Hauls. And, (2) most certainly, so had we. Unwilling to ask favors we wouldn’t return, we paid professionals to haul the heavy stuff the last time we changed houses. 

I’ve been thinking about load bearing as I’ve anticipated this week before Easter. Time and again I’m reminded of the huge weight Christ took off my shoulders when he died to bear the punishment for my sins. “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed’” (1 Peter 2:24). 

But Christ carried our weight only after someone else carried his. A man named Simon, from Cyrene, a city in faraway Africa, had likely come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. He happened to be there along the path where Jesus struggled to carry his own cross on the way to his execution. Every ounce of Christ’s energy and strength had been beaten out of him by the Roman soldiers who had already flogged him almost to death. And, as Jesus stumbled under his load, the soldiers collared Simon and made him carry the wooden beam the rest of the way to Calvary. 

As ugly and difficult as Simon’s task was, and even though he surely would rather have avoided it, perhaps it was the first step in his own redemption. The Gospel writer makes a point of naming Simon’s sons. And at least one commentator, William Barclay, suggests that one of them, Rufus, is the man singled out by Paul in Romans 16:13 as one “chosen in the Lord.” Barclay also connects this Simon in Mark’s Gospel with “Simeon called Niger,” included in Acts 13:1 among the Christians in Antioch who sent out Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey.  

Is it possible that in carrying Christ’s load, Simon came face-to-face with the burden Christ bore for him and for all of us? It’s a beautiful thought. And it leads us to wonder what each one of us might discover by serving Christ today. Could it be that submitting to the weight of the work Jesus has for us might show us the possibilities and purpose he has for our life?  

Often this will involve loads heavier than a bedroom set or dining room furniture. Physical weight can wear you down, but even more crushing are emotional loads. Helping another carry his grief, unload his guilt, or take up a new responsibility demands a strength that can grow with age. For many, spiritual muscles develop even as the body’s biceps weaken.  

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RESPOND: 

1. Who among your family and friends is struggling with emotional pain or problems that threaten to overwhelm them? Ask God to help you lighten their load. 

2. What struggles threaten to weigh you down? Ask God to lead you to someone who can share your burden with you. 

3. What can you do to develop stronger spiritual muscles, even as your physical body may be aging? 

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Another Easter meditation will be posted Tuesday morning.

Author: Mark A. Taylor

Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).