Beaten beyond recognition, weak, bones out of joint, His heart was like wax; softened; His strength was dried up like a fragment of clay pottery, so thirsty He was that His tongue cleaved to his jaws (Ps 22:15). That’s how YAHSHUA was found after they scourged Him merciless. At the right time, a man called Simon was coming from in (Jerusalem) from the country, when they laid on him the cross and made him carry it behind YAHSHUA. (Luke 23:26). I wonder if he knew what was going on that day, with YAHSHUA accompanied by soldiers and a host of people behind Him. Did he even know who YAHSHUA was, since he lived in a “Greek city in the province of Cyrenaica. This was a place where 100,000 Judean Jews had been forced to settle in 323-285 BC.” (Wikipedia). He was the father of Alexander and Rufus, who together with their mother were saved. Nothing is said in the Bible concerning Simon’s relationship with YAHSHUA. His name is of Jewish origin, but that does not confirm that he was a Jewish man. We read that he was made to carry the cross behind the Lord. That reminds us of YAHSHUA’S teaching about following Him; one must deny self, take up the cross and follow Him. Simon, here was doing what he was told to do, without realizing the deep meaning that was hid in that event. First of all, the cross he was carrying was not YAHSHUA’S. That cross was his and the world’s. Simon unaware of all the spiritual meaning of what was happening, was representing the world’s spiritual condition and in need of a Savior to save it. That cross signified a curse. The Bible says “Cursed is everyone who is hung on the tree (cross). Christ purchased our freedom from the curse of the Law by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13). Simon was carrying a curse we all were under. Since Simon could not liberate us from it, YAHSHUA took it when arriving to the place for the sacrifice by means of crucifixion. That’s all Simon could have done, for he too needed a Savior to free him from the curse.
Light from the Word 