Catholics and Protestants tell me what you think?

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Matthew 27: 32 And going out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon: him they forced to take up his cross.

Mark 15: 21 And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross.

Luke 23: 26 And as they led him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country; and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus.

I was saying my Rosary today and while I was meditating on the third mystery “Carrying of the Cross” my meditation was “why was Simon of Cyrene forced to help Jesus Carry His Cross, it was our Lords cross to carry not Simons”.

The below questions were mine to myself, while meditating on the third mystery of carrying of the Cross.

Did the soldiers take pity on Jesus and thats why they told Simon of Cyrene, to help our Lord Carry His Cross? NO! I said to myself, The soldiers did not have Pity, pity, was not on their vocabulary, they just shredded our Lord to pieces during the Second Mystery of "Scourging at the Pillar that day, no they had no pity.

So why did the soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus, Carry His Cross?

What came to my mind was this: The Lord wanted this to be so, because Jesus Christ wants all of us, His faithful, to help Him Carry his Cross “For we are our Brothers keeper”. It was not Simons, Cross to carry and yet, it became Simons cross, to carry, as well as Our Lord’s to help our Lord, to save the world. (Redemptive Sufferings)

Don’t get me wrong, Jesus Christ needs no one to help him carry His Cross, but He wants us to, Share in His Cross / like Simone of Cyrene did. There was someone greater than these soldiers that forced Simon, to help carry our Lord’s Cross and it was our Lord Himself. Amen

Many Protestants say Scripture don’t talk about “Redemptive Suffering” therefore they don’t believe. But there is Actions of Redemptive Suffering by Simon of Cyrene, In Sacred Scripture and we all know “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS”. Amen

We all can unite our cross, to the Lords passion to help him save not only ourselves but our Brothers and sisters, by what we Catholics call “Redemptive Sufferings”.

Ufam Tobe
 
Very interesting observation…I had something similar some time back.
I wasn’t thinking of redemptive suffering at the time - but it certainly would fit in with that whole concept.
My image began with the idea that the cross of Christ, being the sum total of all sin, is made lighter each time we avoid sin. In a sense, Christ’s cross is made up of all of our crosses.
This led to other thoughts and images all revolving around this idea that the more we are able to reform our lives - first to repent and to avoid sin - and later to grow in holiness to the point where we can conquer our underlying faults (tendency to sin) - the more we do this, the more we bear that portion of Christ’s cross that is ours.

In effect, we lift from Christ that part of his burden that is ours and shoulder it ourselves.
If most of us could do even that much, how great would be the joy in heaven, and how immense the change in the world.

Sadly another image came to my mind in this connection. The image of Christians actually riding the cross. This image (I believe) represents the many who presume on Christ’s mercy, presume their salvation, without ever making any real change or effort to shoulder that which is their cross to bear.

Yes - I think that there is much in these ideas to ponder on.

Peace
James
 
ufamtobie said:
So why did the soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus, Carry His Cross?
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There are probably Divine reasons.

But the first thing that comes to mind is that the soldiers were worried that Jesus wouldn’t make it all the way to the site of execution on his own. Grabbing a bystander and forcing him to help does two things at once: it allows the execution to continue as planned, and it instills fear into the local populace: the soldiers have the power to make you do anything they want.
 
Well, I think about we have to pick up the cross and follow him and just like Simon, we do a lot of fussing about doing it, but we pick it up and struggle along.

It changed Simon and hopefully carrying the cross will change me.
 
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on_the_hill:
Quote:

Originally Posted by ufamtobie

So why did the soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus, Carry His Cross?

There are probably Divine reasons.
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I agree 100%. God becomes man…I think everything Christ did on this earth had a “divine reason”. If one looks at the gospels in this light…the truths that the Catholic Church becomes crystal clear.

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ufamtobie said:
Matthew 27: 32 And going out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon: him they forced to take up his cross.

Mark 15: 21 And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross.

Luke 23: 26 And as they led him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country; and they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus.

I was saying my Rosary today and while I was meditating on the third mystery “Carrying of the Cross” my meditation was “why was Simon of Cyrene forced to help Jesus Carry His Cross, it was our Lords cross to carry not Simons”.

The below questions were mine to myself, while meditating on the third mystery of carrying of the Cross.

Did the soldiers take pity on Jesus and thats why they told Simon of Cyrene, to help our Lord Carry His Cross? NO! I said to myself, The soldiers did not have Pity, pity, was not on their vocabulary, they just shredded our Lord to pieces during the Second Mystery of "Scourging at the Pillar that day, no they had no pity.

So why did the soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus, Carry His Cross?

What came to my mind was this: The Lord wanted this to be so, because Jesus Christ wants all of us, His faithful, to help Him Carry his Cross “For we are our Brothers keeper”. It was not Simons, Cross to carry and yet, it became Simons cross, to carry, as well as Our Lord’s to help our Lord, to save the world. (Redemptive Sufferings)

Don’t get me wrong, Jesus Christ needs no one to help him carry His Cross, but He wants us to, Share in His Cross / like Simone of Cyrene did. There was someone greater than these soldiers that forced Simon, to help carry our Lord’s Cross and it was our Lord Himself. Amen

Many Protestants say Scripture don’t talk about “Redemptive Suffering” therefore they don’t believe. But there is Actions of Redemptive Suffering by Simon of Cyrene, In Sacred Scripture and we all know “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS”. Amen

We all can unite our cross, to the Lords passion to help him save not only ourselves but our Brothers and sisters, by what we Catholics call “Redemptive Sufferings”.

