What Happened to Simon of Cyrene After the Crucifixion
Simon of Cyrene is one of those interesting people we briefly see in the crucifixion story, whose part feels all the more than important because we only get a glimpse of him. He'due south there for a moment then disappears only seeing what he did and understanding the background tells u.s.a. something very powerful.
Who Was Simon of Cyrene?
Simon of Cyrene is mentioned in Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26. Marker's version mentions that he had two sons, Rufus and Alexander, and Luke's version mentions that Simon was coming into Jerusalem "from the country." Jesus, who Pilate had condemned to decease past crucifixion, was walking out of Jerusalem escorted by the Romans, carrying his cantankerous to Golgotha. The walking toward Golgotha was a public outcome where Jesus (and the two thieves who were also condemned) walked down streets with people watching their progress. This was of import since public punishments were meant to be shameful events—victims had to exist made into objects of ridicule, sending the community a message near what happened when you broke the police.
As Jesus was walking, the Romans stopped Simon who was passing past, and they made him carry the cross. Simon carried the cross behind Jesus for an unspecified corporeality of fourth dimension, mayhap all the fashion to Golgotha. In the traditional Stations of the Cross, Simon conveying the cross is the second station, followed by righteous women weeping as they see Jesus walking toward Golgotha.
Why Did Simon of Cyrene Carry Jesus' Cross?
None of the 3 accounts state what specifically made the Romans call up that someone had to assistance deport the cross, or why they picked out Simon.
However, some people have talked almost the medical side of crucifixion, which may give united states a clue. Lee Strobelinterviewed a medical doc for his book Case for Christ, and the interviewee pointed out that it was common for crucifixion victims to exist flogged beforehand, which nosotros know happened to Jesus (John 19:1-4). This would partly exist for humiliation, and besides because crucifixion kills people via cardiac abort—and then, losing blood beforehand prepped people to dice quicker. Roman whips in that flow were brutal, with multiple leather strips that had bits of glass or metallic embedded in them. Strobel's interviewee pointed out that victims lost an enormous corporeality of blood and even muscle; some people died only from the flogging. He also noted that when someone feels and so stressed that they sweat blood, as Jesus was in Gethsemane (Luke 22:40-46), that makes your skin more sensitive…significant the flogging would crusade fifty-fifty more harm.
All of these factors mean that when Jesus was carrying the cross, he was feeling very weak. The psychological stress of carrying his own execution instrument would have been as well much for some people, his wounds and blood loss would take made it even harder. The Passion of the Christ illustrates just how difficult information technology was to behave the cross in a scene where Jesus drops the cross and spins effectually, collapsing to the basis.
And so it's very likely that the Romans noticed Jesus was having a difficult fourth dimension carrying the cross. He might take looked like he was in danger of collapsing. Crucifixion was a well-good process for the Romans; they had done it many times and like any well-proficient execution technique, there was a plan to follow. Disruptions in the program would make them wait bad, suggest they hadn't done their job right. It would also mean the intended effect of public executions, shaming the victim while frightening onlookers, might be compromised. So even though Jesus was one-half expressionless and very humiliated already, the Romans had to make sure carrying the cross didn't kill Jesus from exhaustion. In military terms, that would exist "bad grade." Getting someone off the street to deport the cross for Jesus was a unproblematic solution to their "problem."
The reason why the Romans singled out Simon is hard to say since the verse doesn't tell us. Information technology is worth noting that Simon was from Cyrene, a urban center in Northern Africa, and could have been a nighttime-skinned man. Racism based on skin color has a circuitous history—our understanding of it comes from slave merchandise practices started in the 1600s, before that racism based on other ethnic factors (organized religion, linguistic communication, etc.) was more than common. However, it'southward possible that the Romans, members of the invading class who saw themselves as ethnically superior to everyone, singled Simon out because he was dark-skinned, and they wanted to humiliate him besides.
What Happened to Simon after the Crucifixion?
The Bible doesn't mention Simon of Cyrene before the Crucifixion, or at any point subsequently. Acts 2:10 mentions that other people from Cyrene were present at the Pentecost event and heard the disciples speaking in tongues, but there's no specific mention of Simon existence among them. He also doesn't effigy in official early church documents. So, we actually can't say what happened after his encounter with Jesus.
At that place are a few legends and speculations near Simon here and there. A BibleStudyTools.com article by Lisa Loraine Baker claims that he is mentioned in the apocryphal text Acts of Simon and Judas, where he's described every bit being martyred in 100 AD by being cut in half. However, the Encyclopedia Britannica states that this counterfeit book is really talking about the apostle Simon the Zealot, so this may be a misnomer. Given that apocryphal texts are often bizarre and ahistorical, information technology's possible that legends well-nigh Simon of Cyrene and Simon the Zealot were conflated over time.
An article past the Southern Nebraska Register mentions theories that Simon'southward sons Alexander and Rufus who were involved in the early Roman church. This theory is based on the fact that the Gospel of Mark is the only i of the Gospels to mention Simon's sons, and tradition holds that the Gospel of Mark is Peter dictating his story to his disciple Mark. Tradition besides holds that Peter founded the Roman church (he was later martyred in Rome by Nero), and some documents mention a human being named Rufus in the Roman church. Therefore, the Gospel of Marking can be seen as specifically directed to the Roman church. Moments in Marking where he makes unique points could be him highlighting things that his specific audience would be interested in (local connections and and then forth). This idea is certainly possible and fits with the idea that different Gospels phrase their material differently for different audiences. For example, the Gospel of John is addressed to a Gentile audience, then rather than starting past talking well-nigh Jesus as Messiah, it opens by talking well-nigh Jesus as the Logos (give-and-take), a concept Greek-speaking Gentile audiences would be more familiar with.
Why Is His Story Important?
While Simon of Cyrene isn't a major biblical character, and we need to advisedly avert putting besides much weight on legends about him which we can't verify, he has a very stiff role in the story of Jesus' decease.
The fact that someone else was brought in to carry the cross reminds us that this was a public upshot. Jesus wasn't dying for our sins with just a few onlookers—like all crucifixion victims, his death was made into a public spectacle.
The fact that Jesus needed help conveying his cross emphasizes just how weak Jesus was in this moment. He was fully God, but besides fully human, and the flogging-walking-cross plan was stretching Jesus' homo body beyond its limits even before he was on the cantankerous.
The fact that Simon was walking behind Jesus as well ways that he was seeing the walk to Golgotha from near the same perspective. He was seeing righteous people weep, the savage people taunt and was close plenty to Jesus that it would have felt like all this attention was directed on Simon as well. He got a secondhand gustatory modality of the burdens Jesus was carrying.
Some take pointed out that Simon'south part in carrying the cross backside Jesus reminds us of the posture God asks us to have as Christ-followers. We are commanded to take upward our crosses and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24), knowing that we may be humiliated and broken in the process. The epitome of Simon struggling to conduct a heavy cross, beingness pulled into the event's shame and hurting, walking behind a human who was God incarnate, is a potent metaphor for what following Jesus looks like.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Arthit_Longwilai
This article is role of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the almost pop manufactures for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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Who Was Deborah in the Bible?
Who Was Moses in the Bible?
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Who Was Jezebel in the Bible?
Who Was the Prodigal Son?
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