As Ukrainian Legend has it…

One morning, a peddler set out to market, carrying a basket of eggs.

It was a long walk across many hills. But in those days, the marketplace was the only source of income and trade for many of the surrounding villages. Most of the commerce was in the form of barter, and while the peddler was not sure what he could get for a simple basket of eggs, it was all he had.

Heading up the highest hill, his legs straining from the climb, the peddler saw a crowd lined up along the road. He worked his way into the crowded line and discovered a beaten and battered man being made to carry his own cross to be crucified. While public displays of punishment were not uncommon in those days, the peddler wondered what this man could have done to deserve such a severe punishment. The weight of the cross was easily that of two tree trunks and the man, so beaten and frail collapsed under the weight of it.

Instinctually, the peddler moved forward calling out, “Please. Allow me to help him,” with no thought in his head other than to keep the centurion from one more crack of the whip on the beaten man’s broken body. Though a healthy and relatively strong man himself, the peddler could barely move forward under the weight of the cross; yet he got it the rest of the way up the hill. The man about to be crucified, though unable to speak, looked into the peddler’s eyes with such piercing gratefulness.

Unable to do anything more, the peddler wove through the crowd back to the side of the road where he had left his basket of eggs. There he discovered that his eggs had transformed into exquisite designs and bright beautiful colors.

The peddler was SIMON; The man, JESUS.

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