Random Encounter - The Libyan Who Met Jesus

The day of Jesus’ death brought a seemingly random encounter with a man whose story is anything but random. Luke put it this way: And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus (Luke 23:26).

Why do Matthew, Mark, and Luke all reveal the name of a man who was only a face in the crowd? The movies always have uncredited characters – the guy holding the elevator, people seated at the next table in the restaurant. Why should this “bit player” in the drama of the cross be named? Simon. And not only named, but we’re told where he’s from: Simon of Cyrene. Why?

God doesn’t do random. And a little investigation into “Simon of Cyrene” will reveal just how specific and well-planned are the appointments God makes with His people.

Simon came from Cyrene, an ancient city of Libya.  He must have been part of the Jewish population there, and so he traveled 900 miles from North Africa to be in Jerusalem at Passover. His journey would have taken a month, and put him in the holy city at precisely the time Jesus was staggering underneath the cross. Thousands of other pilgrims were part of the crowd, but it was he whom the soldiers singled out, and forced to help a beaten, bloodied, condemned man on the way to be executed.

The story of Simon of Cyrene is like puzzle pieces, scattered through the New Testament. Let's look at them, and then I'll try to put them together.

Piece #1 - Pentecost

After Jesus’ resurrection, He commissioned His followers to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit, who would empower them to be His witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth(see Acts 1:8).

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came like a mighty rushing wind with tongues of fire. And it turns out Simon wasn’t the only pilgrim from Cyrene. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven…Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome (Acts 2:5, 9-10, my emphasis). Three thousand people became followers of Jesus that day. Among them were men and women from Simon’s home town.

Piece #2 – Cyrenian Church Planting

God used persecution to move His people from the comfortable surroundings of Jerusalem to share the gospel in other parts of the world (cf. Acts 8:1). 

One of the places God sent them was the city of Antioch, 300 miles north of Jerusalem in Syria. The third greatest city of its day (after Rome and Alexandria), Antioch was full of many thousands of people who needed Jesus.

A new church was born from the witness of the believers sent out from Jerusalem. And guess who some of those witnesses were! Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord (Acts 11:19-21, my emphasis).

Piece #3 – Church Leadership and Missionary Send-Off

The church in Jerusalem, hearing of the gospel’s impact in Antioch, sent Barnabas to teach and disciple these new Christians for an entire year. Barnabas brought along a man named Saul to help him.

The new church formed a leadership council of of five pastor-prophets: Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul (Acts 13:1, my emphasis). Notice where Lucius was from.

Then the Holy Spirit spoke to these five and told them to commission two of their number for church planting: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). Thus began the church planting journeys of the Apostle Paul.

Piece #4 – Simon’s Family

Okay, so we’ve followed the story, or at least these odd pieces of it, about 15 years after the cross, all the way from Jerusalem to the city of Antioch.

But let’s return to Calvary, to that day when Simon of Cyrene locked eyes with Jesus across the blood-smeared wood of the cross. Mark's account of the story adds an intriguing detail. 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 (Mark 15:21).

Now we learn Simon was not only a North African, a Jew, but he was a father and he had two sons: Alexander and Rufus. Why record their names as well?

Mark wrote his gospel from Rome in the late 50's (at the earliest) and by then there was a strong congregation of believers in Rome. Mark mentioned these names because they must have been well-known in that church.

Piece #5 – Roman Impact

One more puzzle piece, and then I’ll try to connect them. Paul wrote his magnum opus, the Epistle to the Romans, in 57 A.D. He hadn’t yet been to Rome, but he knew many of its leaders. And so at the end of the letter, he sends greeting. One is notable for our study: Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well (Romans 16:13).

Did you catch that? Rufus, “chosen in the Lord" must be Simon's son, and "his mother" would be Simon's wife.

Not Random at All

Let me try to summarize. Simon, a black Jew from Cyrene, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. He had no way of knowing that God had directed his path and that his life would be forever changed.

He was conscripted by Roman soldiers, forced to carry the cross of a Man so weakened by pain, blood loss, and exhaustion that He could not bear the weight by Himself. That’s how Simon met Jesus and discovered that He was carrying the weight of our sins on that cross.  

I don’t know whether Simon was converted then or whether that was the start, and 50 days later, Pentecost was the full measure of it. But clearly he became a follower of Jesus Christ.

And a lot more followed. What influence did Simon have on the men and women from his hometown who were swept into the kingdom at Pentecost? My guess – a lot.

The ripple effects continued. This group of African Jews, now followers of Jesus, was the key to founding the church in Antioch. One of them became a pastor of that church, and in turn helped send out a young missionary church planter named Paul. Simon’s countrymen set in motion the missionary movement that carried the gospel throughout Asia Minor and into Europe.

Meanwhile Simon influenced another group: his own wife and sons. I like to imagine his return home to Cyrene after Pentecost. His thoughts and prayers must have been focused on a single goal during that month-long trek: I must tell my family about Jesus. I thought He was just a condemned man, but now He’s my Lord and Savior, and I’ll never be the same. I have to tell them.

So he did. And nearly thirty years later, his sons were well-known to the church in Rome, and one of them, Rufus, was a key leader there. And, amazingly, we discover that Simon’s wife had been like a mother to the man who, under the Holy Spirit, authored thirteen books of the New Testament.

The random encounter of a pilgrim in the crowd on that day in Jerusalem was really God’s divine appointment. And it was meant not just for Simon, but for a whole lot of other people he would never meet in this life.

We have to tell somebody about this Jesus, the Man of the Cross and the Empty Tomb. Who knows where it might lead?