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.
The Arnold Journey 