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. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).
Mark 15:21-22
“What is going on?” That question had to have passed through the mind of Simon that Friday morning in Jerusalem so many years ago. Probably visiting from his home in Northern Africa to observe the ritual of the Passover, he is forced suddenly into service to bear up a cross and carry it across town in place of a man he had never met. “What is going on?”
“What is going on?” You are informed that the cancer in your friend has spread. Your teenager leaves the house in a rage after another argument about responsibility and respect. You talk to your aging parents and things that used to be clear to them, aren’t as much anymore. “What is going on?”
Simon didn’t know where he was headed, but we know his destination. It was a hill outside of Jerusalem. There, Simon probably stayed to watch as an innocent man, one without sin or guilt, died for the sins of the entire world. “What is going on?” Three days later, maybe Simon understood what had taken place.
While doubts and questions arise in life daily, the empty tomb signals that Jesus bears the uncertainties in our life on his own shoulders. He rose again to ensure that, through our baptism, we too can be assured that he knows what is going on. We may not always know, but he does. And the peace that he gives is beyond all understanding!
Bret Taylor, PhD
Professor of Mathematics, CUI