A person forced to carry the cross

Mark 15:21–23

“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 of Jesus.”

— Mark 15:21

As Jesus walked toward Golgotha ​​bearing His cross, a man appeared on the scene. His name was Simon of Cyrene.

Simon was not one of Jesus’s disciples. He was not someone who had resolved to follow Jesus. He was simply an ordinary person passing by after having come up to Jerusalem that day. Yet, something completely unexpected happened in his life.

“They forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.”

Simon was compelled to carry the cross.

He might well have felt that this was the most absurd and unfair thing that had ever happened to him.

“Why me, of all people?”

“Why must I carry this cross?”

“I’ve done nothing wrong — why am I being subjected to this?”

Yet, remarkably, God used that very event — a cross-bearing Simon had never wanted — as a moment of grace that transformed his life.

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1. The Man Who Carried the Cross Against His Will