The journey to Jerusalem was supposed to be the highlight of Simon’s year. After traveling approximately 1,500 miles from Cyrene in North Africa, he had finally arrived in the Holy City with his sons, Alexander and Rufus, to celebrate Passover. This pilgrimage represented months of planning, significant financial investment, and the excitement of introducing his children to their religious heritage in Judaism’s most sacred city.
But as Simon made his way through Jerusalem’s bustling streets, his carefully laid plans were shattered in an instant. Roman soldiers seized him—not asking for his assistance but demanding it—forcing him to carry the cross of a condemned man named Jesus.
When Divine Appointments Look Like Unwelcome Interruptions
This unexpected detour in Simon’s journey serves as a powerful reminder that some of life’s most defining moments aren’t scheduled in our calendars. They arrive as interruptions—sometimes painful, often inconvenient, rarely welcome.
The gospel accounts provide few details about Simon’s encounter with Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each mention him briefly, noting that he was “compelled” or “seized” to carry the cross when Jesus could no longer bear it alone. No words were exchanged between them. Yet this wordless encounter on the road to Golgotha likely transformed Simon’s life and the lives of his family members.
Mark’s gospel specifically mentions Simon as “the father of Alexander and Rufus,” suggesting these names would have been familiar to the early church community—an indication that Simon’s family later became followers of Christ themselves. What began as an interruption became the doorway to a new spiritual reality.
The Profound Humility of Jesus
In this moment, we witness Christ’s extraordinary humility. Though fully divine, Jesus emptied Himself completely and embraced human vulnerability. After being scourged and severely weakened, He began carrying the heavy wooden crossbeam but eventually collapsed under its weight.
Rather than calling upon angels or summoning divine strength, Jesus accepted human help. The Creator of the universe allowed a stranger to share His burden. As Philippians 2:6-7 describes: “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
This moment reveals a profound truth: humility includes not only serving others but also graciously receiving help when needed. In a culture obsessed with strength and self-sufficiency, Jesus willingly became a spectacle of vulnerability.
The Absence and the Substitute
The gospels highlight a sobering reality: while Simon carried the cross, Jesus’ disciples were nowhere to be found. Earlier, in Mark 14:50, we read that “all his disciples deserted him and ran away.” Despite their bold declarations of loyalty, they scattered when facing real danger.
Their absence reveals a truth about our human condition—our confident promises often falter under pressure. There were no disciples and no good Samaritans volunteering to help Jesus in His moment of greatest need. Instead, God used an unexpected person in an extraordinary way to fulfill His purpose.
Simon from Cyrene, with no intention of becoming involved in this execution, was compelled to help carry the instrument of death that would become the symbol of salvation for billions. This reminds us that God often accomplishes His greatest work through people and circumstances we least expect.
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From Burden to Discipleship
Luke’s gospel specifically notes that Simon carried the cross “behind Jesus.” This detail isn’t merely geographical—it’s theological. Simon becomes a living illustration of Jesus’ teaching in Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
What began as a forced burden for Simon beautifully illustrates the path of discipleship that Jesus described. The interruption that appeared to ruin Simon’s carefully planned pilgrimage became the means through which he and his family apparently entered into the community of Christ’s followers.
This pattern repeats throughout scripture. Moses tending sheep encounters God in a burning bush. Mary, living quietly in Nazareth, is visited by an angel with world-changing news. Paul, breathing threats against Christians, is blinded by light on the Damascus road. Each interruption became an invitation to participate in God’s redemptive story.
God Meets Us in the Fire
Not every burden we carry is chosen. Some are thrust upon us through illness, loss, betrayal, or circumstances beyond our control. Yet even in what is forced upon us, God does not abandon us—He meets us there.
In Daniel 3, three Hebrew men refused to bow to Babylon’s idol and were thrown into a furnace so hot that the soldiers who carried them died. Yet King Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth figure in the flames, “like a son of the gods.” That was Jesus—not rescuing from the fire but walking within it.
Simon didn’t realize it, but when he picked up that cross, he stepped into this divine pattern: The place of suffering became the place of encounter.
Modern-Day Cross Carriers
Dr. Paul Wilson Brand never planned to work with leprosy patients. Trained as a hand surgeon in London, he was reluctantly assigned to a leprosy hospital in India due to staff shortages—an unwanted detour in his career plans. Like Simon being suddenly pulled from his journey, Dr. Brand found himself diverted to a path he never chose.
This interruption led to revolutionary discoveries about leprosy treatment. Dr. Brand realized that leprosy patients lost fingers and limbs not from the disease itself but because they couldn’t feel pain and unknowingly injured themselves. He pioneered surgical techniques that restored function to damaged hands and transformed leprosy treatment worldwide.
As Dr. Brand later reflected, “I didn’t choose leprosy work. In many ways, it chose me.” His initially unwelcome burden became his life’s defining mission and greatest contribution to humanity.
Carrying One Another’s Crosses
Simon’s experience also illuminates the communal nature of discipleship. The cross was not Simon’s burden to bear—it belonged to Jesus. Yet for a time, he helped carry it. This exemplifies Paul’s spiritual command in Galatians 6:2: “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”
We are called not just to carry our own crosses but sometimes to help bear the weight of another’s suffering. This shared burden-bearing forms the heart of authentic Christian community.
The Divine Exchange
Simon came to Jerusalem for Passover—and encountered the true Passover Lamb. He came to honor the law and met its fulfillment. His journey was interrupted, but in that interruption, he found something far more valuable than what he had planned.
Our most disruptive interruptions may indeed be divine appointments. The cross we’re compelled to carry—whether chosen or thrust upon us—may become the very means through which we encounter Christ most profoundly. Like Simon, we may discover that when our carefully constructed plans are disrupted, God is actually directing our steps toward a deeper participation in His redemptive story.
