Mark
15:21
“They
compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his
cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and
Rufus.”
(Mark 15:21 )
A
few years ago, I received a call from the dean at Leland Seminary where I served
as an adjunct professor, asking if I would replace a professor for a class that
was to begin in just five days. If not,
the class would be canceled and the students would lose needed credits. “There wasn’t enough time to prepare,” I
thought to myself, but in the end, I agreed, and picked up the responsibility as
my own.
In
today’s text, Simon picks up another’s responsibility as his own. Mark calls him a “passer-by,” compelled to
carry the cross of Christ. Ray Bolz
wrote a song about this story. In it,
Simon brings his sons to Jerusalem to sacrifice a lamb. In the confusion, the lamb escapes and they
have nothing for the temple sacrifice. As the song concludes, Simon stands near
the cross with his two sons. Changed by
the ordeal, he points to the cross he carried which now holds Jesus’ broken
body, and he tells his sons, “Watch the Lamb.”
Jesus
compels us to pick up our cross daily and follow him. In doing so, we, like
Simon, point to Jesus and say, “Watch the Lamb.”
Prayer:
Help us Lord, to willingly carry the cross of Christ, and in doing so, point
others to Him.
Amen.
Jim
Abernathy
As
part of your devotional today, copy the link below, go to youtube, and paste the
link in the window to see the video for Watch the Lamb. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YU4q7-c4v4
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