Mark chapter 15, and we're looking particularly at verse 21 this evening, and they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. As Christians, we are people of the cross. We live in the light of the cross of Jesus Christ, and that has changed our lives. The cross of Jesus Christ is the central focus of our faith. I stand here and I preach Christ and him crucified, for that is the way of redemption, that is the way of the forgiveness of sins. And particularly as we come to the Lord's table, We know that on the table, we have pictures, signs that come from this, the cross, where Jesus' body was broken and where his blood was shed. The cross has significance for what we do this weekend. The cross has significance for what we do every weekend, and it has significance for every day of our lives. And as we think, This weekend, we're thinking of people that encountered Jesus at the time of his crucifixion. And this evening we're considering Simon of Cyrene. Our focus will be on verse 21, but I do want to mention another verse, which is in John 19, verse 17, where it says this, and Jesus, or he went out bearing his own cross. to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There's not a contradiction here. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all mentioned the fact that Simon of Cyrene was compelled to bear Jesus's cross. John tells us Jesus bore his own cross. But of course, it was true that Jesus did bear his own cross. He bore it for a time before Simon was compelled to come And even perhaps Simon just assisted him in bearing the cross, that Jesus would still carry the front end of the cross himself. But I want us this evening really to consider two points. First of all, Jesus bore his own cross. And then secondly, to see that Simon bears the cross of Christ. So first, Jesus bore his own cross. And although it doesn't say it here explicitly for us in Mark's account, it is implicit. At the end of verse 20, the Roman soldiers had mocked him, had scourged him, and abused him. And then it says, and they led him out to crucify him. This was Roman custom to take the condemned criminal and to make him bear the instrument of his execution. Jesus would have to carry this cross to Golgotha, the place of a skull. And there he was to die. And you can imagine this scene, where the Roman soldiers that have previously mocked him are now lining up both sides of the road, marching with these criminals in between as they go to the place of execution. It's interesting, isn't it, that Jesus was led out to be crucified? It's an important word, the word out. He wasn't going to be crucified there inside the city walls, but he was led out of the city. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12 tells us, so Jesus also suffered outside the gates in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. The place was significant, outside the gates. Now for the Jewish people, those who had shouted out, crucify him, crucify him, and particularly for the chief priests and the scribes, getting Jesus out of the holy city was an important thing, a necessary thing. Because in their mind, anything that is unclean must go outside the camp. That was true right from the time of Exodus. As God's people are gathered in the wilderness, in the camp, Unclean things were to be put out. Refuse, for example. Out, excrement, out of the camp. Outside the camp are things that are polluted, defiled, and unclean. And, of course, the Pharisees prided themselves on being clean, ceremonially clean. Furthermore, we know that outside of Jerusalem was the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom. And that was a place where the filth was taken to. And it was a place where it was burned. And sometime during Israel's long history, in the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, there God's people had sacrificed their sons and daughters to Moloch by burning them in fire. What a horrendous thing to do. Something that the pagans did, but something that God's people should have known was utterly wrong. and odious to God. And this valley of the son of Hinnom, or Gehinnom, or Gehenna, as its name becomes, is something that Jesus picks up on in his own teaching. It becomes a picture for us of hell, Gehenna, hell, where Jesus says is a place that the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. That was outside the gates. And that is where Jesus is being led. Jesus is being led outside as one considered unclean to a place of torment, a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. But it's also important because what Jesus does outside the camp fulfills the type of the Day of Atonement. Do you remember that There are types in the Old Testament. That is, pictures that are shadowy, unclear, but they're pointing us forward to something that's far more significant. And that's called the anti-type. It corresponds. And that's what Jesus is doing here. He is fulfilling the type of the Day of Atonement. That was the holiest day. It's Leviticus 16, I think it is. The holiest day in the year for the Israelites. The day that atonement is to be made for the whole nation. And what happened to the bull that was slaughtered on that day? And the goat that was slaughtered on that day? Remember, their blood is taken in behind the veil to the Holy of Holies, the place that the priest could only go in once a year on this day, and it was sprinkled there. But what happened to their carcasses? They were taken outside the camp. And there they were burned with fire. See, Jesus fulfills this picture. As he becomes this whole burnt offering, he suffers outside the gates as one unclean. There's significance in the details. And as Jesus goes out, he's bearing his own cross. And it's precisely, that I want us to think about, that Jesus here bears the cross because he is the sin bearer, as on that day of atonement when the other goat is sent outside, sent away into the wilderness, bearing the sin away from God's people. That is what Jesus is here doing. The Roman soldiers don't contemplate it, they don't realize the significance of it, but this is what they're doing, they are leading out the sin bearer as he bears his own cross. