“SIMON OF
CYRENE”
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A sermon preached Readings: Galatians
5:22 – 6:2, Mark 15:16-21 |
“A certain man
from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus,
was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the
cross” (Mark 15:21)
“SIMON
OF CYRENE”
In a recent survey, a sample of the adult British
population was asked
if they knew who Simon of Cyrene was –
only 9% got the answer right.
[quoted in “It’s all chicks
and going out – the observance of Easter in Post-War Britain”
by Clive Field, in “Theology” March 1998
p83]
If the
other 91% had heard our Scripture reading today,
they would have known that Simon
was press-ganged by the Roman army
into helping Jesus carry his cross to Golgotha.
Mid
you, we don’t know too much about Simon -
he was a foreigner – Cyrene was 1000 miles from Jerusalem -
quite possibly a freed slave.
The
only other thing we know for sure is that
he was the “father of Alexander and Rufus”
That suggests that his family was known to the early Church by name:
so perhaps his experience on the road to Golgotha
led Simon and his family to become Christians themselves.
Why
did the Roman guard choose Simon to carry the cross?
Probably
as an exercise in political tact -
The Passover festival was coming up,
and any Jew chosen to carry a cross would have been rendered
ceremonially unclean for the forthcoming Passover festival -
much easier to choose a black Gentile foreigner.
No one would mind about him….
So
what has the story of Simon to say to us?
First
it says something about:
“the cross we
place on others’ shoulders”
Lent
is a time of confession as we approach holy week.
We
confess our sins -
for every sin of ours makes the cross of our Lord the heavier.
We
might also pause this Lent to reflect
on
the way in which the results of our evil and sin
are
placed on the shoulders of others –
the
innocent bystanders of the world.
When
Christ looks into our eyes, do we hear him saying:
“Simon
and I are carrying the cross
which you have fashioned and laid on our shoulders?”
Simon
of Cyrene was a foreigner, an alien –
and
as such a vulnerable person.
the sort of person on whom a cross
could be easily and thoughtlessly laid by Roman officialdom
In
every generation the foreigner has been
the convenient bearer of the consequences of others’ sins.
This evening as part of a world wide series of
vigils at 7 pm,
we will be lighting a candle for peace -
And as we do so, we will think of the innocents of Iraq –
the women and children of
Baghdad –
and wonder whether they are to
be like Simon of old,
called to suffer for the sins of
others?
The suffering of those born a 1000 and more
miles away
may seem very distant to us –
but it is a suffering which
echoes in the heart of God
as though it were the suffering of his own son.
So, as
we hear the story of Simon of Cyrene,
we confess how often we have colluded in forcing the vulnerable
to suffer as a consequence of the sins of the strong.
“the cross
we ourselves carry”
But we can look at the story of Simon in
another way -
And think of those occasions when
we are the ones forced to carry the cross.
You talk to someone who has been bereaved
or who is suffering an illness, and you hear them say –
“Well we all have our cross to bear” –
and indeed many of the sorrows
which come our way are
not of our choosing –
the suffering is placed onto
our shoulders without a “by your leave”.
Just as Simon – unasked for
– finds a cross laid on his shoulder.
The question is: how do we respond to the
cross?
Does it become a cause of resentment and
malice
or may it become a means of grace?
Sheila Cassidy talking about
those working in hospices, once said
that the best hospice volunteers
are not those who think they are God’s gift to the dying
(these, she says, “we avoid like the plague!”)
- rather the best hospice carers
she describes them as people like Simon of Cyrene -
ordinary people who have at first been dragged unwillingly
into dealing with their own heartaches and bereavements -
and who have then learnt through that process of shared suffering
what they can share and give to others.
[cf Sheila Cassidy,
“Good Friday people” DLT, 1991 p. 107]
When we suffer or see a loved one suffering,
this is a burden we cannot escape –
But it is a burden we can choose to offer to
the Lord
and in so doing
we can tread in the footsteps of Simon of Cyrene –
Taking an unlooked for burden
and turning it into something creative.
As Paul says, God can “work for good in all
things to those who love him”
(Rom 8:28)
Sometimes of course we do have a choice -
whether to watch the suffering from a safe & unconcerned distance
or whether to identify with the suffering
to step into the road, take up the cross and follow.
And as we face the prospect of war,
I am reminded of Harry Williams,
who was a young curate in Pimlico during the Blitz:
He said his poor parishioners had to suffer a huge
amount
as the German planes roared in.
But, he said, the thing that impressed him most
was the response of the folk
as the British bombers set off for the continent.
There was no sign of pleasure or satisfaction.
Rather they would say -
“Poor
wretches, I’m afraid they’re going to get it tonight” – or
”Poor souls, I hope it won’t be too bad”
[cf Harry Williams,
“Some Day I’ll find you”]
Most
of us in the Churches are still trying to persuade
our government to avoid unilateral action in Iraq -
but whatever our view on the politics of this war,
we are called to identify with the sufferings of other “poor souls”
Be they in London or Dresden, in New York or
Baghdad.
When it comes to the carrying of crosses,
we are called to be with Simon and Jesus -
to take up our crosses and follow -
not to be with Pilate and Caiaphas -
distributing crosses to others.
“the fruitful tree”
And so Simon carried a cross -
I wonder when it was
that he realised the true import of what had happened to him
on the road to Golgotha?
How often do we look back on a day like any
other,
and suddenly realize that there it was,
that there, somewhere on a dusty road,
we met with our Lord?
And often that moment is not a moment of
glory of success and joy -
it is in the midst of our pain and humiliation, that – looking back,
we realise that we met God.
For that is indeed the story of Simon -
who on that day of all days
when he found himself dragged into a gibbet procession,
on that day of humiliation and degradation,
he met with his Lord in the road!
Each day of the Church’s year has its saints
to remember
Some of the stories may be far fetched in
terms of literal truth –
But none the less can speak powerfully to us
of spiritual truth.
Such a story is that of St
Papas, whom we commemorate
on this 16 Mar -
Martyred in 4th Century Turkey,
Papas is said to have been strapped to a barren tree where he died.
After his death the tree became fruitful.
There is a message there
for us all -
for we are all called to the tree of the cross –
To bind our lives to it –
That in so doing we may find - like Simon of
old -
that the barren experience
becomes the fruitful gift of life.
May we give thanks for all those down through
the ages
who like Simon the Cyrenian,
have travelled Christ’s way and carried their cross
May we pray God that we be
not numbered
amongst those who inflict the cross on others
Rather
may we follow the saints
and share the sufferings of Christ and his people –
And thus may we find through carrying the dead wood of the cross
that we meet with our risen and victorious Lord..