GOLGOTHA

A Cross To Bear

(Like A Bridge Over Troubled Waters)

Simon of Cyrene {sy-ree'-nee}

I often reflect on one unique individual. A person who in all of time and space had the
distinction of performing an act for Jesus that none of the Angels in Heaven were summoned to
perform, nor were any of Jesus' disciples on Earth asked to do it.

The individual was Simon of Cyrene {sy-ree'-nee}. He was a bystander during Jesus' long and
arduous march to Golgotha. He is an individual that I believe many have minimalized or 
overlooked altogether.

He is indeed a Saint among Saints. He was chosen to do one single thing for Jesus that no one
else would ever be given the privilege of doing. He bore Jesus' burden of the crucifix with
which he was to be murdered. Of all the beings in time and space, this one individual was 
asked to do something that God 'the almighty' would have gladly done.

" And as they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into 
service to bear His cross. And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, which means 
Place of a skull, ..." [NASB - Matthew 27:32-33]

I truly believe that this was Simon's fate ... his destiny. I believe that Simon's entire 
existence led up to, and culminated in his performing that single act for Jesus. I believe 
that all of Simon's ancestors existed so that Simon of Cyrene could be in that one place, 
in all of time and space; so that he could perform the single act of bearing Jesus' cross at 
that moment in all of time and space.

" You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit,
and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give
it to you. This I command you, that you love one another." [NASB - John 15:16-17]

--NOTE--: according to Grolier's Encyclopedia, The city of Cyrene, named after a local spring 
nymph, dominated a huge area of North Africa from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. Located 
in modern Libya, the site spreads along a high ridge 8km (5 miles) from the sea and 176km 
(110 miles) northeast of Benghazi".