Snapshot
Simon: A Libyan.
Key Text
Matthew 27:32 (TPT)
And as they came out of the city, they stopped an African man named Simon from Libya and compelled him to carry the cross for Jesus.
Matthew 27:32 (AMP)
Now, as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross.
Matthew 27:32 (NKJV)
Now, as they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced into service to carry the cross of Jesus.
Simon the Cyrene
Simon was the least of all men next to Jesus in that scene, bereft of human rights and dignity that could be found around because he was a nigga. That was the best they could associate with Jesus. Not His disciples; they were dignified Jews whose rights could not be taken away, nor any other Jew, they spat on Jesus and slapped Him a few hours earlier - He was abominable to them. But a nigga fitted in. Not a roman. He needed direct approval from Caesar to be crucified. And, therefore, such could not be degraded to lift the cross for a despised soul[^soul].
Blacks’ Plight
We black men who have been robbed of our human dignity through history are in a default state where we can easily take up the cross and follow Jesus. Is it shame? We have never been denied it since the wake of racial discrimination at the tower of Babel. So what is there to seek in the world, dear nameless man of Cyrene? Most of the world’s most successful economies are built not only on your wealth but also on your sweat. And there is no hope of your condition’s betterment! Where have you succour on the earth, tell me! Is there anywhere you are in the world where you are not perceived as the basest of all men? In some countries, do not German shepherds have more rights and worth than you? At home, are the world powers not inciting and fuelling your internal conflicts to the benefits of their economies by importing commodities from doctored crisis-torn countries at almost disposable amounts?
Needless Sermon
Simon the Cyrene did not need a sermon to take up the cross. Check your experience, O black man. Are crosses and shame strange to you? How come the songs in the Americas called the spirituals are so full of the Spirit of the living God? They are sung by men who lacked the bible, civilization, and understandable languages? I say “loosely” that the suffering and the shame of the cross is already embedded in the black man’s generational experience. What shall it profit a black man who does not and cannot gain the whole world and yet loses His soul? Your lifetime is fraught with unprofitable toil; shall you miss a heavenly rest too? Shall you be doubly hellish? Must you suffer twice? Won’t you join Christ in His view of being an outcast and divide the lot with His rich, who mocks at shame in His wealth of power? History has it that the world has nothing for the black man although it has everything from Him, shall you at once not be crucified with your Lord, to the world and the world to you?
The familiar Cause
They compelled Simon, your ancestor, to carry the cross. But I suppose he must have taken it voluntarily because He could identify with the state of Christ as an outcast and being a sufferer. I am not saying earthly suffering is a prerequisite for accepting the cross. Still, human cruelty has put you in circumstances where God could sanctify your demoralizing experiences into a spiritual understanding. It is not to say that Simon became the most effective servant of the Master, but that God could convert our disadvantages into eternal blessings! Would it not be more painful when, in heaven, God shows the sufferings of the black man and the “light affliction” saints suffered. And one finds that only the cause suffered for was different, all measures meted out were almost similar, if the black man’s lot was not crueller? Except that one suffered for his own means and the others for the scandal of the cross? Tell me one persecution that has been ever meted out to a saint that has not been doubly done to the black man? But while the saints suffer the scandal of the cross, the black man suffer whatever to make ends meet! Do you not exalt the dead belly-god over the living God?
Christ now says, paraphrased, instead of being compelled to bear My cross, now bear your cross. Take it up willingly; if anything should drive you, let it be the Holy Spirit within who relates your experiences with Mine, not being coerced by external forces. Sit down count the cost of carrying the cross to which you are not new. Now deny yourself of every known right to go your way by having things your way, take up your cross and follow me. Brother, the freedom from mental bondage, the renewed perspective which is an offshoot of transformed mind, is amazingly unexplainable. To understand it is to enjoy it! Your skin colour will not change, men’s perspective of you may, at inception, not be affected, but the freedom from that same idea of you changes within you. Oh, God! He welcomes you to a raceless and colourless society of saints devoid of human hierarchies. Here only One is above and above all - Christ. The feeling of acceptance and confidence will be fulfilling. Should sorrow now come, it comes sanctifying our souls unto progressive Christlikeness. Is it a paradox that God has hidden gold in your soil and continent? Could it be that God intends to leave your outlook unchanged but adorn your inner man with quietness and meekness - such beauty that God himself cannot resist?
Noah might have cursed us, in Christ and Christ alone is our freedom guaranteed! For He was made a curse for us! You will have yourself to blame if you still suffer deprivation and depression under the burden of a debt already cleared by an act of God’s benevolence. In Christ, all men are colour-blind. Since Christ had taken the bow on the cross already, in Him and to Him alone, do all **#BlackLivesMatter**.
References
[^soul]: Expositor’s Bible Commentary (NT)
