after Jesus

Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him the laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.  Luke 23:26

Simon, from Cyrene in North Africa, in Jerusalem, for reasons unknown, was recruited to carry the cross.  Jesus, weakened from a sleepless night, berating interrogations, the denial of a disciple, being scourged, and having crown of thorns placed on his head, was evidently unable to carry the cross to Golgotha.

 The soldiers, no doubt anxious to move things along, picked this bystander from the crowd to do what Jesus could not and what the soldiers would not do – carry the cross.

 We know from Mark 15 that Simon was a father.  We know that he was traveling.  Was he at the wrong place at the wrong time?  Or was he at the right place at the right time?

 Scripture is clear that Simon took up the cross and did as he was ordered.  Luke 23:26  says “on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.”

 After Jesus.

 This is a telling and significant phrase.  He did lead Jesus. He did not go a different way than Jesus.  He didn’t even walk next to Him.  He walked after Jesus.  While bearing the cross.  No doubt Simon had a view of Christ few others saw.  He held the blood and sweat covered cross.  He saw Christ.  He smelled Christ.  And He certainly heard Him struggle towards Golgotha.  I wonder if some heckled Simon thinking he was a criminal himself?

What Simon was doing was a foreshadowing of what each of us are called to do.  Jesus said in Luke 9 that “if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  Our call today is to lay aside our agenda, our interests, and our desires; that is a type of cross, a type of death.  We are to shoulder the cross and follow after Christ…and His interests, His desires, His agenda.

We do not know what Simon’s original plan for that Friday was.  But we do know that he followed after Christ.  Whatever sacrifice Simon made carrying the cross was quite small in comparison to what Christ did on the cross.  How true that is for us…whatever we must stop doing pales in comparison to what He will start doing in our lives when we follow after Him.

 This is the way we should go.  This is the place we should be.  After Jesus.