Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross

 Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!" Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.

Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.

- Mark 15:12-21

 Yesterday we read that, immediately, in the morning following His trial before the Sanhedrin, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate.  Then Pilate asked Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  He answered and said to him, "It is as you say."  And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing.  Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, "Do You answer nothing?  See how many things they testify against You!"  But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.   Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.  And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.  Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them.  But Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"  For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them.

Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"  So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!" Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"  So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.  My study bible points out an important difference between the Jewish leaders and Pilate, in terms of their judgment of Jesus.  That is, the Jews had the Law and the prophets to instruct them, and Pilate did not.  But Pilate also bears sin, because he gives in to his desire to gratify the crowd, knowingly sending an innocent Man to death.  Not only has Jewish law been violated in the process of convicting Christ to death, but so has Roman law.


Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison.  And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"  Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.  And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.  The whole garrison of soldiers are gathered to mock Jesus, the "King of the Jews."  My study bible says that every king is proclaimed by his soldiers.  Although the intention here is mockery, it is also prophetic that Jesus is crowned and hailed as King by the soldiers of Pilate, the Roman governor.  (See another inadvertent prophesy in which Caiaphas unwittingly prophesies Christ's redemptive work in John 11:49-51).  In accordance with Isaiah 53:3-9, the mockery here shows Jesus as the One despised and rejected by men, and who bears the iniquity of us all. 

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross.  Mark calls Simon the father of Alexander and Rufus, possibly because they were still living and expected to be known by Mark's hearers.  My study bible says that the spiritual message is that we, like Simon (whose name means "obedience"), are not only called to carry whatever cross is set on us by Christ, but also seeing Christ in others, we are called to bear one another's burdens as well (Galatians 6:2).

It's interesting to think about how any encounter with Jesus changes people's lives.  Simon, a visitor to Jerusalem from Cyrene (an ancient Greek coastal city in what is now Libya) is compelled to carry Jesus' cross.   The text tells us that Simon was simply passing by, and so was in a sense commandeered by the soldiers for this job.  It gives us a sense of life under the Romans, and also how an inadvertent and chance meeting with Christ can change lives.  If the sons of Simon, Rufus and Alexander, are expected to be known to the readers of Mark's Gospel, then somehow this family has become a part of the Church.  In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul asks that his greetings be given to Rufus, and also to the mother of Rufus, as well as St. Paul's own mother (Romans 16:13).  Somehow this chance meeting, this being compelled to carry Jesus' cross, becomes a touchstone for Simon and his entire family.  It is a way in which he becomes entwined with Christ and with those others who are His followers and friends and who love Him.  Pilate, too, will be changed by his encounter with Christ.  After sending Jesus to Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, both Pilate and Herod become fast friends and apparently mutual admirers, after having been at odds with one another (Luke 23:12), united by the custom of courtesy of jurisdiction that Pilate gives to Herod, but also certainly in their mutual understanding that they have sent an innocent holy man to be executed.  (In this, it wasn't the first time for Herod - see this reading.)  We know of the things that will come to be in Jerusalem, what will befall the leadership and even the temple.  But each encounter with Christ seems to bring its own consequences in accordance with the ways in which people respond.  He is at the center of things:  as the vine to which all branches must flow and from which branches are trimmed, He is the touchstone for all things (see John 15).  His is the place where all things meet, where all are found -- if they are to be found at all.  As Judge He will sit at the center of all things, as the crucified Messiah He alone is in position to judge.  No encounter with Him, regardless of response, is without its consequences.  He creates relationships, and He also breaks them.  He tells us, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Luke 11:23).   As Christ has sent to us the Holy Spirit, Who is, according to one prayer, "everywhere present and filling all things," then Christ is encountered everywhere and by all people, regardless of whether or not they have nominally heard of Christ and regardless of whether or not they call themselves Christians.  In today's reading, we get a taste of what conscience means, when we learn that Pilate is more willing to please the crowd (most likely in order to keep his job and position as governor, just as the Jewish leadership worries about their places) than to prevent the unjust execution of an innocent man.  St. Paul writes about the conscience, and the judgment of all:  "For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel" (Romans 2:12-16).  As we each have encounters with our own conscience, so we are also all blessed with the gift of the Spirit, and where the Spirit is, so is the Father and the Son.   We are all, in some measure, living in response to an encounter with this reality and presence, whether we are aware of it or not.  The idea of neutrality is delusional; we are all in a place where we respond to the presence of Christ, knowingly and unknowingly, just as St. Paul spoke to the ancient Athenians about the God they worshiped without knowing His name (see Acts 17:22-28).  While all will be judged by Christ according to the depths of their hearts, the essence of this gospel is the living encounter and our own capacity to "grope for Him and find Him," as St. Paul writes (Acts 17:27).  Each of these individuals in the Gospels comes to this place of encounter, and each life reflects the response.  Let us remember that the work of grace is ongoing and living.  The stories we read in the Gospels are illustrative of what is a living, ever-flowing reality, present to each of us and to each choice we make in our own hearts.  This process hasn't stopped and isn't frozen in time; rather, encounters happen constantly and ever-presently, everywhere and in each one.  From the mocking soldiers (at least one of whom will be converted at the Cross) to Simon to all the rest in the crowd that demands His crucifixion, to the present day and each encounter we know (both internal and external), Christ is present, shaping and forming lives and relationships and even who we are as persons.  How do you encounter Him?  How does that shape you, one way and the other?