Waiting for Simon

The many times I’ve read the Way of the Cross or watched it on movies it always left me feeling sad and discomfort. Maybe because it’s one of the cruelest and senseless episodes in human history. I can’t imagine the heavy thoughts and regrets of the people that witnessed this. Some were Christ’s followers, but they couldn’t do anything to confront the invincible Roman Empire. Regardless, they wanted to be with Him on this horrible parade. Others came only for curiosity, to see what is going to happen at the end with the called -Son of God-.

But in the crowd was one man, Simon of Cyrene, with a different purpose this brutal day. When The Messiah’s resistance carrying the cross was completely exhausted, he came to help. No one knows exactly who he was and why he was there at that moment. Some historians say that one of the Roman centurions ordered him to help Christ with the cross. Others affirm that he stepped in spontaneously and the soldiers let him do it to speed a little the march. Whatever his motivation was, this act of kindness gave him one of the best titles in Christianity…“The Jesus Helper”. How many of us would love to be remembered as something remotely close to that?

We don’t know exactly what happened to him after the crucifixion , but without a doubt we know that he and his descendant were blessed wherever they lived.  

Finally and thinking it a little more deeply, maybe he was there to give us a message of hope, in the middle of these terrible circumstances.

A message as if to say, no matter how heavy and untenable our cross is right now, there’s a Simon coming to help us.