Preached July 12, 2009
from
Matthew 27:32

Theme: Some important spiritual principles for those who are called to be identified with the crucified Christ are illustrated for us in the experience of Simon of Cyrene.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

Every verse of the Bible is precious. Even the seemingly insignificant details—the things that it would be easy for us to pass by—are in the pages of Scripture by God’s wise providence, and are given by Him for our encouragement and edification.

This morning, as we continue our study of Matthew’s Gospel, we will consider just one verse. This single, short verse tells us about something that seems—at first glance—to only be incidental. Three of the four Gospels tell us about this tiny event; and because of all that is going on around it, it would be easy to miss the significance of it. In fact, I have found that many Bible commentators simply give only a passing reference to it, and then move on to other matters. I have even found one or two commentaries that don’t even mention it at all.

But I believe it’s a great a mistake to pass by what this verse tells us. It tells us about a man from North Africa named Simon; and about an unique privilege he had that no other person in all of human history had.

Simon of Cyrene was the one man on this earth who literally bore the cross for the Son of God as He made His way to Golgotha to die for us.

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Matthew tells us about how the Lord Jesus was tried before the high priest and the Jewish leaders, and was found by them to be worthy of death. He tells us of how Jesus was examined before the Roman governor Pilate, and was then handed over to be crucified. He then tells us of how the Roman soldiers scourged Him, and mocked Him, and struck Him, and spat upon Him. And finally, we’re told that they led Him away to be crucified. This morning’s verse is a part of the story of what happened as Jesus was led in public humiliation along the streets of Jerusalem—along what has come to be called the Via Dolorosa; that is, The Way of Suffering—to the hill of Golgotha.

It was typical for the Roman soldiers to force a criminal who had been condemned to crucifixion to walk through the public streets, bearing his own “crossbeam” to his place of execution, and wearing a plaque that described the nature of his crime. John, in his Gospel, tells us that Jesus went along “bearing His cross” (John 19:17). Luke tells us that, as He went, “a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him” (Luke 23:27). Even the two criminals who were crucified next to Him were also led along with Him (Luke 23:32).

And just think of our Lord’s condition. He had enjoyed a very eventful evening supper with His disciples—one in which He had taught them some of the most significant truths about Himself that are recorded in the Gospels (see John 13-17); and during which He had released Judas to betray Him. Then, He endured a sleepless and anguishing evening in the garden of Gethsemane as He awaited the betrayer Judas while in torment of soul; then gave Himself into the hands of those who came to arrest Him; then stood before the Jewish leaders and elders who had interrogated and condemned Him; then was sent back and forth between Pilate and Herod; then appeared before the shouts of the angry mob that cried out for His death; then was handed over by Pilate for crucifixion.

Our Lord had been slapped and spat upon by the Jewish council; then scourged by Pilate; then brutally humiliated, spat upon again, and beaten further by a mob of soldiers. Isaiah 50:6 tells us that He gave His back to those who struck Him, His cheeks to those who plucked out His beard, and His face to shame and spitting. Isaiah 52:14 tells us that His visage “was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men”. And then—after all that—the heavy crossbeam was thrown upon His shoulders; and He was made to carry it the long way up the hill to His death.

It’s not hard to imagine that our Lord—in His broken and frail human body—would collapse beneath the weight of the beam.

Now; it may have been that, as far as the eager Roman soldiers were concerned, He was taking too long to bear His cross up the way. Or it may even be that they were concerned that He might die before they could have a chance to crucify Him. Whatever the reason was, we can be sure that it wasn’t done out of compassion for Him. But Matthew tells us, in Matthew 27:32;

Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross (Matthew 27:32).

What a significant detail! It may be that this man Simon—looking at it all when it happened—had thought that he simply showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time. But God, in His providence, so ordered that he would be the man who would bear the cross for our Savior as He made His way to His death for us.

And we need to pay very careful attention to it. Some important spiritual principles for those who are called to be identified with the crucified Christ are illustrated in the experience of Simon of Cyrene.

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First, I suggest to you that . . .

1. HIS CALL TO BEAR THE CROSS WAS A PICTURE OF GOD’S GRACE.

For one thing, it was a great grace of God that Jesus didn’t carry the cross alone. The Father so ordered things that another man—a man from among the pool of fallen humanity—would also bear it. And there’s a tremendous picture of God’s grace in that fact.

