This is a parable about a butterfly who changed the course of history with the flutter of his wing. The butterfly took the shape of an ordinary man just passing through the area on a crucifixion day. He walked by at the precise moment Jesus fell under the burden of the cross on the road to Golgotha to be crucified. 

I can envision that last walk of Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, with Centurions barring the crowd from mobbing Him and exacting justice themselves. Jesus had been beaten, mocked, and weakened. He labored under the heavy burden of the dead tree he carried.

He fell time and time again as the crowd grew more impatient. The Centurions, knowing their duty to get Jesus to the execution site, looked beyond the angry crowd and found a man who was simply trying to get around the mayhem. A passer-by. The Centurions approached him, armed with swords, and asked this man to help lift Jesus’ burden. This random outsider. A man who wanted no trouble and probably had no interest in the unfolding event. He was a bit player in the scene of the crucifixion. But, was he?

I believe he was not. Because, Simon said yes. Perhaps he acted under coercion, but I think he amplified the “yes, if I have to,” to “Yes,” with a compassionate heart. I think that Simon saw something familiar in Jesus. He saw the suffering of a fellow human being. He saw the dead wood of the cross as a burden that he too, carried in one way or another. I believe that this man connected with his heart, overrode his fear, and put aside any judgements to help someone in need. And, perhaps he lessened his own weight by lifting the cross with Jesus. A simple, yet powerful act that said, “I am here. I see you. You are not alone.”

Simon. He was an ordinary man who helped another in need, not knowing that the simple gesture may have a ripple effect. Enter the butterfly analogy. The “butterfly effect” is a mathematical concept that asserts that small changes in the initial conditions of a system can have profound and widely divergent effects on the system’s outcome. The example famously used is that one flap of the wings of a butterfly may set in motion the conditions to create a hurricane on the other side of the world.

What if Jesus had died on the road and hadn’t fulfilled God’s prophecy as written in the Bible? Could it be that Simon saved Jesus, so Jesus could save us? That small and unplanned action may have changed biblical history. It was the making of a perfect storm. Simon was the butterfly; the Resurrection, the resultant hurricane.

I love the Simon story. The story of how a simple human unknowingly became a catalyst that allowed Jesus to fulfill his universal prophecy and save us all.

What if, with one kind word, one act, or one simple touch, you could lighten someone’s burden and set in motion a miracle that changes the world?

God bless you!

Kimberly