Holy Week Special - Easter People Part 5: Simon of Cyrene

Holy Week Special - Easter People Part 5: Simon of Cyrene

Holy Week is a time when we can reflect on the events that led to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection from the dead. In this short series of sermons that were originally delivered in 2025, we are drawn into these events through the eyes and the experiences of five people. Some were very close to Jesus throughout his ministry whilst others appear momentarily. But all can say the same thing: that they met Jesus.

This is the final talk in our series on Easter People. Today we are encouraged to reflect on the events of the first 'Good Friday', through the eyes of Simon of Cyrene. Simon has a very brief mention in the gospel narrative. He had travelled a very great distance to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. It so happens that as he and his son are in the city a noisy procession is underway: some men are experiencing the final humiliation as they are being taken to the place of execution under the supervision of the Roman authorities. One staggers and falls under the weight of the cross he is forced to carry, and Simon is ordered, by a soldier, to carry it for Him ...

We hope that our Easter People reflections have been helpful during Holy Week and that you have managed to find time to stop and be still. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

In this, the first and final sermon in our East of People's Stories, the focus is on Simon of Cyrene. Simon is only mentioned very briefly in the Gospel narrative, but has a unique insight into Jesus' story. For he walked behind him, carrying his cross as he made his way to the place of crucifixion. So little is recorded, and yet so much can we learn from Simon's story as we consider our relationship with Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

So if you've been with us for the last few weeks, you will know that we've been going through different people. So we're going to trust that God will do what he does best and multiply and bring out more than we thought. And actually, that's been my experience this week that God has done just that, taken this little glimpse of this character, this fleeting vision, and has multiplied it into something that has moved me. I hope I can pass that on to you too. And so Matthew chapter 27, we have this in three of the Gospels, the story of Simon. We're going to look at two for now, and then because otherwise we're going to be over too quick. So we're going to look at two now and then one at the end. The first is in Matthew chapter 27, verse 31. Jesus has been put on trial, he's been mocked and treated cruelly by the Roman guards. He's then being flogged and beaten. And Matthew records this. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to the place called Orgother, which means the place of the scar. That's Matthew's account. Luke also records this story. So we'll read his account. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Lord, would you please multiply your word to us today and add your blessing? We're going to simply look at this man. I mean, that that's all that's all we get from this story. That's that's the total. I said Mark does add a little more detail, but we'll come to that a bit later. But you've got the whole week of Easter, but nearly half the gospels is taken up with this last week of Easter. This is the main focus, all that's going on, all that takes place. And Simon, perhaps you know the name or you're familiar with it. He comes into the story and then he exits, and that's it. And yet, this one man has the most unique perspective on this day. This one man experienced something that no one ever will and ever did ever experience again. To walk this road with Jesus carrying the cross that was destined for him. And just and all I've had really this week is that, and going, I need to step into this man's shoes, I need to try and inhabit this word because there must be more than simply that, this fleeting character. It's not an accident that he's in there, it's not by chance that God includes this story, this account, this name, this person, and these details about him. And so I just want to try and flesh it out a bit and paint the picture so we can really understand what this man has to say to us. He walks this road with Jesus. He's called Simon of Cyrene. First of all, where's Cyrene? Well, it's in northern Africa. Um, it's it's a bit of a fair way away from um where Jerusalem is. It's in modern-day Libya, and so I put it in Google Maps. There you go. Um, it's going to take you 366 hours to walk it if you don't sleep or eat. Um, that's about two weeks of constant travel. Um, 11-hour flight, 22-hour drive. Uh, this is a journey, this is a long way. And a journey that would have taken several weeks to get to. This is where he's from. And there's clues in the text that this is perhaps where he's traveled, that he's traveled to Jerusalem. Um, because at this time of year, at the time that this takes place, Jerusalem swelled up. It wasn't