You see; the sacrifice that atoned for our sins could only be made by the sinless Son of God. He alone could pay the price for us. But in order for God to show that it wasn’t for Himself that Jesus died, another man—a representative of fallen humanity—was made to shared in the bearing of His cross. Jesus died as a Man; but He died for fallen humanity. As it says in 1 Peter 3:18;

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God . . . (1 Peter 3:18a).

And there’s more. Do you notice that this man’s name was Simon? That’s a Jewish name. It’s the same name, in fact, as one of the most beloved of the disciples—Simon Peter. And yet, all of the Gospel writers who mention this man also mention the fact that he was from Cyrene; and that’s not a Jewish place.

Cyrene was an old Greek settlement on the northern coast of Africa. The people of Cyrene spoke a different language than the people of Jerusalem (see Acts 2:10). It had Jewish people living there (see Acts 6:9); but the Cyrenean Jews would have been Jewish people who were “Hellenistic”—that is to say, they were Greek in custom and culture (see Acts 11:20).

Isn’t it fascinating that the cross of our Savior wasn’t born by one of His twelve disciples? In fact, it wasn’t even born by someone who was thoroughly ‘Jewish’ in culture. Rather, it was born by someone who—you might say—represented both the Jewish and the Gentile world together. By this particular man Simon carrying the cross, God gave a visible demonstration to all that Jesus’ sacrifice was a sacrifice for all people—not just the Jewish people alone. As Paul has written;

Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith (Romans 3:29-30).

What a picture of God’s grace it is that this man—a fallen man; and a man who could truly represent all men—had a share in carrying Jesus’ cross!

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We should also pay attention to what Simon did, because . . .

2. HIS BEARING OF THE CROSS INVOLVED A SHARE IN ITS SHAME.

We really see this in the word that was used to describe how the Roman soldiers persuaded him to carry Jesus’ cross. We’re told that they “compelled” him to do it—or as it is in the New International Version, they “forced” him to do it. The word that is used in the original language means to ‘press someone into service’ of some kind.

We should never think of Simon standing by—seeing Jesus struggling beneath the weight of the cross—and nobly volunteering to bear the cross for Him. No one would ever volunteer to do such a thing! To bear a cross throughout the streets of the city was a thing of great shame and disgrace! What’s more, it may even be that Simon knew of Jesus’ teaching and believed Him to be a just Man. It could be that it would never have occurred to him to willingly participate—in any respect—in the brutal crucifixion of the Lord. But in any case, the Roman soldiers weren’t asking for volunteers. They saw Simon coming into the city from the country areas; and they grabbed him and made him do it. They made him a participant in something shameful. It may even be that this would have made Simon an object of ridicule among those who would have seen him carrying a cross for a condemned criminal.

And yet, Simon here serves once again to illustrate a spiritual truth to us. There is, definitely, shame in the cross. As Paul says, the message of the cross is “foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18). “Cursed”, the Bible tells us, “is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). The cross is a shameful, despised thing in the eyes of this world. And yet, we’re told that for the joy that was set before Him, Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). And if you and I want to be a follower of Jesus, we have to also share in the “shame” He bore in the sight of this world.

Too many of us try to have it both ways; wanting to enjoy the benefit of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, and still be thought of well by this world. And if we’re doing that, then we’re making a compromise somewhere with respect to this world; because the cross of Jesus Christ is a shameful thing in this world’s eyes. If the cross of Jesus Christ is foolishness to this world, and we take up that cross as our hope for salvation, then we have to accept that we will be thought “foolish” by this world. We have to bear the shame of the cross!

But I love what the book of Acts says about the early disciples. They were warned by the authorities to stop speaking in the name of Jesus; and we’re told that they went out “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41).

Let’s learn the lesson that is illustrated for us in Simon’s experience. If we would follow Jesus, we will bear shame in the eyes of this world. There’s no way around that. But let’s also follow the example of the early disciples, and rejoice that we may bear shame for His name; because “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Timothy 2:12a).

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There’s another thing we need to know about Simon; and that is that . . .