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was constituted sin. He was made sin. He who knew no sin was made sin. Note, he wasn't made a sinner. He was made sin. That is, our sin, the sin of his people, was imputed to him. It was counted to him. It was laid on his account, laid upon his shoulders to weigh him down, he who had never once sinned. The sin that rises above your head, that weighs you down, that's a burden too heavy for you to bear. That sin that brings guilt before a holy God, and you can do nothing about it. You can't get it off your shoulders. You can't balance it out with your good works. It's too heavy for you. It condemns you. It crushes you. That sin, Christian brother and sister, was laid upon the shoulders of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. and he bore it as he bore his cross. He bore sin, not his own sin. He bore the curse of God signified by the cross. Because remember that this instrument of death that he carries on his shoulder is not merely an excruciating way of dying, but according to God's law, as summarized for us in Galatians 3 verse 13, it's an instrument of curse. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. As Jesus bears the sins of his people, he is also bearing the curse of God, and it's going to get worse. The man of sorrows was acquainted with grief, and he had suffered throughout his life, but it's noticeable as the gospel writers record it for us, that as he approaches the end, the suffering becomes all the more acute, doesn't it? I think when Jesus sets his face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem, he's very much aware of what's going to happen. He begins more to tell his disciples about it, doesn't he? To inform them of what's going to happen, to make them aware of it. And then, On the night in which he was betrayed, when he went out into the garden of Gethsemane, he became acutely aware that the cup of God's judgment was put into his hands, that cup of well-mixed foaming red wine that he must drink to the dregs. He was aware of it. He knew it was there for him to drink. And humanly speaking, he shrank back from it, didn't he? Is there any way this cup can be removed from me? Yet not my will, but your will be done. You see, he submitted the human will to the divine will. But yet he knew, he knew it was going to be painful. He knew it was going to be a curse death. He knew what the wrath of God was like because he knew the wrath of God as God. The man of sorrows is coming closer and closer. to the crux, to the cross. But here at this point, it goes even a step further, doesn't it? He's out of the garden. He's been through the various trials, but now the cross has been laid on his shoulders as he is the sin bearer, bearing the sin of his people, bearing the curse of God. He who knew no sin, The father would say of him, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And yet on his shoulders is the curse of God. He went out bearing his own cross. That moves us on to our second point, which is simply that Simon here is compelled to bear Christ's cross. It's true that Jesus bore his own cross, but now we have Simon coming. to bear it too. The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all mention Simon of Cyrene by name. And that's an interesting thing. The Bible is full of detail. And there is no detail in the Bible that is insignificant. It's all important for us. And you could spend a lifetime studying one verse, and I'm sure you'd profit from it. We don't have time for that. We've got so much to study in the Bible. But when we see the Bible emphasizing things, like it does here, that Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record for us Simon of Cyrene by name, and that he was compelled to bear the cross, we realize this is a significant fact, isn't it? And worth considering. Who was Simon? Well, we know very little about him. The fact that we have this one verse that is Virtually the same, we'll see this, not quite the same in the three gospel accounts, but that's all we've got to go on. We don't have a chapter telling you everything about the man, about his birth and his early life and so on. We simply know this, that he was Simon of Cyrene. Cyrene was a city in Libya in Northern Africa. At the time here, it was a Roman city. It was highly prosperous. but it also had a large Jewish population. Now, we don't know this for certain, but it seems that Simon was probably a Jew. He's got a Jewish name. He's in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, which we can assume he was probably coming up for the feast, as it was required of all Jewish men to go up to Jerusalem for the three feasts in the year. We also know that he's coming in from the country. He hadn't secured for himself a place to stay inside the city. He was staying somewhere outside the city and traveling in each day, as Jesus and his disciples had been doing also. They stayed in Bethany, didn't they? And so Simon is on his way into Jerusalem. And as he's coming in, he's a passerby. In many ways, he is random. And he is caught by these Roman soldiers. And he's compelled. to carry the cross of Jesus. And who is he to argue against these Roman soldiers? He dare not argue with them. What they say is law as they bear swords. Matthew and Mark both use the word compelled. Simon was compelled to bear the cross. Luke uses the word seized, which shows us the violence by which the Romans treated people. Here's Simon, someone who had done nothing wrong as far as we can tell. In many ways, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and yet they seize him, they grab him violently and they force him to carry this cross. Why? Well, there's no reason why Simon was picked other than God's own sovereign will. The reason why Simon or why someone was forced to carry the cross. I think we can surmise that our Savior was so weak at this point that he required someone to bear that cross. The man of sorrows was a real human being. A real, true human being. There was a heresy in the early church that Jesus wasn't a true human, he just appeared to be a human. But this verse here shows us that indeed he was a real human being. He is still today God and man in