Ufam Tobe
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What I saw is when he was walking he didn’t want to get involved. But later when in looked into the eyes of Jesus he indeed saw the true Man Of God.

I think there was a reason for this.

I was told that later he went and told his Children about Jesus.

I was also told that his One Son became a Priest and One a Bishop.

God works in very mysterious ways indeed.
 
ufamtobie said:
Did the soldiers take pity on Jesus and thats why they told Simon of Cyrene, to help our Lord Carry His Cross? NO!

For myself have a deep urge to not accuse the Roman Soldiers - I was in their shoes, I would have acted worse. At some point in my life, I hope to be as the centurion who boldly proclaimed ““Truly this was the Son of God!”
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I see it as a symbolic action that represents the idea that it wasn’t just Jesus’ cross, but all of humanity’s. We are all called to carry our cross, and the cross that Jesus carried is representative of the burden of all humanity’s sins. Simon carrying the cross is a physical depiction of how we too are called to carry our cross; obviously not alone, but with Jesus by our side.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Very interesting observation ufamtobie.

My mind is somewhat more suspect. I think that the Roman soldiers wanted to make sure that Jesus was able to make it for the crucifixion without passing out and prolong the torture.

I know, I have a lot of work to do… :o
 
benjohnson said:
For myself have a deep urge to not accuse the Roman Soldiers - I was in their shoes, I would have acted worse. At some point in my life, I hope to be as the centurion who boldly proclaimed ““Truly this was the Son of God!”
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I hear you ben, there is this song that talks about being a thorn in Christ’s brow, being a nail in His Cross, and being Judas’ kiss… Sadly, I identify with this. Thanks be to God that He is much more than me.
 
bzkoss236 said:
I see it as a symbolic action that represents the idea that it wasn’t just Jesus’ cross, but all of humanity’s. We are all called to carry our cross, and the cross that Jesus carried is representative of the burden of all humanity’s sins. Simon carrying the cross is a physical depiction of how we too are called to carry our cross; obviously not alone, but with Jesus by our side.

Just my 2 cents.
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👍 I agree
 
Sounds good. Also “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

So had Simon any reservation its also indicative of mankind.
 
I obviously don’t have the same takeaway wrt redemptive suffering, but I am glad you brought this up because of the kids. Though Simon is included in all three Synoptic gospels, only one names his sons- Rufus and Alexander. Makes you wonder- how in the world would any of Jesus’ disciples know the names of those boys? Stands to reason that the entire family became close with the early Christians.

There is one other place where one of those names comes up, too- “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well” (says Paul in Romans 16:13). Is that the same Rufus? I don’t think we can know for sure, but it’s plausible, and it would be really cool if the whole family of Simon became that intimately involved in the early stages of Christianity just by Simon being pulled out of a crowd seemingly at random to help with something.
 
Maybe it is simpler than you think. Remember the brutal beating Jesus took put Him into a weakened state. If He was going to make it to the cross to be crucified and not die on the way He would need help carrying the cross.
 
jericho777 said:
Maybe it is simpler than you think. Remember the brutal beating Jesus took put Him into a weakened state. If He was going to make it to the cross to be crucified and not die on the way He would need help carrying the cross.
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Yea, to the mind of a Roman soldier and as far as that decision making process went, it was probably somewhere between concern that the prisoner might not make it and “This is taking too long, I don’t want to get behind schedule here.”
 
I come from a wisconsin evangelical lutheran synod and I have never read any of those passages…never heard of someone helping him carry the cross. That simply isn’t taught.
 
underwhelmed said:
I come from a wisconsin evangelical lutheran synod and I have never read any of those passages…never heard of someone helping him carry the cross. That simply isn’t taught.
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:eek: Which version of the Bible do you have? Mark 15, vs21 tells us this.

New International Version (©2011)
A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.

New Living Translation (©2007)
A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)

English Standard Version (©2001)
And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’ cross. He was Simon, a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

International Standard Version (©2012)
They forced a certain passer-by named Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who happened to be coming in from the country, to carry Jesus’ cross.

NET Bible (©2006)
The soldiers forced a passerby to carry his cross, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
And they detained one who was passing by, Shimeon, a Cyrenian, who had come from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to take up his cross.

GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
A man named Simon from the city of Cyrene was coming [into Jerusalem] from his home in the country. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. As he was about to pass by, the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And they compelled one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

American King James Version
And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

American Standard Version
And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them , that he might bear his cross.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to take up his cross.

Darby Bible Translation
And they compel to go with them a certain passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, coming from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus, that he might carry his cross.

English Revised Version
And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.

Webster’s Bible Translation
And they constrain one Simon, a Cyrenian, who was passing by, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

Weymouth New Testament
One Simon, a Cyrenaean, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing along, coming from the country: him they compelled to carry His cross.

World English Bible
They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.

Young’s Literal Translation
And they impress a certain one passing by – Simon, a Cyrenian, coming from the field, the father of Alexander and Rufus – that he may bear his cross,
 
Saving Grace,
Underwhelmed was not saying that the passage wasn’t in their bible…Just that they had never heard it mentioned by anyone.

Peace
James
 
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