a particularly large city, particularly by modern standards, and it swelled from a population of about 500,000 to 2.5 million people, as pilgrims came to celebrate the feast of Passover. And so people from all over the world, and we know from um ancient historians that in Cyrene there was a big Jewish contingent, a group of people, his name's Simon, a Jewish name. There's a contingent, these faithful Jewish people who are worshipping God and perhaps would have made this journey to come to Jerusalem, as people did all over the world at this time, to come and celebrate the Passover feasts. And so when they all come, it swells up 2.5 million people. They wouldn't fit in the city, there weren't enough places for them to stay, so they would camp out, and the city would expand, and there'd be campsites and residences all around in the countryside, uh filled with people staying for this time of year. Which, if you notice in the text, is what it says, Simon came in from the country. Why was he in the country? It wasn't because he lived there, it's because he was camping there. There's no room for him in the city, so he's camping and he's coming in on this day, the day that is really the day of preparation for the Passover feast to come. For those who don't know, Passover is one of the great high feasts of the Jewish people. There are three of them. And this is God's rescue, this is the celebration of God's rescue plan, where God delivers them from slavery in Egypt and brings them. And every year a young child would come to the father and the family and they'd prepare their meal, they'd have all the bits laid out, and the young child would say, Why do we do this? And the father of the family would tell the story of God's powerful work, of his rescue and his grace, of the way he brought them from slavery and made them a people. And this is their culmination, this is their Christmas, this is their celebration, this is their Easter. God, you have delivered us, and we tell this story again and again to remind ourselves of the truth that it contains. And it's in this setting that a man called Jesus has been put on trial, has been flogged and beaten, and is now being paraded to a place called Golgotha where he will be executed on a cross. There couldn't have been a worse time for a procession. The busy, the city is buzzing and bustling. It is busy and grand. Some of you perhaps have walked this path, the Via Della Rosa, the walk of Jesus, about 800 metres, not particularly long, top of Etnam Street to St. Michael's Hospice, about that far. Around 8, 8:30 in the morning, this would have taken place. Apparently, if you go there today, you'll find lots of places where people pause and read scripture and pray, and there's a reverence and the holiness and a sacredness about it. It would not have been like that when Jesus walked it. It would have been noise and busy and chaotic and the people all over the place. And into this steps, Jesus and his guards, as they they walk along the procession. Jesus has been handed over by Pilate to the guards. There's a legal procedure. Pilate would have turned to the centurion, the head of the guards, and say, This man should be taken to a cross. That was a legal statement he had to say. And then he would turn to the centurion and say, Go, soldier, and prepare the cross. And once those have been said, Pilate's legal duties have been fulfilled. He'd handed them over. They would then walk along with Jesus, each person sentenced to be crucified, would have had four guards on them. So you've got Jesus, you've got the two thieves who are with them, twelve guards with them. You've got the man in front, the Xacter Mortis, who's in charge of making sure it all goes to plan. He would have walked along, carried a sign with the charges of the person on him, normally written in three languages. You perhaps know the story. Pilate prepares this sign saying, Here's the charge, King of the Jews. And he walks along, and then there would have been about a hundred other soldiers for crowd control, keeping people back and making sure the procession goes along. This is busy and noisy and chaotic, and they're carrying along this path. And in the middle is Jesus. In the middle is Jesus carrying this cross. Many of you will have seen Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. There is a sequel apparently coming out. Spoiler, he does come back. And apparently it's about the resurrection when it's going to be released. But if you've seen that, you'll know how it depicts the crucifixion in such an intense and detailed way. It is gruesome, it is harrowing, it is hard to watch. I don't know if you found that it's one of those things that you almost cannot face to see because of what it represents, particularly for those who believe in Jesus, who trust him, to see what was done to him. Most historians actually agree that the depiction on the Passion of the Christ is actually less brutal than the reality. This man has been beaten and lashed. The Jews could only issue 40 whips minus one, and so the Romans are given the