two distinct natures and yet one person forever. Jesus at this point was bleeding. He'd been mocked, hadn't he, by the Roman soldiers. They'd thrust the crown of thorns on his head. They had scourged him. Think of those broken bits of bone and pottery and whatever else they would have put into their whips to tear up the flesh on his back. They had mocked him, they had hit him, prophesied to us, who struck you? Jesus had been abused and physically he is weak. Of course, nevermind the fact that he'd been made to stay up all night. Jesus is weak. He was a human. Now Jesus was not a weakling. Jesus was a man at his peak, at that age. He had been a carpenter by trade. He knew what it was to do hard work. He also had an active life, moving from place to place. He wasn't sitting at a desk doing his work every day. He was active, he was up, he was walking. Jesus was someone who would have been physically strong, and yet here he is brought to a point where he's brought solo In a sense, he can't take another step on carrying this cross. It is too heavy for him because he's bleeding and his back has been scourged. Jesus was a true human being, but he was suffering. Nevermind the spiritual suffering. Nevermind the fact that he sensed what was coming, that dread, that foreboding, that he knew that he must suffer that wrath and curse of God. He has the symbol of the curse of God upon his back. The Lord Jesus Christ truly suffered. And here is Simon, a seemingly random man, and he is seized by the soldiers and he's compelled to walk in a direction that he was not planning to walk. He was going into the city and now he's forced to go out in a different direction. Can you imagine what it would have been like to be Simon of Cyrene? To see, as you carry this cross, the Roman soldiers right beside you, barring your way on the road. Some Roman soldiers marching in their strict military style, others on horseback. To see that one there is the centurion that we'll think about, God willing, on Sabbath evening. To look and see two other men carrying crosses, criminals, robbers, who are going to die for their sins. To have the crowds all around you laughing and jeering at the criminals, and perhaps some of them mistaking you as being a condemned criminal. And to look and see Jesus in front of you, a man so bloodied and bruised, perhaps even a man that was so different from everyone around him. And you've been compelled to walk this walk and to help him carry his cross. And then you hear weeping as the women who had followed Jesus throughout his ministry are weeping and wailing, seeing their savior going to die. And then to have that cross taken away from you as you reach the summit of the hill of Golgotha. What do you do next? Did Simon just go away? Did he just go on and do his business? Or perhaps did he stay? And did he watch? Had he become absorbed by what Jesus was doing? Did he listen to the words of Jesus on the cross? Did he watch until the bitter end? Obviously, going from one verse in the Bible, we don't have a lot to go on. To know what Simon did after he was forced to bear the cross of Christ. But we do have something in this verse that we haven't considered. And I think at least it makes a case, and I hope I can make it a compelling case, that Simon's life was changed in this day. Because it tells us, let's look at verse 21 again. It says, and they compelled the passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And that's really interesting, the level of detail that Mark records for us there, that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Simon would have been a common name. And remember, in these days, they didn't have surnames. Simon who? Well, he was just Simon. And so to differentiate between different Simons, you would have to use either the place that they came from, or their occupation, or perhaps who they were the son of. Matthew and Luke both record that he was Simon of Cyrene. Matthew says, a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. But that's all it says in Matthew. Luke says that the Romans seized one Simon of Cyrene. So they identify him simply by the place that he comes from. Mark, however, noticed that he does something different. Yes, he identifies him by the place, Simon of Cyrene, and that should be sufficient. But he goes further, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Why does Mark do that? Why does he give us that detail that seems utterly irrelevant, doesn't it? He could have been the father of any person. And what does it matter to us today? Why does Mark include that? Well, I think the reason why Mark includes it is to show that this is authentic. Mark is writing to the Christians in Rome. And he's saying to them, you can check these details for yourself. Go and ask Alexander and Rufus, who are known to you. I think that's what he's doing here. Simon of Cyrene, by the way, he's the father. This is the father of Alexander and Rufus, people that you know. And so if you want to know for certain that what I'm writing is true, why not go and ask them what their father did on this day? Mark was writing. his gospel to Rome. And then in Romans chapter 16, Paul is writing to Rome. And in chapter 16, it's one of those chapters that we just skim through, a list of names. Paul's greeting all these random people in the church. And we think to ourselves, these people are all long dead. What does it matter to us? Why do we need to read these names? I won't find anything useful in them for me. And yet in the midst of those names in Romans 16, it says this, great Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. Now it may be true it could have been another Rufus, but it seems likely perhaps that if Mark is writing to Rome, And he mentions specifically a man called Rufus, who was the son of Simon of Cyrene. And Paul is writing later to Rome, and he mentions specifically great Rufus. Seems there's a significance there. When Paul speaks of him in Romans 16, he calls Rufus chosen in the Lord. Now, in a sense, all Christians are chosen in the Lord. But it's in the context of those who are particularly working, laboring in the church, Paul's fellow workers in the gospel. This Rufus was chosen