Simon of Cyrene was probably just visiting Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Cyrene was a Greek colony, in what is now Libya, with a strong Jewish population. Many Jews would try to return home for the feast, but it would have taken days of travel and inconvenience to do so. But this particular trip probably changed his life.
He happened to be on his way into the city as Jesus and his entourage were on the way out. Candidates for crucifixion were normally made to carry the transverse crossbeam to the place of execution, where the victims’ arms would be nailed to it before it was hoisted onto the upright stake that was fixed into the ground and regularly re-used for the gory business of crucifixion.
It was common for crucifixion victims to be flogged beforehand, which we know happened to Jesus (John 19:1-4), partly to humiliate them but also, since crucifixion kills via cardiac arrest, the blood loss would prep them to die quicker. Roman whips comprised of multiple leather strips embedded with glass and metal, so victims lost an enormous amount of blood and would be in a weakened state before having to carry the cross. If Jesus was half dead already, the intended effect of public execution was to shame the victim and frighten onlookers and this would be compromised if he died of exhaustion on the way. Getting someone off the street to carry the cross was a simple solution to this problem.
The Romans may have chosen Simon because he stood out as he was probably dark skinned – maybe the Romans wanted to humiliate him too. Simon carried the cross behind Jesus for an unspecified amount of time , possibly all the way to Golgotha, seeing things uniquely from Jesus’ perspective. He was seeing righteous people weep and Jesus’ enemies taunt him. He was close enough to Jesus that it would have felt like all this attention was directed on Simon as well. He got a second-hand taste of the burdens Jesus was carrying.
We don’t hear of Simon of Cyrene anywhere else in the Bible but the reason scholars think this event may have been life-changing for him is that Mark’s gospel is the only one that mentions his sons Rufus and Alexander; tradition states that this gospel is based on Peter’s memoirs who founded the Roman Church. There is some documentary evidence that this Church contained a man named Rufus. There was no other reason to mention Simon’s sons by name, especially as Simon had already been identified and singled out by where he was from, unless Mark was highlighting them because his audience would be familiar with and interested in them.
Just a ‘chance’ meeting probably changed Simon’s life and the direction of his family forever. He is now forever identified with the Lord Jesus and shared in his sufferings in a more intimate way than his disciples, many of whom had fled by this point.
What an amazing privilege to be right behind Jesus, seeing things from his perspective and what an encouragement to us to ‘Take up our cross and follow Him.”