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04.05.09

Palm Sunday

SERMON SERIES: ON THE ROAD TO THE CROSS

PART 6: SIMON OF CYRENE

JOHN 12:12-19; MARK 15:21-41

The Week that Changed the World

Palm Sunday Procession

The time had come

The stage is set and everything is ready
All the powers of heaven and earth have come together
The week that changed the world is about to begin

It certainly was a day of triumph as pilgrims from all over the inhabited world began to flock to Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover

It was on this day when the streets were packed with pilgrims that Jesus chose to take his place in the annals of history
Jesus is now ready to declare to the world who he is—the Son of the Living God—and to reveal to the world that he is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the human race

Earlier in his ministry, after Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, the crowd was ready to take hold of him and crown him king

But Jesus resisted their efforts because the time wasn’t right
Now the time had come
Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem to claim his place as king

Messianic Misconceptions

The words and actions of the crowd that day declare that they still did not understand Jesus’ mission

They were still looking to him to be an earthly conqueror—one who would set them free from the oppression of Rome
Their cry of “Hosanna,” coupled with “Blessed is the King of Israel,” along with the waving of the palm branches indicate that they saw Jesus as a victorious ruler
“Hosanna” means ‘Save now,” and the reference to “the King of Israel” ties Jesus in with the royal line of David
The palm branches were a sign of victory for a conquering king

But Jesus was not willing to identify himself with the hopes and expectations of Israel

His mission was to be more than just a conquering king for Israel; his mission was to be the Savior of the world
If nationalistic hopes and aspirations were Jesus’ goal, he would have chosen to ride into Jerusalem on a mighty steed, the sign of a conquering king
Instead, Jesus chose a donkey, the lowliest of animals, one that wasn’t a symbol of strength and power but of humility and service
His action undercuts their nationalism and points in a different direction, evoking the image from the prophet Zechariah: “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” (Zechariah 9:9)

It is the conflict between these two very different definitions of Messiah that brings Jesus to his final destiny by the end of this week

The Jews wanted to see Jesus ascend to the throne, but instead of a throne, Jesus chose the cross
By ascending to the throne, Jesus might have been able to save a nation, but by being lifted up on a cross, Jesus succeeded in saving the world

What changed the attitude of the crowd from shouting “Hosanna” on Sunday morning to “Crucify him” on Friday morning was the fact that Jesus wasn’t living up to their expectations—he wasn’t acting like a king

Many scholars suggest that this was the motivation for Judas’ act of betrayal
Judas had no desire to see Jesus crucified
Instead, it was his desire for Jesus to become the king Judas knew he could be
By betraying Jesus to the authorities, Judas hoped that would force Jesus’ hand and motivate him to rise up and claim his place as king
Yet, during his trial, instead invoking his power, Jesus remained passive; instead of defending himself, Jesus remained silent
When the verdict of death was pronounced, Judas went out and hanged himself our of remorse because the crucifixion of Jesus wasn’t the outcome Judas expected or hoped for

The Triumph of the Cross

The Good Friday Processional

On Friday morning, a different kind of parade begins

This is not the parade of a victorious king that occurred at the beginning of the week
This was a death march as the Roman soldiers paraded their convicted criminals through the streets of Jerusalem, by the longest possible route, to the site of their crucifixion, to make an example of them for the entire city to see

And Jesus was definitely a dead man walking

He was humiliated by being spat upon and slapped
He was whipped by Roman soldiers to within an inch of his life
He had a crown of thorns thrust into this skull
Bruised, beaten, bleeding, and weakened by all he was forced to endure, Jesus was forced to drag his own heavy cross to the place where he would be crucified
He was pushed and prodded, and every time he fell, he was kicked and beaten some more until he struggled to his feet to continue this march of death

Weakened to the point of exhaustion, Jesus collapsed under the weight of the cross—he could not go on

But the soldiers had their orders—this execution must be carried out
Those soldiers had the authority to conscript any person at any time to do anything they wanted them to do
So out of the crowd, they grabbed a man—Simon of Cyrene was his name—and they forced him to carry the cross for Jesus

A Portrait of Simon

Simon was a visitor to Jerusalem, one of the many pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the Passover

His visit to Jerusalem must have been the fulfillment of a life-long dream, for it is the hope and aspiration of every Jew to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem at least one in their life
But this was not the Passover Simon expected
Instead of arriving to find a joyful celebration, Simon arrived in the middle of this death march
In an instant, he is thrust onto center stage as he is compelled to carry the cross for Jesus

There’s little that we know about Simon other than he was a visitor to Jerusalem from Africa

Yet, this experience of carrying the cross for Jesus must have had a profound impact on his life
Mark identifies Simon as ”the father of Alexander and Rufus,” indicating that these were the names of people his audience would recognize
In Romans 16:13, Paul encourages the Roman Christians to “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord.”
And in Acts 13:1, there is a list of names of those who commissioned Paul and Barnabas for their first missionary tour
In that list is the name “Simeon called Niger.”
Simeon is an alternate form of the name Simon, and Niger was a common reference for one who came from Africa
Since Cyrene is in Africa and Simeon is a form of Simon, could this be a reference to the man who carried the cross for Jesus?

Unwillingly at first, Simon carried the cross for Jesus

As they traveled along, perhaps Simon saw something different in this man
Perhaps they talked as the journeyed and Simon sensed the compassion and love in his voice
Rather than running away once their journey was complete, perhaps Simon stayed to watch him die, and with the centurion stationed at the foot of the cross, he too declared, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”

Faced with the reality of the cross, perhaps Simon put his faith in Jesus

It is coming face-to-face with the reality of the cross that makes any of us truly Christian
We cannot become Christian until we have faced this reality
The cross and the resurrection are the focal points of the Christian faith
Without them there is no Christian faith
Faith becomes ours when we realize that Jesus died and rose for me
Until we face the reality of the cross, we cannot truly believe

The Cross-bearing Christian

The road to the cross is the road of cross-bearing

In order to travel the road of the cross with Jesus, we must be willing to carry the cross for Jesus
We have a cliché that goes, “We all have our crosses to bear.”
Whenever we say that, we mean that we each have a particular burden that we are struggling to face
That burden might be serious illness, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or any other difficult situation we may face in life
While it’s important that we face those difficulties with faith and trust because faith and trust help us deal with them and move on, that’s not what Jesus meant when he said, “If anyone want to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

The cross that Jesus was talking about when he spoke those words is the same kind of cross Jesus had to carry

To bear the cross for Christ is to make the commitment to die for his sake if it will ever be necessary
Jesus’ challenge to us is this: Are we willing to give up all that we have and lay our life on the line for the purpose of being absolutely faithful to him?
That’s a commitment very few of us are willing to make, yet that’s the kind of commitment Simon of Cyrene had to make on that Friday in Jerusalem
To refuse the command of a Roman soldier would have meant certain death for him
Even in carrying the cross for Jesus, Simon wasn’t guaranteed that he wouldn’t face the same fate as Jesus once they reached the crucifixion site
He had no choice but to lay his life on the line
By doing so, he found the true blessing of life, the blessing that can only come by coming face-to-face with the cross of Christ

Only as we come face-to-face with the cross can we know what it means to truly live

We find life only through his death and resurrection
The writer of Hebrews clearly says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)
Jesus willingly laid his life on the line for us
True discipleship means that we must be willing to do the same for him