In the last few hours of Jesus' life, two people that hadn't ever known him appear on the scene, and are impacted by the events.  The Jewish priests are calling for Pilate to crucify Jesus (Matt. 15:9-13)  Pilot, looking for a way to free Jesus, gave the crowd a choice.  He would release Barabbas, a criminal who had been sentenced to death--or Jesus.  The crowd chose to release Barabbas.

I watched a fictional-factional film called "Barabbas" the other night.  It was really good.   It made me think about what Barabbas must have felt like when he was freed from prison.  He must have wondered about this "Jesus" that had taken his place to die.  He was free from prison because of Jesus.

The other character who didn't know Jesus was Simon.  Mark 15: 21-22 "And they compelled Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross."  Here was a man who wasn't a Jew, coming into the city--probably to sell goods.  He just happened by at the moment Christ was trying to carry the cross up the hill to Golgotha.  His boys watched as their father willingly picked up the cross and helped Jesus.  

Later we find that at least one of those boys, Rufus, was active in the church.  Paul says in Romans 16:13a, "Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord…"  A chance encounter changed the boy's life.  Think of the chance encounters in your life that have changed you.  But along with that, think of the chance encounters where you have changed someone else's life for the good.

We change each other through encounters.  Some of them are chance encounters.  The thing we have to learn to do, is to recognize opportunities that God gives us to share Christ. In Luke 10:23, Luke told us, "If any man will come after me, (Jesus) let him take up his cross daily and follow me."  If you carry a cross for Christ, who knows what will happen.  Look what happened to Rufus. His life was changed because his dad carried the cross for Jesus.