3. HIS ACTION ILLUSTRATED THE NATURE OF TRUE OF DISCIPLESHIP.

When we’re told that Simon was compelled to take up Jesus’ cross, it was so that he might walk behind Jesus to the hill of Golgotha. In fact, in Luke’s version of the story, we’re told that the Roman soldiers laid Jesus’ cross on Simon, “that he might bear it after Jesus” (Luke 23:26).

I tremble to think of what that must have been like. To have Jesus’ cross laid on his shoulders would have meant that Simon became smeared and stained with the Savior’s own blood and sweat. And what must it have been like to walk behind Jesus?—to see Him stagger and tremble as the soldiers struck Him and shoved Him up the hill? What must it have been like walk behind Him and see His back—bloodied and scarred and shredded from the blows of the flagrum He received when they scourged Him? Did He still have a crown of thorns upon His head? Certainly, He would still have the wounds. What would it have been like to walk directly behind Someone who had been beaten so much?—to hear the wails and laments being offered for Him by the women who walked along side Him?—to see the top of the hill just beyond where the post-beam of the cross had been raised, and where the Roman soldiers waited to nail Him to the crossbeam and hoist His dying body up on it?

What would it have been like to walk behind Jesus, bearing His cross? Could it be doubted that, after bearing the cross to the hill, Simon stayed and watched the Savior die? And what’s more—though we don’t know how much of all this Simon understood—what would it have been like to do all this, knowing that it was your own sins that made this great act of love necessary?

Well; once again, this picture of Simon—walking behind Jesus and bearing His cross—illustrates a great spiritual principle to us. It illustrates the nature of true discipleship. We are to do what Simon did—take up our cross and follow behind our Savior, wherever it may be that He leads us. Jesus Himself said;

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26).

In fact, Jesus once said that “whoever does not bear His cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). He said that it cannot be done any other way! And yet, knowing that it was for us that He laid down His life, how could we not lose our lives for His sake in return?

May we, by God’s grace, follow the principle illustrated to us through Simon—and take up our cross and follow Jesus with our whole life!

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Let me share one more lesson we can learn from Simon. We see that . . .

4. HIS BEARING OF THE CROSS RESULTED IN AN IMPACT UPON OTHERS.

We don’t get a sense that Simon wanted to bear the cross. But he did. And the fact that he did so had an impact on others. We can see this in two ways.

First of all, we can see it in an interesting fact that is shared with us in Mark’s Gospel Mark wrote his Gospel account primarily for Roman people. And in Mark 15:21, we’re told that Simon the Cyrenian was “the father of Alexander and Rufus”. We don’t know who Alexander and Rufus are; but apparently the people to whom Mark wrote knew them. These two men were so well known among the Roman believers, in fact, that all Mark had to do was say that Simon was their father, and they’d know immediately who Simon was! When Paul closed his letter to the Romans, he even said, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine” (Romans 16:13). Might this leader in the church, named Rufus, be the son of Simon?

In any case, it’s clear that bearing the cross of Jesus had a powerful impact on him that he passed on two his two sons. I harbor the hope that Simon became a believer—and perhaps he shared his experience with his sons, and they became believers. And perhaps he even shared it with his wife; so that she became a believer—and a dearly beloved “mother-type” to Paul. Could it be that, for the rest of their lives, they told the story of how their father bore the cross of Jesus?

And second, I know he had an impact on others; because here we are—two-thousand years later—talking about him and learning from the spiritual principles illustrated to us by his experience. What a transformation it is that we can bring about in this world if we will take up our cross and follow behind Jesus!

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Let me close with a final thought. Jesus, at the very beginning of His ministry, clearly and visibly identified Himself with us in our need.

At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. Matthew tells us;

And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him (Matthew 3:14-15).

Jesus was, in effect, saying, “John, I know that I do not need to be baptized for My own sake. I know that, because I have no sin, it seems inappropriate for Me to enter into the waters of baptism for repentance—as if I were a sinner like the others who come to you to be baptized. But if I do not enter into the waters of the baptism, and identify Myself with those who truly need to repent of sin, I cannot bring about a full completion of righteousness.” Thus, Jesus identified Himself with us in our need, by being baptized with the baptism of repentance for our sins.

And don’t we see, in Simon, that identification coming around full-circle? And just as Jesus became identified the needy sinners of this world, don’t we see our need—as Simon illustrates for us—to become identified with the crucified Christ?

May we become known as men and women who, like Simon, bear the cross of Jesus.