It’s in the Details

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The smallest details in biblical stories bear close examination. They are not there by accident, and often reveal a great deal.

An example of this principle is a verse from the oldest gospel, Mark 15:21, where we first hear of the man named Simon from Cyrenica. Jesus is being led to his crucifixion; “A man called Simon, from Cyrenica, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they pressed him into service to carry his [Jesus’] cross” (see also Matthew 27:32 and Luke 23:26).

This brief reference to Simon is interesting for a number of reasons. For one thing it probably presents us with the first reference to Jesus encountering an African. Cyrenica was a province west of Egypt on the north coast of Africa. Mark 15:21 says Simon was just a passerby “on his way in from the country,” and not a willing participant. What was he doing on the road to Jerusalem? No doubt he had come for the Passover festival. Thus, even though the Bible doesn’t tell us this directly, Simon of Cyrenica was most likely a God-Fearer^a—a Gentile adherent to Judaism. Or, less likely, he was a Diaspora Jew; his name, Simon, may suggest he was named after the famous war hero Simon Maccabee.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to the Roman practice of angaria or impressment (Matthew 5:41): “If someone in authority presses you into service for one mile, go with him two.” It was usually done for the purpose of carrying some burden or doing some task; we know that Roman soldiers regularly followed this practice as a practical means of getting things accomplished quickly. They would simply enlist someone to do something, and it was futile to resist. Jesus’ advice was to go along with the plan willingly and indeed volunteer to go the extra mile with them, helping them even beyond what they asked.

So when the Romans compel Simon to take up Jesus’ cross when Jesus is no longer able and carry it to Golgotha, it is a concrete instance of a common ancient practice that Jesus had alluded to in his Sermon on the Mount. (Unlike in Mel Gibson’s movie—or the painting—this would not have involved the entire cross, but only a carrying of the patibulum, the horizontal beam or crosspiece.)

The little information Mark actually does provide about Simon is about his family. He informs us that Simon is “the father of Alexander and Rufus.” It is a detail of no importance whatsoever to the narrative—and Matthew and Luke, who based their gospels on Mark’s, do not include this fact in their versions. The detail must then have been important specifically to Mark’s audience in Rome in A.D. 68. It is possible that Rufus is the same Roman Christian named Rufus to whom Paul extends a greeting in his letter to the Romans (16:13). If Rufus and Alexander were members of the local Christian community in Rome, mentioning this relationship would then be Mark’s way of letting his audience know that Rufus and Alexander had a notable parent, who had once helped Jesus himself.

Mark mentioned this minor occurrence on the way to Golgotha, and this man Simon’s name, because it must have changed Simon’s life—and with it, the lives of his family.

Think about it. Simon came from North Africa, but years later, when Mark is writing, Simon’s children are Christians in Rome. How had that happened? Because of a significant encounter Simon had one day on the road to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

Simon was apparently the first foreign follower of Jesus, and certainly he was the first to literally fulfill the mandate of Jesus to take up the cross and follow Jesus. For Mark’s largely Gentile audience, he becomes an emblem of either Gentiles or Diaspora 047Jews who came to follow Jesus. Today he has become an emblem of how Africans were involved in the early history of Christianity.

Pay attention to the details.

In this case, from a few tiny facts we can piece together the story of a God-Fearer who became a participant and then a witness to the crucifixion, and was likely forever changed by the experience.

The smallest details in biblical stories bear close examination. They are not there by accident, and often reveal a great deal. An example of this principle is a verse from the oldest gospel, Mark 15:21, where we first hear of the man named Simon from Cyrenica. Jesus is being led to his crucifixion; “A man called Simon, from Cyrenica, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they pressed him into service to carry his [Jesus’] cross” (see also Matthew 27:32 and Luke 23:26). This brief reference to Simon is […]