I equally see him as Son of Man and Son of God. That is what I find as the biggest earthly miracle ever. He showed up in the flesh. This is why I personally wanted to talk about both these aspects of him in my thread (Son of God/Son of Man).
I understand your interest in both Names dear peaceful Sister. I'm presently studying the "passion of Jesus" From the time He left the Upper Room and communion with His Disciples, to and including His death on the cross.
Something interesting happened to me on the 18th of this month. I was studying a sermon by George H. Morrison. It seemed to me that the Holy Spirit came on me, as I was reading about the suffering of our Savior, and Simon, who had to carry Jesus' cross. The devotion/sermon is quite long, so please excuse me for submitting it. I hope you can sense what I felt thru the tears that I shed as I studied about our Savior's agony and suffering so I could be forgiven and be born again. O praise Jesus' Holy Name....
The Blessing of the Unexpected
"And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross— Mar_15:21
His Physical Weakness Speaks of His Humanity
I want you, please, to note the words that are employed in Mar_15:20-22. In this, the greatest hour of history, every word is of supreme significance; thus we read in Mar_15:20, "They led him out to crucify him." And then we read in the Mar_15:22, "They bring him unto Golgotha." These two words are just a little window on to the supreme physical exhaustion of the Savior in this the greatest hour of His agony. You see, when He left the Praetorian they were leading Him; when they came to Golgotha they were bearing Him. He had started walking; He had stumbled; He had needed the support of these strong hands, and I think nothing could more eloquently speak to us of the full true humanity of Christ than just the awful physical weakness of that hour. For fifteen hours, since the hour of the Last Supper, our Lord had suffered the most awful strain, strain of body, agony of mind. "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death." Now, He was so utterly forspent that He staggered and stumbled in the way. "He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." All this, my brother, He bore for you and me when He might have had hosts of angels at His bidding. Here, as at the outset of His mission, He refused to turn stones into bread, refused to avail Himself of anything that might break the bond between Him and us when He was dying in our room and stead.
The Romans and Jews Were Not Anxious to Alleviate Jesus But to Keep Time
It was the custom of these Roman soldiers to make the criminal carry his own cross, but in this instance that was quite impossible. What were they to do? No Roman would have touched the horrid thing—Roman shoulders were not meant for that. To have made a home-born Jew bear it would have been to court uproar; and just then, coming down the way that probably led from the uplands about Bethany, they saw the very person that they wanted. Others were travelling in companies, this man was travelling alone. His dark skin showed that he was a foreigner; his costume showed he was an African; he was a stranger who had no kith or kin, he was far from home, probably friendless. This was the very person that they wanted. I don't suppose these soldiers pitied Christ; half an hour before they had been mocking Him; they were irritated at the loss of time, things were not going according to their program, and they cried, "You, you, Cyrene come here!" (He was known afterwards as Simeon Niger.) And him they compelled to bear the cross. This Gospel is very rich in vivid touches; is there a touch so vivid as this one?—the sinking Savior, the irritated soldiers, the dark-skinned foreigner coming from the country, and over everything the blue heaven, and the birds singing as they used to sing when Jesus was a happy boy at home.
A Man Can Serve Christ Although He May Be Ignorant as to Who He Is
I want for a little while just to try and show you some of the teaching of that story, and in the first place, will you notice how a man can serve Christ though he is utterly ignorant who He is. I don't imagine for a single moment that Simon had ever seen the Lord before. Possibly, and indeed probably, he had never even heard His name, for the Lord's name had not penetrated Africa, and it was in Africa Simon had his home. Probably he had just arrived the other day. Then, you observe, he was coming from the country; that means he had his lodging in the country. At Passover the city was so full that many had to get lodgings in the country, and therefore that morning, coming to the city, he had no idea who the prisoner was— he was doing something for somebody he did not know. The strange thing is that he was called to serve somebody whom he had never heard of; called to help in a great hour which was going to change the future of the world; called not to a little service, but to a great service, so splendid and unique that any of Jesus' disciples might have envied him. Mary broke the spikenard on His head; Martha made Him a supper in the evening; Joseph served by giving Him a grave, Lazarus by giving Him a cottage; but all these services, however beautiful, are not to be matched with this of Simon when he relieved the Lord of the burden of His cross. To him and to him alone was it given to help our Savior in His deepest need, to him to relieve Him of His cross when all the others forsook Him and fled. And how profoundly significant it is that this service, such a glorious service, was rendered to the Christ he did not know. And then one thinks of the parable of Jesus about the Last Judgment of the world: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom that is prepared for you; for I was hungry and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink," and then the blessed are going to say in frank astonishment, "Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or thirsty?" You see, evidently in the mind of Christ thousands are serving Him who never knew Him— in little actions, in the kindly loving deeds, in the little offices of courtesy and love; and what is to hinder us widening out that thought to the great services of men written in the history of the world? The men who built these highways across continents— they were serving Christ although they never knew it; the men who constructed railways across Africa— they were serving Christ although they never knew it; the man who invented printing, though he may never have thought about the Lord, he too has been a magnificent evangelist. So was it with Simon; he knew nothing of the prisoner, he had not the least idea whom he served when he carried the cross up the hill, but he was serving the Lord Christ, he was helping on the coming of His kingdom. He has got his reward.
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