duty where they have no quarrel with these trifled Jewish laws. They would do it until they felt that they'd done what they needed to do. They punished Jesus with weapons and tools designed to inflict the maximum amount of damage without granting them, the person, the relief of unconsciousness or death. And so there's the cat of nine tails. Perhaps on this occasion it wouldn't have had the blades that are normally used, but tiny little dumbbell-shaped implements that would have bruised and beaten, that would have taken away flesh. And then a cross is put on his back and he's forced to walk this 800 meters, carrying this burden. Maybe not the full cross, from what we know, that perhaps it was just the cross beam, but that in itself would have weighed three, five stones by itself, carrying this weight. The Catholic tradition has this idea of stations of the cross and this idea that Jesus stumbles three times. It isn't in the text, but the reference is that Jesus needs help because he can't carry it. And because there's an exacto mortis, the guy who's in charge of making sure the crucifixion is carried out. If it isn't carried out and he doesn't make it to the cross, he is then punished. And so it's in that context that the soldiers look around to find someone to carry the cross. And so there's a Roman tradition, Jesus refers to it elsewhere, where they would come to you and tap you with a spear. If you were tapped by a Roman spear, it meant that you had to drop everything you were doing, take their pack, take their burden, take anything that they were carrying and carry it for them one mile. Jesus references this when he says, if someone forces you to carry something one mile, go to. That's what he's talking about, this thing that they would do, where they would humiliate you, whoever you were, and force you to carry their things. And so in this crowd, in this bustle, the Roman soldiers see Jesus unable to bear the load, understandably. And so they look around, and one taps the spear of a man named Simon. And everything for him is then changed. Simon is coming from the country. He's made this long journey, perhaps, he's there, and he's come in early in the morning because on Passover preparation day, you have to secure your lamb. You have to get in, you have to get to the temple, you have to make sure you've got a lamb that's whole and secure, you have to make sure it's without defect, it then has to be offered, it has to be sacrificed, and then it has to be taken home. And so he's there early in the morning, he's got his shopping list, he's got herbs and spices he needs to get, unleavened bread, and the lamb is the most important thing. Get to the temple, secure the lamb. It doesn't say that he's uh watching this thing go on, he's passing by. In fact, one says he's on his way somewhere else. He's not gulping, he's not jeering like others might be, he's not turning away, he's passing through, and he feels the cold steel of a Roman spear, and he's drawn into this story. He's enlisted to carry the cross. And so the cross beam is that the cross is taken off Jesus and put on his shoulders. I once read a book called How to Conscript Volunteers. Bit of an oxymoron. I I don't know why, but I sort of had this sense of Simon carrying Jesus' cross and doing him a favor, helping him out. But if you notice the language in those verses, it's they seized, they pressed, they forced, they coerced. It wasn't a willing, I'll do it, I'm here to do it. He was simply passing by and he's dragged into this, unwilling, that they they they pressed this on him. This is a humiliation that no matter how wealthy you were, this it any Roman doing to this was a humiliation. In addition, Jesus with his bloodied and beaten back, the cross is put on him, and from that moment, Simon is unclean. Possibly making the 900-mile journey to celebrate Passover, he is now excluded from the feast because he carries the cross of a criminal. His plans, whatever he had planned with his family in the meals, he can no longer participate in this. He is stained with the same condemnation. He walks the same path. And then the humiliation of walking behind these criminals, being associated with them, seen as one of them, perhaps, women weeping around him, and just the whirlwind of I was going this way and now I'm going this way. I was doing this, and now suddenly I'm caught up in something that I never wanted to be a part of. All because he was looking for a lamb. This is Simon of Cyrene. And that's it. That's the story. That's what takes place, and then we don't hear anything else. We don't know what happened afterwards, we don't know if he lingered, we don't know if he went back home, we're not sure whether he ever got to the temple or anything like that. That's his story. And scripture doesn't even draw a lesson for us, it doesn't summarize it in a nice, neat application or an allegory for us to understand. And when scripture doesn't do that, I always see it as an invitation to chew on God's word, just to marinate at it and say, Well, if I stand in this place, what