Planting Trees
By Grant Gaines
Of all the claims in Scripture, few carry quite the same weight as 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV, italic mine) which claims that “All Scripture is God breathed…” Consider the implications of that truth. EVERY word in the Bible has a specific purpose for being there, every word.
But sometimes it’s difficult to understand why certain words “made the cut” when God decided what He wanted in His one and only book. For example, why did God allow the New Testament writers to so often go into lengthy farewell remarks such as Paul’s closing remarks in 2 Timothy 4:13 (NIV) when he writes, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments”? Or what are we to make of 1 Thessalonians 5:26 (NIV) which instructs us to, “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss”?
When these unique God-breathed commands arise, we have the choice to either dive down deep to truly understand its meaning and application or to glaze over it. Sadly, I far too often find myself blowing right pass these obscure sections. But the other day I ran across one of these peculiar passages of Scripture that sparked a curiosity within me that I couldn’t help but to pursue.
This passage is found in Mark 15:21 when we are introduced to Simon – the man who carried Jesus’s cross after Christ collapsed in exhaustion. We meet this Simon character in the three “synoptic” Gospel books (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and here’s what we know about him: he’s from the Roman colony of Cyrene (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:16) which is in modern day Libya, he was making his way into Jerusalem (likely because every Jewish male over the age of 13 had to go to Jerusalem for the Passover every year), and finally, the three texts all teach that Simon was “forced” to carry the cross of Christ.
However, the account of Simon according to Mark’s perspective has one of those strange wrinkles in it when it describes Simon as, “…the father of Alexander and Rufus…” (Mark 15:21, NIV). Huh? Why on earth do we need to know this dude’s children? He is featured in a grand total of three verses in the entire Bible…of what significance did God see when He inspired Mark to include Simon’s sons?
These are the questions that drove me to chase a wild rabbit’s trail which eventually found me flipping over to Romans 16:13 (NIV, italics mine) in which the apostle Paul states, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.” The Rufus in this passage is the same Rufus we were briefly introduced to in Mark 15 – Simon’s son.
There it is! That’s why God desired for us to know who Simon’s sons were – because we have the privilege of seeing the generational effect serving the Lord can have on your family and friends. Think about it, Simon was walking to the synagogue on a typical afternoon when he gets yanked out of the crowd only to find himself bearing a cross that was not his own.
Apparently the experience of bearing the cross of the innocent, “…Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:26, NIV) affected Simon so much that he went home a changed man. You see, according to historians, shortly after Jesus ascended to heaven, Cyrene became one of the early “strongholds” for the early Church and Christianity.
I wonder what sparked the growth of Christianity in Cyrene. I wonder if Simon carrying Christ’s cross had something to do with it. I wonder if standing at the foot of the cross as Christ took His last breath and then witnessing, “…the curtain of the Temple [being] torn in two from top to bottom. The earth [shaking] and rocks split[ing]. [And observing] The tombs [braking] open and the bodies of many holy people [rising] life” (Matthew 27:51-52, NIV) could cause such a spark in a man’s heart that he would go home and tell his family and friends about it. And I wonder if one man’s faith in Christ could ignite a nation-wide revival.
Maybe it’s farfetched, but I do remember Jesus telling His followers a parable about a sower. This sower threw seeds in four different areas. Three of those areas proved to be unfruitful while the last seed fell on good soil and produced a mighty harvest. Not understanding what Jesus was talking about, Christ’s disciples asked Him to explain this parable.
Jesus revealed that this parable was not simply about a physical harvest, but a spiritual harvest. The seeds that Jesus spoke of were the seeds of the Gospel. Of the four seeds that were thrown, three of these seeds of the Gospel never really blossomed as the Sower, God, desired. But the last seed was different – “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s Word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 13:23, NLT).
So when the seed, or the Gospel, falls on a tender and willing heart, those who accept the Word of Truth can’t help but to tell others about it – thus producing a harvest “thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” I wonder if Simon is one of those examples of the Gospel falling on such “good soil” that he couldn’t help but to tell everyone he could find about Jesus.
I wonder if you have a similar story. I wonder if through your relationship with Jesus, and through, “tak[ing] up [your] cross daily and follow[ing] Christ” (Luke 9:23, NIV) if you could have the same impact on your family and friends. A family and a nation’s faith were altered by one father’s experience with God and his willingness to share it with others, are you working towards a similar story?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
