A close-up of an icon of St Simon. Photo: CC.
Carrying the cross
Janet Scott reads from the gospel of Mark
‘And they compelled a passerby coming from the country, Simon the Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, so that he might carry his cross.’ (Mark 15:21)
The execution squad, seeing that one of their prisoners is unlikely to reach the death hill unaided, haul out one of the Passover crowd and make him carry the heavy cross bar. And so Simon gains his place in history.
We know very little about him. He is described as ‘the Cyrenian’, but we do not know if that is where he lives, making him a visitor for Passover, or where he was born but he is now a resident in this rural area. Such a blank canvas is an invitation to speculation!
Cyrene is on the north coast of Africa, and in the twentieth century this connection with Africa became very significant. Countee Cullen, the African-American poet, in his ‘Simon the Cyrenian Speaks’, assumed that Simon was black.
At first I said, ‘I will not bear
His cross upon my back.
He only seeks to place it there
Because my skin is black.’
Simon carries the cross, not because of the force of the oppressors, but out of pity for a man dying for a dream. Countee Cullen’s poem, in pre-civil rights USA, reflects the burden borne through race discrimination.
In contrast, African churches (perhaps most notably the Harrist church) have seen Simon as part of their reading of Christianity as a faith indigenous to Africa from its earliest days, rather than one brought by Western missionaries. In this view, Africa is the continent that saved the life of Jesus (the flight into Egypt, Matthew 2:14); Simon as carrier of the cross is part of the history of salvation; an early convert was from Ethiopia (Acts 8:26-40); and the first gospel was written when Mark was the bishop in Alexandria.
For me, one of the fascinating things about this verse is the reference to Simon’s family. Only Mark describes him as the father of Alexander and Rufus. To put this into the text suggests that these two brothers were known to the church for which Mark was writing. We do not know for certain which church this was, though Rome has a strong claim. Paul’s letter to the Romans contains a greeting to Rufus and his mother (Romans 16:14), but we do not know if this is the same Rufus, nor whether this greeting is to the church in Rome or appended to a copy that went to some other church.
But I like to think that Simon, forced against his will into a harsh and demeaning task, stayed around long enough to witness what happened and told his family about it in such a way that they were convinced and their lives transformed.
I wonder how often we are called to do something we do not want to do, which becomes a turning point in our spiritual lives? I wonder also if we share our experiences with our families? Do they know the source of our faith?
And I wonder about Alexander and Rufus. Were they proud of their father? I hope so!