do I feel? What do I see? What is God speaking to me? And what I've seen this week in Simon is this man who didn't plan for his day to go this way. Have you ever had a holiday not go to plan? Ever had something that you'd scheduled and something in your life that you'd built up to and prepared for and longed for, and it not work out the way you wanted? Even a meal that you prepare, and as you pull it out, hoping to see it in its golden beauty, it's brown and charcoaled. Or perhaps you prepared the glorious meal and you present it before the family, and then the baby starts screaming and the teenager shrugs, unappreciating it. You don't get the response you want. Ever had plans in a future that you hope for and it all to be upended? And for something to happen that you would never have planned, never have wanted, never have foreseen, and yet you find that it has happened anyway. Imagine being Simon, suddenly seized, frightened, embarrassed, not wanting to be associated with this. Why me of all people? All the people here, surely someone else can do it. So many in the crowd, it just happened to be me who was chosen. Why this task? We don't always choose the moment of our suffering. It comes upon us unexpectedly, sometimes in frightening ways, in heavy ways, in painful ways, in seemingly unfair and random ways. Perhaps one of the lessons is that any moment, even when we are simply coming in from the country, that we should be aware that we can be drawn into something that we never anticipated it. Simon hadn't done anything wrong. He's just passing through. Maybe he'd kept his eyes down, he was avoiding attention, but still he's drawn into this. He's pressed at that language, he's pressed into this. It squeezes him, it compresses him. And suddenly he's carrying a cross. Have you found yourself perhaps carrying something? Perhaps it feels like a cross, it's heavy, it's burdensome. These this is rough, untreated wood with splinters that would dig into you as you put it on your shoulder. Something put on you that you you never wanted, you never asked for, and yet here you are carrying it. There's a lie that that's it's so easy to believe. That if you are faithful, that if you are good, if you walk righteously, then life will be smooth and wonderful for you. We have this idea that we we sometimes deserve some preferential treatment, and it's so subtle, it feels like faith. If I live this way, then God will bless me. If I serve God faithfully, then then He owes me. I wouldn't ever put it like this, but He He owes me, He should look out for me, He should He should stop these sort of things happening. And I've been doing a lot. I've been serving and giving and fasting and praying and sharing and keeping my heart pure. Not perfect, but I do want to honor Him with all I have. So why is it now I find myself in this situation? I raised children in church in the way they should go, and yet they've walked away. I've tithed and I've been generous, and yet I live hand to mouth. I've kept myself pure, and yet I've not found someone to share my life with. Jesus doesn't give us that lie. Jesus says this in this world you will have trouble. To summarize what he says, in this world you have trouble, but you will also have me. In these moments. In these moments, we shouldn't be surprised. Peter says that. Don't be surprised by the trial that has come upon you, thinking that that you've been singled out in some way. This is this is the world that we live in, broken and flawed and dangerous. It's why we have Jesus. Graham Kendrick wrote a song, I think we shared it on our church day away, where he writes, for the joys and for the sorrows, the best and worst of times, for this moment, for tomorrow, for all that lies behind, fears that crowd around me for the failure of my plans, for the dreams of all I hope to be and the truth of what I am. For this, I have Jesus. For this, I have Jesus. We are often drawn into something that we we do not expect. But as you look at Simon, you don't just see this surprising twist in the tail. You also see that he's carrying a cross, but it is a particular kind of cross. Simon isn't carrying a cross of forsakenness. He's not carrying this cross because he's being punished. He's not carrying this cross because he's being condemned. The cross is for Jesus. He is being punished. He is being condemned. That's not Simon, that's not what's happening to Simon. He's not under God's condemnation in being drawn into this. He's also not carrying a cross of fruitlessness. It's not a cross without a purpose. Although it may feel like that to him at the time, there is a sense that this is going to accomplish more than he ever even imagined. And when we find ourselves in these times, those two things are also true of us. You find yourself in a situation, and the first thing perhaps comes to mind is, God, why am I being punished? Why am I being forsaken? Why am I being condemned? And the answer is, you're not. Whatever cross you are carrying, as a child of God, whatever burden you have, whatever thing has been put on you, whatever you are having to endure, it is not a sign of your condemnation. Romans 8, imprint it on your eyeballs, sing it in your heart. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Whatever cross you might be carrying, it may be painful and unjustified, it may be unfair and uncalled for, but it is not a sign of condemnation. That can never be, because the Jesus takes the condemnation. Jesus takes the punishment. So whatever I am enduring, it is not a sign of his displeasure as a child of God. It is not condemnation or forsakenness. And it's not fruitfulness, fruitlessness. That God is able to work in all situations for my good. That God is able to bring out of everything light and life. We know this because we have a day in our calendar that we call Good Friday. And if we can call Good Friday Good Friday, then every time we say that we are reminding ourselves God can take the darkest, worst day in human history where we crucify and kill the author of life and we can call it good. If we can do that, then there is no situation outside of the scope of his grace, his healing power, his kindness, his mercy. It is not fruitless. It is a place where God can minister, it is a place where he can work, it's a place where he can be and we can find him on that road. In German, the stations of the cross, and I'm sorry to any people speaking German, I'll butcher it, but they call it the Kruzweg. The Kruzweg, it means the crossway. Simon finds himself on the crossway. We will find ourselves on the crossway. But there is hope because that's where Jesus is. All the verses, they have this little line where it says that he followed behind. He walked behind Jesus. He's walking this path, but he's not walking it alone. Jesus goes before. Him. Jesus is, and he and I just I was trying to picture this. He's walking carrying this load, but he can see in front of him someone whose back is beaten and bloodied, someone who's had a crown of thorns pressed into his head, someone who's been mocked and is being mocked and jeered at, and he's walking, but he's walking behind him in his footsteps. The one who is his hope, the one who is his strength, the one who reminds him, I'm not being condemned, and this is not fruitless, is right in front of him. And he has the unique position of walking, looking at this man's back and wondering, who is this that I follow? Later in the Bible and in the book of Hebrews, the writer will say these words. He says, We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where our forerunner Jesus has entered on our behalf. That verse says that Jesus goes before us. He is our forerunner. And because he goes before us, it's like an anchor. But the imagery is actually from Navy practice where a huge ship would come into dock and someone would jump in a boat and they'd row into land with a rope and tie it onto something secure, and then the huge boat could pull itself in on this rope that was now secured. But it required someone to go first. And the picture there is this is what Jesus does. Because he's gone before us, because he walks in front of us, he goes through the suffering, he goes through the humiliation, he goes through the injustice of it and the forsakenness of it, he goes through that, and then he ties an anchor, and the anchor's tied in heaven in God's presence, in God's love, in God's mercy, and now he draws us in through the storm, through the fog, through the difficulty. And because he goes before us, we can walk the path that we have to walk. Because he carries the cross, we can carry our cross, our burden, whatever it may be. We walk behind him. We can do this because Jesus said he is with us. Because Jesus goes before us through the veil, like an explorer through the cutting through the undergrowth in the jungle, clearing the way that we might follow in the path and find the strength and ease of walking in his footsteps. You see, one thing about Simon is we often say he carried the cross of Jesus. But I wonder if you were to ask Simon whether he would say, no, no, no, that isn't what was happening. I may have borne the weight for a while, but I could only do that because he carries the cross for me. I can only endure my trial and suffering because he carried the cross for me. I can only continue knowing I'm not condemned, knowing whatever happened, it is not a sign of God's God's anger or wrath at me, that it is not for my condemnation, I can keep going and I can carry on because he has gone before me. And he has endured it. He was punished so that I wouldn't have to be. Not to carry a cross of condemnation, but to carry the cross of discipleship, where I walk in his footsteps. See, there isn't Simon isn't a volunteer in this story. He's pressed into it, but there is a volunteer in this story. The Gospel of John, you find it for us. Can't remember if I put it on the screen. But in John chapter 10, oh there we go, he says this. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. There is a volunteer in this story, but it's not Simon, it's Jesus. Simon is dragged into this randomly and accidentally. Jesus has decided this is what I will do. I will walk this path, I will go to this place, I'll be lifted up and I will be nailed to the cross. That all who see me may find life, that all who see me may be drawn to me and find strength and forgiveness and hope and all that they need wherever they may find themselves. Because I lay down my life and I take it up again. I have volunteered for this, I have chosen this. And you, whatever situation, if you've found yourself in this and you didn't volunteer for it, you look to the one who did volunteer. That in the midst of it, whatever it may be, you might have hope and light. This is Simon of Cyrene and his story. And then it ends, apart from Mark. Now, Mark, if you read the Gospels, Mark is the one who's light on details. He's the one who's like, Jesus was here, and then he was here, and then he was up here and down here around and doing this, and he's just what he's big sky thinking, blue, blue sky, big picture, and all these things that Jesus did. He doesn't talk about the birth, no one's interested in that. Let's talk about what Jesus does and who he did and how he lived. So there isn't much detail in Mark. It's wonderful, it's great. You can read it about an hour, maybe a bit longer, but it's just one of these real whirlwind tours of who Jesus is, and lots of people love the Gospel of Mark because of that. But it's interesting on this account, he is the details guy. Here's how Mark tells the story: a certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. Do you see the added detail? Coming in from the country, that's the same, forced to carry the cross, place of Golgotha. But Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Should always ask this question when you read your Bible. Who cares? Nice detail, nice to flesh out, but who cares? Alexander and Rufus. Why would we be interested in that? Most scholars think that the only reason Mark would have included this detail, Mark, who took a lot of his details from Peter and his preaching of the gospel, the only reason they would include names like this, because there are lots of people who don't have names. The woman who touches the hem of Jesus doesn't get a name. You've got people, demons cast out on them, they don't get a name. But this these people, they get they're not even in the story, and yet they get named. That's an odd detail to include unless these people were known to the people of faith. Unless these people were, people were aware of who these people were, and they could go and ask them and say, Are you the guy whose dad carried the cross? And they could investigate and ask them, and they were known to the people of faith. There's another detail in Romans chapter 16, where Paul writes to the church, and we don't know whether it's conclusive or not, but it does say greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. Simon who's chosen to come out, and then his son chosen in the Lord. And some scholars would say it's a little reference to this man whose dad carried that we don't know for sure, but I'm willing to believe and have enough faith. That the reason Alexander and Rufus are in there is because they, their dad, on that occasion saw something, discovered something that then became the what something he preached, perhaps unknowingly. I try and picture it. Simon comes home, he's been put through this ordeal, he sees this man, he hears him on the cross, he sees his words, he sees the way he's treated, and he comes back and he's got stains on his robes and he's sweat on his brow, and he's a bit battered and tossed side to side, and he walks back out into the country, finds his tent and his family set up, and his wife says to him, How'd you get on? And his face drops. Well, did you get everything? He doesn't answer. Come on, well, it's Passover. Have you got the bread? Have you got the herbs? Did you get a lamb? No, I didn't get a lamb. But I think I found the lamb. I didn't expect to, but I think I think I found the lamb. No, I'm using biblical imagination in that. But I just wonder if that encounter that Simon had, the reason he's in there and his sons are in there, is because this moment changed Simon in a profound way. And his sons heard the story and they too encountered Jesus just as Simon does. Whatever you are drawn into, whatever suffering or turn of circumstances that you experience, please know that there is always in the heart of God an invitation to discover him in that place. It will not always be clear. I imagine for Simon it wasn't at first. But as you walk that path, if you open your eyes and look just in front of you, that's where Jesus is. Going before you. Sometimes it will come in in ways of encouragement and words that God gives, and sometimes it will just be a sense of his presence. If you haven't found it, keep going. Don't despair. He goes just before us. And as you walk that path, your burden, the cross that you carry, will, in time, become a sermon that you preach to all those who are watching. Perhaps not preached with words, but with the way that you carry that