in the Lord. And not only that, but his mother had been a mother to Paul, or like a mother to him. Church tradition, which you can't always believe church tradition. You take it for what it is. It's history. It teaches that Alexander and Rufus both became missionaries. And whether that's true or not, we don't know. But perhaps it is the case that Simon of Cyrene After bearing the cross of Christ, after taking that cross up to Golgotha, following Jesus, perhaps he observed and perhaps his life was changed. If it is the case that this is the same Rufus, then we know that although Simon may have been dead at that point, Simon's wife had done something to help Paul. She became like a mother to him. We don't know where, we don't know how, But Paul certainly felt that this woman had helped him in his ministry. But whether or not, and we maybe won't know until we go to glory, whether or not Simon's life was changed in that day, the gospel writers include his story. And I think there's a theological reason why. Because Simon gives us a picture of what it is to deny ourselves and to take up our cross and to follow after Jesus. Luke 9, verse 23, Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. That is what is required of us, isn't it, believers? Knowing what Jesus did, knowing that he bore the cross, that he died on it, and that in the cross, that is the power of God, that we, like Simon, should bear the cross. Simon literally bore the cross. He physically carried it. We do it metaphorically, don't we? Bearing the cross is not meriting anything from God. It's Jesus who died on the cross, not Simon. So to it is Jesus who has died on the cross for our redemption and not us. We do nothing to save ourselves. The cross of Jesus Christ is unique. Nor, on the other hand, when we say that we are bearing a cross, nor is it simply the aches and pains of life. I know in this room, there are many of you, you've got aches and pains. You have things in your body that are going wrong. You maybe suffered sickness for a time. It would be improper to call that a cross. It's hard for you. That's not undermining what you're going through. But anyone in the world suffers sickness. That's common to man because we've all sinned and we all experience the curse and the fall. Everyone is sick and yet who bears a cross? Only those who deny themselves and follow after Jesus. And so bearing your cross is the suffering that you experience because you are a Christian. The suffering that you experience for the sake of Christ. In a sense like Simon here. Although when he's bearing the cross, he's not a believer. But he gives us a picture, doesn't he? He is simply thrust into this position, following after Jesus, and he suffers for it. Friends, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has consequences. Yes, the glorious consequence in the first instance is what it purchases for us, an eternal redemption. But there's a secondary set of consequences. what it brings into your life. And not all of those consequences are immediately a joy to us. Some of those consequences are hard, that we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. The fact that everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus faces persecution. And I want to take you back to that verse I quoted from earlier, Hebrews 13. I want to read the next verse because I want you to see these two points that are connected. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. You will not be called to shed your blood for the sake of others. You'll not be called to do anything for someone else's salvation. That has been done, and Jesus said, it is finished. But it is necessary for us who live in the shadow of the cross that we too go outside the camp and bear the reproach that Christ bore. It is impossible to remain a secret Christian. It is wrong to remain a secret Christian. It's wrong for us to try to seek to avoid all the reproaches of Christ. We don't put ourselves in the way of someone hurting us, but nor do we compromise so that we avoid it. We shouldn't be seeking to have a pleasant, easy life at any expense. No, we have to recognize that following Jesus has consequences. And some of you know what those are in your life. The mockery. perhaps even of people near and dear to you, as they abuse you verbally for the fact that you want to follow Jesus, that you want to follow his commandments, that you even want to be here this evening, you're bearing the reproach of Christ. Or for all of us generally in this society, the news report this week from the census showing us that those who are have no religion are in the majority in our nation. And to think about how Christianity and culture is despised, a thing of shame. And how much further will that go? We'll be the butt of all jokes. We're bearing the reproach that Jesus endured. Are you willing to bear the cross of Christ? When we come to the Lord's table, we're not just coming to a privilege we're also coming to remind ourselves of our responsibility. There's a privilege, yes, Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners, yes. But the responsibility is this, that we dedicate ourselves once again to him. As Psalm 23 tells us, it's a table spread in the midst of our enemies. It's a moment of respite, but it's not heaven. It's a foretaste of heaven, but you're not in heaven yet. It's to give you respite, it's to give you relief, it's to give you needed grace. Christ can communicate that to you by his word, and through the sacrament, by his spirit, he can give you the grace that you need, the peace that you need, that you can continue to live in this world, bearing the reproach that he endured. Friends, the fact that it's spread in the midst of our enemies reminds us that just as Simon did here, we need to bear that cross a bit further. We need to keep going, even with the enemies laughing and mocking our Savior all around us. Friends, lest that seem a hard thing, remember the promise that Jesus himself gave, and let the promise encourage you. Yes, it's going to be hard to go with him outside the camp bearing the reproach that he endured. But Jesus himself said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Amen.