These Watched Him Die by Leslie Hardinge

Chapter 1: Simon the Conscripted
African Farmer—”He Bore the Cross”

   Jesus stood before the governor with His back torn and lacerated by the scourge. Then Pilate the cowardly washed his hands of the whole affair. Shrugging to a soldier to do as the priests wished, the governor left Jesus to His fate and went to breakfast. With the blood-drunk crowd and the soldiers our Lord staggered out of the judgment hail on His way to Old Skull Face to be crucified.
   As they started out, the executioners tried to force Him to carry His cross. He fell fainting under its weight They probably threw some water over His face. When He felt better they dragged Him up and put the cross on Him once more. Down He fell, and they tried to revive Him again. A man in the crowd expressed his sympathy. His name was Simon.
   Simon, the farmer, was a stranger. He had come from Cyrene in North Africa. What had brought him to Palestine we are not told. The Gospel writer informs us that he had two boys, Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21). Perhaps this Rufus is the one to whom Paul sent greetings in the last chapter of Romans. But this we do not know for certain. We are told nothing of Simon’s wife (Rom. 16: 13), but she might have been in Jerusalem with her husband. This stranger, this North African, found himself on Passover day coming into Jerusalem from his field outside the city. Passing through the open gate, he met the huge crowd noisily moving out. He was suddenly surrounded by the cruel mob, bent on murder. He stopped and watched the cross laid upon the broken shoulders of a dying Man. He shuddered as He collapsed under the load. “He hears the taunts and ribaldry of the crowd; he hears the words contemptuously repeated, Make way for the King of the Jews! He stops in astonishment at the scene; and as he expresses his compassion, they seize him and place the cross upon his shoulders” (The Desire of Ages, p. 742). Because he voiced his sympathy, he was immediately commandeered to carry the instrument of torture himself.
   Simon has heard about Jesus. While his two sons, Alexander and Rufus, had decided to accept Jesus as the Messiah (ibid.), Simon himself “had not {yet} openly professed faith in Christ” (Early Writings, p. 175). Had he been challenged he might well have declared himself a follower.
   And so Simon, the African, finds himself suddenly conscripted into royal service. He was a helper of the King. I wonder whether he realized his privilege! Everyone in Palestine had heard about John’s declaration that Jesus was the Messiah. Did Simon sense the contribution he was making in bringing the ministry of the Savior to its consummation?
   But Simon had no choice in the matter. He had been conscripted. They had forcibly laid the cross upon him. As he staggered under its weight, the One who was to die upon it stumbled by his side. Around Simon men jeered. Ribald jokes and foolish banter were on many tongues. The air was filled with angry shouts. With the cross on his back Simon was alone with his thoughts. “His sympathies were deeply stirred in favor of Jesus; and the events of Calvary, and the words uttered by the Savior, caused him to acknowledge that He was the Son of God” (The SDA Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, on Matt. 27:32, p. 1107).
   “The bearing of the cross to Calvary, was a blessing to Simon, and he was ever after grateful for this providence. It led him to take upon himself the cross of Christ from choice, and ever cheerfully stand beneath its burden” (The Desire of Ages, p. 742).
   I often think of the wonderful circumstances that brought Simon where he was at that time. His home was in Africa. But he had taken a dirty, inconvenient journey to Palestine. The dusty tracks of Libya, the sandy pathways across the Nile Valley, and the desert rocks of the coastal region were passed in turn. Crossing the highlands of the wilderness of Judea, he came at last to the environs of Jerusalem. Somewhere near he obtained a job. He worked hard to support his sons, and perhaps his wife. He was a stranger in a strange land.
   And then that Friday morning he trudged in from the fields outside Jerusalem. Here he met Jesus on His way to His sacrifice on the hill of execution. Had he reached that spot on the road five minutes earlier, he would have slipped into the gate unobserved, and perhaps we would never have heard about him. Five minutes later and the procession would have passed on its way to Calvary, and the executioners would have started on their grisly work. But he was neither five minutes early nor five minutes late. He was there at the right moment.
   After His condemnation Jesus had passed on a little way from Pilate’s judgment hall—possibly in the Castle of Antonia. Perhaps His fainting had occurred while He stumbled along The Pavement. Today the pilgrims bow low to kiss what might well be those very stones. They have been worn smooth and polished by the lips of unnumbered pious persons during the last fifteen centuries, since Helena, Constantine’s mother, made pilgrimages to holy places fashionable. Perhaps Jesus saw, carved in The Pavement itself, the games of the soldiers played with dice.
