Who is Your Rufus?

Alice at the dinner table -- not sure she wants to eat those peas!

Scripture:

Mark 15:21   They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. ²² Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). ²³ And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

Observation:

People had traveled from across the Roman world to be in Jerusalem. Probably Jews, the family of Simon had originally lived in Cyrene, a city in modern-day Libya in North Africa. This was a prominent city in the region, influential in commerce and culture. Whether it was this family, or others, there were people from Cyrene also present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. 

At the time of the writing of Mark’s gospel, apparently, Rufus and Alexander were known to the church in Rome, or they would not have been mentioned. A man by the name of Rufus is mentioned again in Romans 16:13 “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.” (NIV) A man named Rufus is also mentioned by Polycarp in his letter to the Philippians 9:1, “I exhort you all, therefore, to yield obedience to the word of righteousness, and to exercise all patience, such as ye have seen [set] before your eyes, not only in the case of the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, but also in others among yourselves, and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles.” 

We don’t hear about the father, Simon, again, but Rufus seems to have made an impact on the early church. However, it does make us question the impact of Simon’s act upon the lives of his sons. Jesus had earlier charged his disciples:  “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” (Matthew 16:24-26) It could be that not just physically, but symbolically, Simon does this very thing when he picks up Jesus’ cross and carries it for him to Golgotha. It appears that the impact of this act becomes transformational in the lives of his children. 

Application:

Although many of us are behind closed doors these days, we can still ponder the lives of the little ones on whom we have influence. Almost three years ago we chose to live multi-generationally. Our youngest daughter and her family live upstairs and my husband and I live in an apartment downstairs. During this time when we are “staying at home” we have the beauty of experiencing this as an extended family of seven. At the same time this has made me think about the ways in which my life can or could be influencing the little ones who are watching. 

This morning, after breakfast, we read the story of Noah. Why not read about another family that was quarantined together :) They spent 150 days together in a boat with a lot of animals! Their time together was a reboot, or a restart for all of creation. Maybe there’s something for us to learn from that experience as well! 

After reading the story the two little girls prayed for the day. Both of them have been praying for Pa’s eyesight. My husband has had some retinal problems over the last two years and so the girls pray regularly for him. They believe that God is going to make Pa’s eyes all better and they check in with him on a regular basis to see how it’s going. I love their faith! The oldest, Mackenzie, prayed for her mommy as she was working on a sermon today. You see, we are all in this together, and these little ones are part of the story. They know the needs, and they pray in faith. They also rejoice with us in answered prayer. 

The father of Rufus and Alexander stepped out in faith and his discipleship seemed to have influenced an entire family to follow Christ. This was a life-changing moment for all. I believe that we have all been handed a life-changing moment. The question is what we will do with this opportunity, for there is another Rufus watching to see how you will handle this crisis. 

Simon took up the cross and followed Jesus. Will you?

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for Mackenzie, Alice, Theo and Halston. May my life point them in the direction of Jesus. Amen.