Monday meditation: Our unwanted burden can be spiritual service
If you’re part of a religious tradition that creates 14 Stations of the Cross for prayers before Easter, you likely recognize today’s picture as illustrating the fifth of those stopping places.
Or maybe you’ve read a book or seen an Easter-themed movie depicting Simon of Cyrene drafted into service to help Jesus carry the instrument of his death to the place of his execution.
As I wrote at another site, Simon “had likely come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. He happened to be there along the path where Jesus struggled to carry his own cross on the way to his execution. Every ounce of Christ’s energy and strength had been beaten out of him by the Roman soldiers who had already flogged him almost to death. And, as Jesus stumbled under his load, the soldiers collared Simon and made him carry the wooden beam the rest of the way to Calvary.”
We caregivers can see our situation in the grimace on Simon’s face as he took up the cross.
For starters, he didn’t choose his duty. It was thrust upon him by a cruel Roman guard who didn’t care what else Simon might have been planning for his day. Neither we nor our loved ones chose what we’re carrying, either. It’s heavy; and the path ahead, uneven and unpredictable, will eventually lead to death.
Simon could see where his struggle would end, and he knew it would be finished that day. But our burden will accompany us in ways we don’t know, most likely for many years.
But Simon, though he couldn’t have understood it, was serving the very Savior of the world. And we, though we may not acknowledge it, are serving that same Savior if we carry our caregiving load to please him.
Just as Jesus couldn’t get his cross to its resting place without help, he needs us to bring rest to our loved ones, disoriented and diminished by their disease.
Did Simon curse his misfortune as he endured his burden? If so, we can understand that, too. But we’d like to think Simon eventually realized the privilege that was his by serving God’s only Son. In fact, some say this Simon is the same man mentioned later in the New Testament as a follower of Christ.
Perhaps this week we can think about Simon as we repeat answers to repeated questions, look again for lost glasses, do extra laundry, find household items where they don’t belong, or clean up after frustrating accidents. Jesus told us the believer’s lowly service is service to him. We can be grateful our burden is usually not as heavy as a cross. And we have Someone greater than an unwilling passerby to help us lift it.
Read: Mark 15:16-22
Pray: How humbled we are, Lord to realize all that Jesus suffered for us. How encouraged we are to believe he understands our pain, too. Help me this week to know that he has sent the Spirit to help me carry my own heavy responsibilities. And help me not to be too proud to accept the help when someone else steps in to lighten the load for part of my journey.
Illustration copyright Classic Bible Art. All rights reserved. Click here for a list of events where you can see Classic Bible Art on display this year. For more information about securing a library of this beautiful art for yourself, see here or here. Some art in this series is available for you to license at Goodsalt.com.