   Simon took in the whole scene. Simon’s heart was full of pity, and Simon’s tongue spoke what Simon’s heart felt. And as he spoke in sympathy he was conscripted by the soldiers. Perhaps he had at first wondered, Why didn’t I keep my mouth closed? Perhaps someone in the crowd had shouted, “That goes for talking too much!” Whatever he thought, he carried the cross to Calvary and laid it down for Christ where the soldiers told him to.
   Simon watched the executioners wrestle with the brigands. He shuddered as the Prisoner, whom he had helped, lay down voluntarily and stretched out His arms. He heard the sickening blow as the executioner’s maul drove the spike through the bloody hand. His heart was torn by the sobbing of the mother. He heard the prayer, such as no man had ever prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Did he feel that he was included in that petition? Did he sense a sudden increase of light? Had he, too, failed to understand what he had done when he had borne, perhaps resentfully at first, the cross to the place? Was he now learning that he, too, needed forgiveness? Did he remember the skepticism of yesterday, when he had heard the gospel and refused to obey? Did he recall the look in his sons’ faces when they had eagerly affirmed, “Dad, this Man is the Messiah!” and he had refused to surrender? I like to think Christ’s prayer embraced him too. He was very near the cross. His was a grandstand view. He heard the gasping sob as the cross was thrust into the hole prepared for it. But still the Man neither complained or moaned, but only prayed. Simon heard, and Simon’s heart was broken, and Simon surrendered. Ever after he carried Christ’s cross joyously. Its cruel hardness had pressed against his back. But One had died for him. He sensed the grand and glorious truth that when he bore the cross the Other would die for him! So long as he believed, the Other would bleed. And Simon learned to believe with all his heart.
   I like to think that Simon stood there by the cross, alone even in the midst of that mad crowd, absorbed for hours by the One whom he had helped. Then God turned out His light. Was this that His Son’s final agony should be witnessed by none? Simon probably remained there in the darkness believing more and more fully as the hours went slowly by.
   Have you ever wondered whether Jesus thanked Simon for bearing His cross? Do you think Simon expected thanks for his deed? I think not! He actually was grateful for the privilege! Grateful that he had been forced to carry the cross. Perhaps he remembered whispers of Christ’s words quoted to him by his sons, “If any man will come after me, let him . . . take up his cross, and follow me.” Simon never expected thanks; he gave thanks! As he looked back along the road over which God had led. his feet he rejoiced. Everything had worked out so well in the end. The events of his life had come into focus.
   There are some of us today who are thus dramatically confronted with the Crucified and His cross. We find ourselves where we are compelled to carry it! The cross is being thrust upon us against our wills. Like Simon, we too are “compelled” to carry out Christian acts. Let us carefully analyze our reactions. Do you fight the right because you want the wrong?
   Perhaps your name is Simon—or Simonette—and you have to carry the cross. Then you hear a prayer, and you know you are part of that prayer. Nothing in life comes by blind chance. As you look back at today from the vantage point of tomorrow you will discern that God’s providences have eyes “before and behind.” No circumstance of your life is hidden from His scrutiny. The Spirit of God speaks to your heart and appeals to your mind and whispers in your soul. “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Occasionally it may seem that you are actually being conscripted. Sometimes you may feel that you are being loaded with the cross against your desires. Remember Simon! Ever after he was grateful! He wanted no thanks. He requested no payment. The privilege was his entirely. Temporal and eternal benefits came with the burden he bore. For Simon, old Skull Face no longer leered. It became the smile of God to his soul. It will for you, too, my friend.
   The cross that was laid upon Simon is our cross. He made a contribution to the plan of our salvation like that made by no one since. Jesus might have said, “Wherever the gospel story is told, the story of Simon and the cross will be told also.” Simon did not preach at Pentecost. We are not told that he went to the ends of the earth and established churches. In fact, we are not told that he did anything after Calvary. But this we know: He eased Christ’s burden. He made our Lord’s pain less by sharing His cross. He sets us a worthy example. Jesus tells us now, “If any man will come after me, let him . . . take up his cross . . .” Are you ready to do this?
   I want you to look into your own heart now. Can you see there, with the light of the Spirit shining into your mind, anything that will destroy you if it is not destroyed? Does some hidden sin that you have not yet placed on the cross lurk in the darkness of your soul? Are you ready to give it to Jesus now? Can you see some task you ought to do but which you have postponed because the price is too great? Take it up today. He will satisfy your every longing. Do not delay. Pray, “Lord Jesus, here are my sins. Nail them to the cross. Give me power to do Thy will. I lay the consequences at Thy feet, and take Thy cross and follow Thee.