Simon stared at the ceiling of his room; his wife lay next
to him soundly asleep impervious to the thoughts that kept her husband awake.
As Simon lay still, horizontally on his mattress he couldn’t help but think of
Jesus’ dead body wrapped from neck to toe in his burial cloth laying in that
cold, dark, empty tomb. Time passed, slowly but eventually his eyes begun to
droop as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier until he fell fast asleep, his
body desperate for rest.
The
next morning Simon awoke, it was the Sabbath and the day of the Passover
festival. All the preparation had been done the day before and all that was
left was to partake of the meal. “I can’t believe you got involved in that man’s
execution!” rebuked his wife; “how come the Romans chose you?” she said
disapprovingly. “I don’t know…” replied Simon his voice somewhat distant as he
reflected on the bizarre turn of events: “Maybe they didn’t? Maybe it was the
Lord?” “The Lord?! Don’t speak foolishly Simon; the man was a condemned criminal.”
“Condemned yes, but a criminal? I’m not so sure; you didn’t see him didn’t look
into his eyes – you were not there at the end like I was…” Simon’s wife gave
him a searching look trying to comprehend her husband’s strange attitude. Rufus
and Alexander ran to the table eager to hear their father’s story. “You carried
his cross-beam papa? Why did they kill that man?” Simon stroked Alexander’s
hair affectionately; “Why didn’t he carry his cross-beam papa?” Rufus asked
naively. “He couldn’t carry his cross-beam Rufus because he was too weak, you
see the Romans are a very cruel people and they treat criminals without any
mercy. He was flogged many times before being executed so his body was already
hurting.” Alexander’s eyes lit up in astonishment and shock. “And they killed
him dear Alexander because he said many things that angered the Chief Priests
and the Pharisees.” Alexander scratched his head unable to understand why
anyone would be killed over mere words. “What was his name?” “Jesus, his name
was Jesus” replied Simon reverently, and then smiling and gesturing towards the
kitchen encouraged his sons: “now go and help your mother the meal is nearly
ready!”
The
family sat around the table and gave thanks to God for the meal and for rescuing
their ancestors from Egypt; as they began to eat Rufus commented “Jesus… that
is a common name; what was so special about this man?” Simon startled by the
question stopped chewing and reflected, there had been something special about
this man but what was it? After giving it some thought he gave an answer hoping
it would abate his young son’s curiosity: “well this Jesus had a sign above his
head that read ‘King of the Jews’ it was commissioned by Pilate, the Governor
of Jerusalem so this man must have got into trouble with the Romans.” Rufus
seemed content with his father’s answer although it had triggered a train of
thought in his father that he was unaware of. Seeing her husband’s vacant look,
Simon’s wife interrupted her husband’s musings: “let us not forget why we are
in Jerusalem and what we are celebrating this day! We are remembering Adonai’s
mercy to us in sparing the first born sons of our ancestors from the angel of
death!” Simon nodded in agreement and smiled as he finished his lamb. “Adonai
is good and faithful my dear; we are eternally indebted to the Lord for all the
kindness He shows”. Simon had no sooner responded to his wife than he realized
the symbolism of Jesus’ crucifixion. “You know the name Jesus means ‘Adonai
saves’ –like in the Passover, when Adonai saved our ancestors by the blood of
lambs as a substitute. This Jesus, well what if he was the King of the Jews…what if he was the Messiah foretold long
ago?” His wife looked at him thoroughly annoyed by now at her husband’s
constant speculation, “the Messiah is meant to free our people; this man died a
criminal – you carried his cross-beam yourself! Be reasonable Simon how could
he possibly be the Messiah!?”
The
next day Simon awoke to hear the sound of animated voices and the sound of many
feet hurriedly running to and fro outside. He propped himself up on his elbows,
his eyes half shut and still blurry “wh…what is going on?” His wife rubbed her
eyes and listened just as perplexed as Simon. Simon got up out of bed and put
on his sandals and went outside. Grabbing the person closest to him he asked
what the commotion was all about, “they say he’s risen! The man Jesus whom they
executed just three days ago, apparently he’s alive again!” Simon let go of the
stranger’s arm and with a puzzled expression on his face looked down the street
as if he half expected to find Jesus walking along it in his direction. In the
distance Simon could hear many voices: “Have you seen him yet?” “His tomb is
completely empty!” “Apparently there were angels”, he went inside to find his
wife looking worriedly at him: “how can this be? It is impossible!” Simon
shrugged his shoulders; “I don’t know my love…could it be true?” Then all of a
sudden behind his wife he saw a man clothed in white, beautiful and fair.
Turning to see what her husband was staring at Simon’s wife gasped in
astonishment as the man raised his hands to reveal the holes the nails had left
and simply said “Simon”.
Jesus’
voice was loving and kind but carried with it a sense of authority. Simon and
his wife bowed upon their knees, their faces to the ground in fear. Kneeling
beside them Jesus placed his hand on Simon’s shoulder and commanded “arise”.
Simon and his wife slowly got to their feet and cuddled each other for support.
Tears began to stream down Simon’s face as he was filled with remorse for his
involvement in Jesus’ execution. “Do not cry Simon, for there was no hatred in
your heart as you bore my burden. I have come to thank you for helping me to
fulfil my destiny, for my hour had come and everything that transpired that day
was ordained by my Father.” “Your…your Father?” asked Simon timidly full of
amazement that there was no anger in Jesus. “Yes my Father who is in Heaven”
replied Jesus his eyes bright and glowing. Simon let go of his wife and walked
towards Jesus a huge smile appearing on his face: “you’re not dead!” he began
to say gleefully, full of relief that his doubts about Jesus’ innocence had
been proven true. Jesus laughed with Simon and nodded his arms open wide as if
to receive him, “that’s right Simon; I’m not dead but have been brought back to
life. I will shortly return to my Father in Heaven and you will no longer see
me. I want you to follow me Simon, you and your whole family. I want you to
return to Cyrene and tell people there of me. I am the Son of God, your Messiah
and one day I will return.” “My Lord” Simon replied full of admiration and
reverence. Simon’s wife trembled with guilt: “forgive me Lord for I did not
know, I…” before she could finish her sentence Jesus interjected but without
any condemnation in his voice: “all is forgiven. Have faith my child and teach
your two sons of my teachings. Go find my Disciples, seek out the eleven, they
will teach you all you need to know.” With these words Jesus left them.
Simon
and his wife praised God and began singing joyfully at meeting the true King of
Israel. Alexander and Rufus came through to find out the cause of their parents’
happiness and were picked up into their parents’ arms. “We have seen Adonai!”
cried Simon in excitement and the four continued giving thanks and praise to
God. From that day forth, Simon and his family became disciples of Jesus and
took the message of the Gospel back to Cyrene where they shared their testimony
with all the people.
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