An African carried the cross of Jesus Christ. Three Gospels say so. The church forgot.On the road to Golgotha, in the hour when the Son of God could no longer carry His own cross, Roman soldiers seized a man from the crowd and pressed him into service. His name was Simon. He was from Cyrene - a great city on the northern coast of Africa, in what is today Libya. Matthew records it. Mark records it. Luke records it. A man of Africa bore the weight of the cross on the road to the world's redemption.Mark alone tells us something more: Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus - sons the early church knew by name. The man who was compelled to carry a cross on a Friday morning became the father of believers. God does nothing by chance.In this Special Edition, Rev. Dr. Billy J. Hill gives Simon of Cyrene the full biblical treatment he has never received - tracing all three Synoptic accounts with care, harmonizing the silence of John, and reading the plain text with the respect it demands. Here is the African pilgrim placed by providence on the road behind Jesus; the compelled servant whose family was woven into the early church; the man Luke says walked behind Jesus - the very posture of discipleship - on the road to Golgotha.The book includes a Special Insert: "The Cross You Did Not Choose" - a pastoral reflection on the burdens that are laid on us by force, not choice, and the God who meets us under the weight we did not ask to carry.Simon does not stand alone. A full chapter traces Africa in the whole story of God - from the nation born on African soil, to Moses reared in an Egyptian royal house, to the Ethiopian official who carried the gospel home, to the men of Cyrene present at Pentecost, to the man of Africa under the cross. Africa was not a stranger to the God of the Bible. Africa was there, from the beginning to Golgotha.Written for the academy, the pulpit, and the pew. Part of the Woven Through Scripture series: Africa in the Story of God."Cush shall stretch out her hands to God." - Psalm 68:31
