FRIDAY
Luke 23:36-31 Simon’s Service
Colonies of Jews existed outside Judea. Simon had made a Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem all the way from Cyrene in North Africa. Simon certainly never expected to carry a condemned man’s cross to the execution site, yet the Roman soldiers forced him to do so. Simon alone is remembered for this particular act of service—carrying the crossbeam after Jesus, in his beaten humanity, was unable to do so.
Small acts can have big effects. Simon could not have saved Jesus’ life, but he did help carry the cross. At some point, it seems that Simon also came to believe in this condemned man as his Savior, for the Bible records that his sons, Alexander and Rufus, became well known later in the early church (Romans 16:13).
Lesson: Never discount the long-reaching effects of small acts of help and service.