A Chance Encounter, A Divine Appointment

In just a few weeks, we will enter into Holy Week, which begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. This week chronicles the time that Jesus returns to Jerusalem and, shortly after, is arrested, falsely tried, convicted, sentenced to death, beaten, and forced to carry a cross to the place of his execution. Somewhere along the way, his executioners realized that Jesus was not going to be able to carry the cross by himself the rest of the way. It is here that the Roman soldiers seized and forced a man named Simon to carry the cross behind Jesus.

Who was this man named Simon who was mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, and the Gospel of Luke? Simon was an African. Cyrene was one of the most prominent cities in what today is known as Libya. Historians tell us that the city of Cyrene was a place in which the Jewish faith had flourished in North Africa for centuries. There are two things that we can conclude from these small bits of information. Simon might have been an African Jew who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.1 Or he could have been a pagan who, for whatever reason, had ended up in Jerusalem on that fateful day.

What an emotional and mind-shattering day it was for Simon. His timing put into motion an encounter that he would never forget. As one writer had said, “If he had been on his way in from the country an hour later, he would have missed it all. If he had walked a little faster or a little slower, or taken another gate into the city, he'd have seen nothing. If he'd pressed back into a doorway, the lieutenant in charge of the execution squad wouldn't have spotted him. But none of that happened, and in God's providence, he was there at that place and at that time, and so he carried Christ's Cross.” 2

For Simon, was this moment a chance encounter or a divine appointment? Was Simon in the wrong place at the wrong time? Mere minutes, just one or two minutes, made the difference in the circumstances in which Simon was spotted by one of the Roman guards and was pressed into service.

Perhaps you can relate to Simon’s experience. Perhaps you have had a chance encounter. Perhaps you have had an experience in which you felt that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps in your particular situation or circumstance, one minute of being early or late made all the difference, and your life was changed by it.

In the Book of Acts, we read these words in Chapter 13, verse 1: “In the church of Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen and Saul.” Did you catch that one name…Simeon called Niger? Niger was a common name in ancient times for someone who came from North Africa.

On that fateful day, Simon was coming in from the countryside and by chance found himself in a crowd. A Roman guard picked him out of that crowd and ordered him to carry a cross. That encounter changed his life forever, and he became a Christ follower. Not only did he become a believer, but he passed his faith on to his entire family.

Here is what one commentator has said: What began as an inconvenient detour became his salvation. What started as an irritating chore forced upon him by a rude soldier became his entrance into eternal life. The cross has a way of doing that. It bursts unexpectedly into our lives. For many of us, the cross comes unexpectedly. But when it comes, it is compelling. 3

As each of us approaches Holy Week, may we be reminded of our encounter with Christ

and how that encounter changed our lives forever.

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1 David B. Curtis, http://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/mark/15_16-21.htm

2 Curtis, http://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/mark/15_16-21.htm

3 Curtis, http://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/mark/15_16-21.htm