A random man passes through. All three Synoptic Gospels call attention to this man, by naming him as well as his place of origin. He is from Cyrene, which is in present-day Libya, some 800 miles away from Jerusalem. All three accounts (Matt. 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26) intimate that he was in transit and that his encounter with Jesus was by happenstance.
Mark is the only Gospel that mentions his two sons, possibly already believers that the audience would have been familiar with (maybe linked with the same Rufus of Romans 16:13). Interestingly, Ellen White sheds more light:
“At this time a stranger, Simon a Cyrenian, coming in from the country, meets the throng. He hears the taunts and ribaldry of the crowd; he hears the words contemptuously repeated, Make way for the King of the Jews! He stops in astonishment at the scene; and as he expresses his compassion, they seize him and place the cross upon his shoulders.
“Simon had heard of Jesus. His sons were believers in the Saviour, but he himself was not a disciple. The bearing of the cross to Calvary was a blessing to Simon, and he was ever after grateful for this providence. It led him to take upon himself the cross of Christ from choice, and ever cheerfully stand beneath its burden.”1
The convergence of random events under the providence of God is never random.
Jesus was physically weak and staggering. The Roman “art” of crucifixion had been mastered by this time to maximize pain and suffering. The whipping and blood loss alone could have killed any man. But the vilest of criminals were made to parade the town while carrying the heavy crucifix.
Jesus fainted multiple times, not being able to carry the cross. This presented a logistical problem for the Roman soldiers, having still quite a distance yet to go. Clearly the prisoner was unable to proceed. With no word from their superiors but humiliated at the perception of their incompetence, they had to furnish a solution. Why not ask a Roman to carry Christ’s cross? What occupier would help the occupied, let alone a criminal of the lowest class? Why not ask a Jewish priest? With the Passover coming soon, who would defile themselves?
In the midst of selfish concerns of purity and protocol, humiliation and honor, embarrassment and edict, a random man was chosen. The timing of Simon’s appearance, the placing of Simon on that Via Dolorosa, the moments of Christ’s exhaustion, the impatience of the priests, and the point of Roman anxiety came to a climax. The convergence of random events under the providence of God is never random. This honor of being so close to Jesus, especially near His death, was purposely handed to Simon of Cyrene.
“The cross [Simon] was forced to bear became the means of his conversion. His sympathies were deeply stirred in favor of Jesus; and the events of Calvary, and the words uttered by the Saviour, caused him to acknowledge that He was the Son of God.”2
Some tolerated Jesus, but Simon served Him. Some were humiliated by Jesus, but Simon was humbled by Him. Some went in front of Jesus, but Simon followed behind Him. Some rushed Jesus, but Simon was in lockstep with Him. Some think of events as arbitrary, but Simon’s meeting was providential, for the convergence of random events under the providence of God is never random.
1 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 742.
2 Ellen G. White, Sons and Daughters of God (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1955), p. 249.