cross, the way that you endure and press on, the way you fix your eyes on the one who is your hope. It preaches a message that very few can deny. That people cannot overlook. It's so obvious, and there are our brothers and sisters sat among us now, who have walked these paths, and the rest of us have watched and said, I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they worship, I don't know how they sing, I don't know how they pray, I don't know how they haven't turned hard and bitter and resentful, I don't know how, and that's them preaching this message because he is going before them. And perhaps Simon didn't realize, but his sons were listening. We don't always see the impact that the way we walk our path, the impact it has on others. But for Simon and for us, what seems like an interruption comes with an invitation. What felt like humiliation became Simon's greatest sermon. What looked like a defeat or degrading became a doorway to discover grace. And so it is for us too. Jesus carried our cross so that we could walk in his grace. He was punished so that we wouldn't have to be. That he takes that burden from you, he lifts it from you, and what he gives in exchange is the life of heaven, the presence of God, the healing grace of forgiveness, the mercy of our Father's heart, and the invitation, I will go before you. For the rest of your days, wherever you find yourself, I am with you always, always a step ahead, clearing the way, giving you the strength to keep going. Come to me, he says, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, you will find a rest for your souls. The crosses we carry, they often do lead to death, but only because death is the first step before resurrection. The burdens do feel heavy, but his grace is enough to carry us. The road does seem hard, but we do not walk it alone. Perhaps today Jesus is calling you. If you've never surrendered your life, today is a day to do that. If you're distant or weary or doubting, he is waiting for you. He has suffered for you, he has died for you, and he invites you to walk with him. And in this world you will have trouble. You'll either have trouble without Jesus or trouble with him, but in this world you will have trouble. But there is grace and strength for you to endure. If you feel like Simon, you've been forced into a suffering that you didn't choose. Know this God is working even in what feels unexpected. That sounds so trite, and I apologize because it does. It sounds so easy. All I can do is point to the Simons in our midst. Those whose sermon is being preached, not from a pulpit where it's nice and safe, and you're very kind to me. But in the in the in the trenches, in the difficulty of life, they are preaching this. That he holds them, that he keeps them, he guides them, he is bringing them in bit by bit through the fog and through the storm.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

All because he was looking for a lamb.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Perhaps today you find yourself looking for a lamb. And you find the lamb. You find the one who is the answer to your prayers, the resolution to your story, the hope in your grief and your darkness. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That as we walk our path, we know constantly in our mind, I am no longer condemned. His love is for me. Whatever this is, it is not fruitless. God will bring his goodness and grace into it. His grace is enough for me. Let's just take a moment to be still, to reflect on where God might be speaking to us today, and where God might be inviting you to take a step. Perhaps it's the truth that God is with you, with you always. Not as an empty promise, but because he walks the crossway before us. That you would know that he is with you in every moment that you might find yourself. Perhaps it's the truth that his strength carries you when you feel like your own is failing. That when you walk with Jesus, no burden is carried alone. Perhaps it's simply the truth that the cross, though heavy, is not the end. It leads to resurrection. It leads to life again because of him who went before us, the Lamb of God, who by his volunteering, by his willing sacrifice for the joy set before him, endures the cross, scorning its shame, and now is our risen hope and saviour, seated at the right hand of God, beckoning us to come to him with any burden and find that he is sufficient, his grace is sufficient. As we gaze at this man, may we see ourselves reflected in him, would you lead us to the feed of Jesus? Would you need us to trust ourselves to him? The Lamb that we've been looking for. The Lamb who represents our rescue. Open our eyes and help us see you before us. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

We hope that you've enjoyed listening to this sermon. If you would like to talk to anyone about what you've heard, just contact us at Lambster Baptist Church and ask for a chat. Our details are on our website, which is leobc.co.uk. Alternatively, it's always Sunday morning, 10 30. We'd love to want to see you there.