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task or a job. It is also important to see the social standing of
a person or a section of people that makes them vulnerable to
be called or demanded to do certain jobs.Was that a random
selection by the Roman soldiers? If not, what made them pick
up Simon? I would like to place before you two questions in fact
two assumptions to ponder over.

Simon was regarded as Other - He was distanced?

It reads both in Mark: 15:21 and Luke 23:26 that
Simon was coming in from the ‘country’. The root word here
is agros which means field, particularly set for agriculture.
This may suggest the vocation of the character. In the NRSV
translation it is written as ‘country’ which also refers to small
settlements outside large urban areas or the capital. In all sense,
it is evident that Simon was not of the town, Jerusalem. In the
Synoptic Gospels it is clearly given that he hails from Cyrene.
Geographically Cyrene and Jerusalem are at a distance of about
1100 miles. In addition to this the history of the place Cyrene is
also to be noted. Cyrene owes its birth to a Greek Island Thera
in ancient times and which today is known as Satorini in Libya.
As a result of the over population, there happened an expedition
to North African region in the 8th and 7th century BCE.
During the 26th dynasty of Egypt, Cyrene and Egypt engaged
in a military conflict. During the Greco-Persian wars Cyrene
became part of the sixth province of the Persian kingdom in the
time of Darius I. After this Cyrene gained political independence
until it became a republic in about 460 BCE. But the city lost its
political independence again during the time of the Ptolemaic
Dynasty after the death of Alexander III of Macedon. Finally in
the year 74 BCE the city became under Roman control. But
there had been conflicts between the local residents of Cyrene
and Romans. During the last days the emperor Trajan’s reign
(98-117 BCE), there was a revolt led by the residents of Cyrene
against the Romans which was a major episode of social disorder.

This long standing conflict between the Cyrenians and

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Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People