March 29, 2026
Matthew 27:11-54

“As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross” (Matthew 27:32).

Now Cyrene is in modern-day Libya, some eight hundred miles from Jerusalem. Think of it, this man, Simon, has traveled all that way from north Africa to Jerusalem for the big Passover festival. Eight hundred miles. For Passover. Simon must have been there to commemorate, to remember how the Lord God had delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh’s slavery in Egypt into the land of promise under the guiding hand of Moses. Simon of Cyrene has come all those eight hundred miles for Passover.

But this Passover is different. There’s a commotion, a hubbub – there’s a new teacher named Jesus going around, who, it is said, is doing all sorts of wonderful works. Teaching all sorts of wonderful things. Just a few days earlier, the people had welcomed this Jesus as a conquering king, riding in triumphal procession into Jerusalem. The people had thrown their cloaks on the ground, waved their palm branches in victory – thinking that the victory of Jesus meant defeat for Pontius Pilate and his Roman soldiers. 

Things have changed quickly in that week, though. This same Jesus has been betrayed by a friend, arrested, condemned to death, and tortured. And there is now another procession. As that same Jesus is led away to be crucified, carrying his own cross. The same crowd that hailed him as a king, is now watching him stumble past. We can imagine that Jesus, after having been flogged is mentally and physically exhausted.

And there stands Simon, from all that way in Cyrene. In the wrong place at the wrong time. I think that the Roman soldiers escorting Jesus are probably just impatient, tired of how slow Jesus is going. I think they want things to hurry up. So the soldiers compel Simon to pick up the cross of Jesus. When you’re facing the business end of a Roman short sword, you don’t really have much of an option. So Simon picks up the cross, the instrument of death for this condemned man. After coming all this way, eight hundred miles, he just happens to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He had no choice. And as the history of the world has gone, there have been millions upon millions who have been subjected to the same fate. Simon stands there for every human, every human made to languish and suffer, every human made to carry the cross. For every human who just happened to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. There is Simon, he stands for the child made to work in the sweatshop, because there are no other jobs in town. There is Simon, he stands for the young person being trafficked across borders for the pleasure of others. There is Simon, he stands for that DoorDash driver who can smell our food but doesn’t have the money themselves to buy it. There is Simon, he stands for the people of this world who have no choice, no agency, no hope. Simon of Cyrene is a name, a person, an individual who stands in for all the countless anonymous human souls whom the world has compelled to carry the cross of our sins. 

But that’s what makes Simon stand out. He is remembered. I mean, the early church remembered his name. They took the time to write it down. This means something for us. The Gospel of Mark even mentions Simon’s sons, Alexander and Rufus. That just goes to show how they must have revered Simon. The whole thing is turned on its head. No one can remember all the vast multitude that has been made to suffer. But the Church, the Church that clings to the cross, remembers Simon. Think of it, in those early days of the church, they must have thought of Simon with awe. “He was the guy who carried the cross of Jesus.” They remembered. 

And that is the role of the Church. Our job is to hold up, to remember, to name aloud all whom the world would otherwise prefer to forget. And of course, the irony of it all, is that the man who should have been forgotten, Simon of Cyrene from all those hundreds of miles away, is the one who is remembered. And all those crowds, those crowds who had been there earlier in the week, hailing Jesus as king? Well, they’re all forgotten.

And I do not mean to mitigate the horror of the cross, or the horrors of our own day. I don’t want to say that things aren’t that bad after all. But, in a way, Simon of Cyrene, was in the right place at the right time. Jesus had told his disciples to take up the cross and follow him. And they all failed him. None of the twelve disciples did that, but Simon sure did. Jesus knew that his disciples would all run away, scared out of their minds. But Simon didn’t. As Jesus is struggling and bleeding and dying, one man helped. In a way, Simon is the true model of discipleship. In a way, he shows us what it is like to follow Jesus even in the darkest moments. Because that’s, quite literally, what he did. 

So today, we have witnessed two processions. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the whole city was there with Jesus. They were there, when it was easy. With the palm branches and the joy of the day. When Jesus had lots of admirers.

But there was another procession. With just a bloody, tortured Jesus followed by Simon, who was compelled to carry his cross. Simon was there, when it was not easy, when everybody else had abandoned Jesus. When Jesus had only one follower.

Two processions, two symbols. The palm branches, and the cross. And the question is turned to us – are you here just for the joy of the palms? Are you just here for the easy times with Jesus? Are you just here for when things are good and easy? Or are you here with Simon, willing to carry the load for others, even when the weight of the world and the cross is crushing them? 

So which procession, which parade are you going to join? The triumphal procession into Jerusalem? Or that way of the cross to Golgotha? In some way, shape, or form, Jesus is walking right in front of you. And as that procession goes by, will you admire Jesus, or will you pick up the cross and follow him? 

References

Readings in Saint John’s Gospel by William Temple, 365. He makes a passing comment that inspired this sermon – “And Simon of Cyrene – the one African figure in the Gospels: how true it is that Africa has been compelled to carry the burden of a whole world’s sin!”)