T(r)oy's Marbles
cyrene's pioneers (3rd part)
Something interesting
In Mark 15:21, we are told that Simon was “passing by on his way in from the country.” The irony struck me: he was just coming from the place to which he would be forced to return. Just as Jesus was forced to go to a place to which he didn’t want, so was Simon (Golgotha was just outside Jerusalem--in the countryside).
Sometimes, life causes us to take some rather unexpected (and unwanted!) U-turns. This particular U-turn would not only change Simon’s life, it would also change the lives of his children, his wife and (literally!) the life of a man named Saul. On that note, let’s look at “something even more interesting.”
Something even more interesting
In Mark 15:21, we are also told that Simon is “the father of Alexander and Rufus.” Now, how on earth did the disciples know this at the time? Truth be told, they probably didn’t. More likely, this is a detail they probably discovered later on.
At any rate, that got me to thinking, “Who are these people—Alexander and Rufus—that they warrant a mention in the narrative? They didn’t do anything. So why mention them? True, many people were known as ‘so-and-so’ the son of ‘so-and-so’, but this appears the other way around: ‘so-and-so’ the father of ‘so-and-so.’ Who are Alexander and Rufus? Why would Simon’s sons be mentioned here?”
I found out about one of them: Rufus. In Romans 16:13, Paul tells the Roman Christians to “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord…” It is supposed, according to church tradition, that this is the same Rufus referred to in Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion. (I, for one, can believe it.)
It’s amazing how Simon’s legacy was passed on to his son. Just as Simon was chosen to carry the cross, so was his son Rufus (“chosen in the Lord”, remember?).
Then, Paul goes on in Romans 16 to extend greetings to Simon’s wife, the mother of Rufus. And he notes, significantly, that she “has been a mother to me, too.”
Here, Paul extends gratitude to Rufus’ mother for including him in their very special family. As I went on with my investigative exploration, I discovered that Paul had good reason to feel such deep appreciation for Rufus, his mother and, indeed, the extended Cyrenian Jewish-Christian family. Read on tomorrow, this gets better!
teachings | Comments (1) | June 27, 2005
Comments
Troy - I find myself anxious each day to learn more. Thank you for your research and for keeping me in suspense as you reveal what you have discovered.
Posted by: Monaca at June 27, 2005 11:55 PM