Mark 15:21
Have
you ever been given a task that you just wish someone else would have been
given, anyone else! Soldiers when they get deployed to a band new outpost must
deal with their own toilet facilities. To get rid of solids they often use a
barrel. Someone gets the duty of tending to the fire that burns up that refuse.
It is not a pleasant job, but a job that must be done.
Changing
a flat tire on a cold rainy night is one of those tasks you wish someone else
could do for you. I have coverage on my auto policy that pays someone else to
do this, if I am willing to wait for them to arrive. But the cold, wet air and
ground are not the most pleasant environment for car repairs.
The
dishes! Do I need to say more? If you have entertained, the dishwasher just won’t
hold them all. And someone has to rinse and fill the dishwasher. Empty the
trash. Take out the diaper pail. Wipe the toddler’s bottom. Run the weed whacker.
Vacuum the car’s interior and wash the inside of the windows. Bathe the dog.
Scoop the poop. Clean the oven. Talk with the Ex about holiday children
exchange. Yikes, there are a lot of jobs I would never want to do.
But
on the morning a particular man was tasked with helping Jesus. He was really
tagged with helping the Roman soldiers do their job. They were assigned the
duty of getting Jesus to the place of His execution, and Jesus is too weak to
carry His own cross. I can imagine one of the soldiers saying, “I’m not going
to carry that thing” as Jesus stumbled and fell. And then the inevitable “Hey
you!” and Simon was grabbed. And Simon can’t refuse, or face punishment.
So
why does Mark include all this biographical information about this random man
in the crowd who had the unenviable job of helping the Romans with their task?
I think Simon was still alive when Mark wrote. I can imagine him being a
witness to what happened. Maybe his two boys were still alive and told of their
father’s role that day. We don’t know if any of them became Jesus-followers.
But for some reason Mark gives us the results of his Google search.
Simon
started his day without knowing that he would end up in history. So few people
survive by name down through history. Most of us fade after a few generations.
Even our grave markers fade after a few hundred years. But Simon and his sons
got permanent billing here in the pages of Scripture. Mark does this on
purpose. He wants their memory to last.
Some
of the tasks we end up with accidentally are good things. They change our lives
forever. Are you willing to allow these accidental things work the LORD’s will
in your world? You can never know the final destination of these accidental
things, but when the LORD is working, you can know it will be good.