Simon was an ordinary man.  He and his family were devout Jews, in fact they had come from Cyrene a little Jewish outpost in Libya to Jerusalem for the Passover.  He and his wife and their two boys Alexander and Rufus were probably excited about being a part of the festivities and being in the very presence of God’s temple.  Simon didn’t know that he was about to get closer to God than he ever imagined.  As they were coming into the city form the country they heard a lot of yelling and they knew something was going on.  As Simon drew closer to the crowd lined along the road he could see that their piercing eyes and jeers were directed to a bloody and mangled body that was slowly and painfully taking steps towards a nearby hill, carrying a thick wooden beam on his shoulders.  As he looked at this man pain and disgust filled his heart, and then he made eye contact with one of the Roman soldiers that was prodding the man along.  “You,” he said to Simon, “come and carry this man’s cross.”    He submitted and carried the cross. 

Has your life ever come into contact with the cross?  Has the path you are walking ever intersected the via dolorosa – the way of suffering.   Ultimately the way of the cross is the way of submission and service.  Now when we here those words:  submission and service, we tend to get all sorts of distorted images in our head.  Different people and groups have monopolized what submission should look like.  That is why when many people here those words in a Christian context they think of women submitting to their husbands.  I want to tell you now that submission is not meant as something that brings gloom and stifles life, but rather something that frees us and brings the life that is truly life.  The reason we practice the Disciplines is not for the Disciplines sake, but rather that they bring freedom.  The freedom that comes from fasting is that we know how to be content with much or with little.  We do not need all the luxuries this life can afford and frankly we learn to not desire them.  The freedom that comes from submission is that we are able to lay down the terribly heavy burden of having to have our own way.  Do you realize how many marriages would be saved and how many churches would not split if people just learned submission – if they learned that they did not have to have their own way, and that certain things aren’t really that big of a deal.  That is not to say that we should simply be a door mat for people to scrape the mud off their shoes, but through practicing submission we learn how to discern between things that are really important and things that will not cause the world to collapse if they aren’t done as we suppose they should be. 

Submission was the cornerstone of what it means to be a disciple.  In Matthew 16 Jesus says that if anyone wishes to become his disciple they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him.  For when we lose our life for his sake we find it.  C.S. Lewis said it this way: “Nothing is truly ours until we give it away.”  True life – life that is really life, life that is different from the hum drum cycle of work, eat, sleep, play, work, eat, sleep, play, work, eat, sleep, play – only comes when we choose to grab hold of the life that God has for us and lay down our lives before him and say “not my will but yours”.  And if we are honest with ourselves we will have to admit that there are parts of this Bible that clearly tell us what the will of God is, but we lack the courage and conviction to do it. There is freedom in submission.  There is joy in submission.  

People who keep up with harps and harpists say that Lily Laskin, the French harpist, took the harp out of the living room and made it a featured solo instrument on concert stages all over the world. She died on January 4, 1988, at the age of ninety-four. Upon her death, she was credited with popularizing the harp and reviving many musical scores written for it by such composers as Handel and Camille Saint-Seans. She started playing the harp as a child and continued giving public performance well into her eighties. At the age of sixteen, she became the first woman harpist at the Paris Opera. Best known for her interpretation of Mozart she gave a landmark performance of his concerto for flute and harp, at the Salzburg Music Festival in 1937. She recorded it many times during the years, along with works by Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy.

Pete Maravich, the outstanding basketball player of modern times, died on January 5, 1988. While at LSU, he averaged forty-four points per game. No one defensive system in the Southeastern Conference could stop him. Some coaches devised complicated double-team defenses to shut him down. Others let him shoot at will and put pressure on the other four players. As a professional player, Maravich consistently knocked the bottom out of the basket. His dazzling rerformances sold tickets for big bucks. Host teams could be assured of a sell-out game when "Pistol Pete" came to town. Ironically, Maravich died at the age of forty just after playing a pick-up game at a local church gym.

Both Lily Laskin and Pete Maravich gave themselves to that which they considered important. She was totally submitted to the harp, and he was in subjection of basketball. Lily once said, "I have built my life around the harp." On many occasions Pete observed, "Basketball is my whole life."

What is your whole life?  What has the love of Christ compelled you to submit to? 

Many of us will wait in long lines of traffic, get to the arena early, an stay up late just to watch a lady VOLS game.  Some will sit through the rain and snow and cold, and wade through the massive crowds at Neyland stadium to watch a football game – and pay good money to do it.  But when it comes to really sacrificing for the flesh and blood people Christ died for – when it comes to laying our lives down – we shrink back.  Submission is the mark of a disciple, and it begins with submitting to the will of God.  

When we submit to God we need only to obey, we do not need to broadcast our submission.  When we submit to others silence is often the best method.  A submission that demands recognition is more akin to passive aggression – it is a ‘OK – I’ll do it your way’ submission.  When we submit we are fighting a spiritual battle.  Especially when we submit to others.  Our flesh cries out for us to have it our way, but the Spirit beckons us to surrender.  There are two battles in submission.  The first is the outward act.  When we submit to someone else and we do something their way or allow something to be done a way besides our own – this is first part of submission.  This is the easy part.  The second and harder battle is the inward battle.  For we can easily assent to doing something someone else’s way while inwardly rebelling and holding contempt.  The flesh will cling to many reasons why we are right and they are wrong, but all the while the Spirit is telling the flesh – be crucified, be crucified, be crucified. 

Submission frees us to truly love our enemies.  When we can freely lay our will down, God enables us to ask for blessings upon our enemies.   When we don’t have to have it our way we can have compassion on those who want it another way.

Many times submission and service go hand in hand.  Service is often times the outworking of submission.   True service is a hidden lifestyle.  It regards the smallest task as worthy as the biggest.   Many times our pride and self-importance hinder service actually being authentic in our lives because we do it with the wrong heart and we do it self-righteously.  Self-righteous service insists upon serving.  True service recognizes that sometimes it is better to not force service upon someone.  Self-righteous service demands recognition.  True service yearns for secrecy.  Self-righteous service relies on feelings.  True service is driven more by the will than by feelings, and is ready to serve even when feelings are not present.

When Jesus was with his disciples before he was betrayed – he served.  He was gathered with the 12 in the upper room and he served them.  He was the most powerful person in the room and he did not insist on his way.  He did not even give an eloquent speech.  He did not draw attention to the fact that he was about to die and his soul was tearing apart.  No – he knelt down and washed the crap from their feet.  When he was the most powerful person in the room he served. 

Jesus came to wipe out the pecking order.  It wasn’t that he wanted the first and the last to simply switch places.  He chucked the whole system and did away with firsts and lasts because we are to love all regardless.  The last is supposed to serve the first and the first is supposed to serve the last. 

Read Matthew 27:32

Simon’s life intersected the cross and nothing was the same.  His family was changed.  In Mark we find that Simon is the father of Rufus and Alexander.  The fact that they are even mentioned says that they were esteemed in the first century church and their names were common amongst the church.  I am convinced that if Simon’s life had not intersected with the cross, we would have never known Alexander or Rufus by name.  I have a feeling that when that Roman Centurion recruited Simon to carry the cross Simon’s life was changed.  As he saw the bloodied body of the Son of God taking step by step the road to the cross.  And as he walked behind him and saw the deep gashes that submitted to the worst of crimes.  He saw the ultimate submission first hand.  Has your life intersected the cross?
 

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