Good Friday 8.15am

Friday
8:15am    

Take up thy cross

They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. (Mark 15: 21)

Jesus was exhausted, continual beatings, sleep deprivation, questioning, abuse – we are still familiar with the way in which prisoners can be treated even by regimes of which much better should be expected. Now he was meant to carry his cross from the Antonia Fortress to outside the city wall and the Place of the Skull.  What he would have been carrying would have been the crossbar on to which he would be nailed and then hauled up the upright that was already in place and which would be used for every prisoner.

Pilgrims to Jerusalem, walking the Via Dolorosa, have the experience of carrying the cross between the fourteen stations that mark the way that Jesus walked  It is a tough thing to do – physically and emotionally – and it is normal for the cross to be shared, two bearing it at one time and swopping at various points in the journey with others eager to do this.

There was nobody eager to do it for Jesus.  Simon had to be compelled, perhaps with a lash, to do this ignominious act. But later he must have realized what he had done and must have become a Christian, perhaps the first to be converted on the Way of the Cross.

Why do I say this? Well, Mark in his Gospel mentions Simon’s sons Alexander and Rufus.  Mark was writing his Gospel for the Christian community in Rome.  To bother to mention these two names must have meant that it was significant for those first readers.  They must have known them; they must have been part of their community.  Simon carries the cross for Jesus and then carries the cross for the rest of his life as a Christian and bring his family with him.

Take up thy cross, the saviour said, if thou wouldst my disciple be;…….