Chapter 284 of 404

Simon of Cyrene

Since condemned criminals normally carried their own crosses, it would increase the perception of Jesus’ shame if he proved too weak to carry his own.²⁶⁶ The criterion of embarrassment thus suggests that Mark’s report that Simon of Cyrene carried the cross (at least once it became clear that Jesus could not) reflects strong earlier tradition.

In such circumstances, that the soldiers would have drafted a bystander is not improbable;²⁶⁷ one would not expect them to carry the beam themselves if they could “impress” another into service.²⁶⁸ Most scholars agree that Simon of Cyrene is a historical figure.²⁶⁹ It does not seem simply part of Markan predictions of scripture fulfillment, and Simon does not bear the cross willingly as a mere invention to fulfill a disciple paradigm.²⁷⁰ Many Jews lived in Cyrene in North Africa,²⁷¹ and archaeology also attests Cyrenians with such names having settled in Jerusalem.²⁷²

At Jerusalem’s festivals, full of pilgrims and immigrants from other parts of the world,²⁷³ one might simply identify oneself by one’s place of origin. This would also be true if Simon or his sons remained part of the Christian community (many believe that Mark’s tradition recalls his name and that of his sons because he and/or they became Christians)²⁷⁴ in Jerusalem, which probably transmitted the passion narrative.²⁷⁵ The passion narrative in Jerusalem, then, rather than any other part of the gospel story, is the right place for Simon to appear.

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