Greetings to all in the Holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For today’s meditation I have taken a verse from the Gospel according to St. Luke 23. 26
"As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus."
I would like to share with you today, the life and history of a man, who had given his shoulder to the divine plan. The 22 & 23 chapters of the Gospel written by St. Luke, talks about the end time of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The trial, judgment, torture and Crucifixion are described there. Although the Crucifixion comes under God's plan, we however, can clearly understand from the Holy Bible that human jealousy also paid a helping hand to it.
Let’s go back to the history once again, there we can see that the Lord Christ was tortured in front of everyone, without being given anything to eat or drink. When the Lord Jesus Christ was going through such a painful situation, they gave him the heaviest Wooden Cross to carry on the way to the place where he was to be crucified. There are two rules for crucifixion.
1. At the time of crucifixion the criminal must be alive.
2. The crucifixion must take place before sunset.
Here, we can realize that, the Chief Commander of the army was in a very difficult situation to meet the rules for crucifixion, because he is much worried whether the crucifixion will take place or not, as Jesus was extremely tired to carry the cross himself. So they sought the help of another person to carry the heavy wooden cross. And so, the soldiers looked around and found a strong and healthy man, named Simon of Cyrene. When we look at Simon's history, it can be found that he was a Jew who lived somewhere in Africa. He came to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, and on his way he hears the noise of the crowd. So he came to see what was happening, and then he was assigned by the soldiers of the Roman Government to carry the cross. If the Roman soldiers needed any help from someone, they had the rights to extend their swords to them. That’s how Simon was forcefully assigned to carry the Cross.
Now, Simon is also in trouble, because his entire family tradition will be disregarded, and also he will be considered “cursed”, moreover, his generation will be considered as the most deceived generation. Therefore, he was willing to take the lightest part of the Cross. But when he looked up to the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was moved emotionally to hold the heaviest part of the cross. Bible history reminds each one of us that Jesus Christ had a smile on his face when this happened.
So dear friends, I would like to remind us two lessons from the life and history of Simon of Cyrene.
1. Look up to the Face
When Simon looked up to the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, he was moved with humanity and mercy. As Christians today, we can realize that, we have lost the ability to look up to others face and understand the pain. A recently seen picture is as follows, a picture using the letter “F” of facebook and a man looking down at his phone and the caption of the picture is as follows: (PICTURE OF THE ERA) This picture shows that, we as Christians have lost the light in us.
The Bible reminds each one of us that, those who looked up to the Lord were enlightened. If we look up to the face of the Lord, we also will be enlightened. That enlightenment will lead us to look up to the face of others, to take part in their pain and suffering. As servants of God, it’s our responsibility to look up to the face of others. Simon of Cyrene calls each of us to look up to the face of the Lord and our fellow human.
2. Break your comfort zone to bare the Cross
The Bible says in Romans 16. 23. The generation of Simon of Cyrene is blessed by the deed of their father. The greatest fortune is that; his generation had been able to become the Brother and Mother to the Christian community of the Early Church. In today’s context we can address them as bishop or elder. Because of the deed of Simon, his entire generation was able to bear witness to Christ and his Church.
Friends, at what position we are standing today as Christian ministers? Are we willing to carry the lighter part of the cross or the heavier one? As Simon of Cyrene, volunteered to break the comfort zone to carry the heavier cross, he and his generation became the witnesses of Christ and his Church.
If we really need to move forward in God’s Ministry and to be a witness, firstly we need to come out of our comfort zones and must be ready to suffer. When we look around, we can see the people bearing witness even after their death. Those people are the ones who had broken their comfort zones to voluntarily suffer. Missionaries like Ida Scudder, Mother Teresa, and our own William Carey and others were some of those precious ones who suffered to bear witness.
I would like to narrate a real life story of a missionary of CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese, Very. Rev P. O. Ninan, at his younger age got a chance to be a missionary of Mougalappally village in Andhra Pradesh. Situation was worst at that time. There was no electricity, no transport facility, no hospitals, no roads etc. Amidst this situation, they were blessed with a baby girl. The 6 month old baby girl became sick on a rainy season. They tried very hard to save the life of the baby but they couldn’t, as there were no proper facilities. Rev. P. O. Ninan did not consider this as his own personal problem but, as the problem of the entire village. So, he again suffered a lot for 28 years to bring all the facilities such as hospital, school, post office, transport etc. to that particular village. He passed away 6 months ago at the age of 88, but still bears an effective witness for Christ. What is our stand?
Brothers & Sisters in Christ, the life of Simon of Cyrene, reminds each one of us to look up to the face of others and to break the comfort zone to serve Christ and bear witness for him. Let us commit ourselves in this similar manner. Finally, let us always remember that, we are called to serve, not to be served: The priceless words of our own Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. AMEN
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Sermon delievered by
Mr. June Cherian Kurumthottickal
CNI Baptist Church (Carey's)
Serampore College
25.11.2022
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