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Why I Cannot Let Go of the Cross of Jesus By Gianluigi Gugliermetto 4/02/2026 |
There are several ways to understand the complex set of texts that goes under the name of the New Testament. One such way is to divide them into two portions: a recollection of the things that Jesus said and did, and a meditation about the facts surrounding his violent
death.
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Matthew Fox has often warned about an excess of focus on the suffering and death of Jesus to the detriment of a real and deep listening
to his teachings. We indeed see today people in power who claim to be “Christian” and care |
Modern efforts to come to terms with Jesus’ life, death, and teachings: the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar and the Gospel-based musical Godspell.
Wikimedia Commons. |
absolutely nothing about what Jesus taught — they don’t even seem to know about it. Yet they call Jesus their “Savior” and connect in one way or another the “salvation” they claim for themselves to the death of Jesus — not understanding very much about such a connection either. Some have proposed
letting go of the cross of Jesus and keeping his ethical teachings. It is a proposal advanced in the 18th century by the deists and still sailing strong. It maintains that Jesus’ violent death is just an historical accident which does not have, and should not be given, the same atemporal and perennial meaning rightly ascribed to his words. |
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| To this, my principal objection is that Christianity
probably would not have existed if some of the first followers of Jesus had not put their minds and souls to work, searching for meaning, after his inglorious death. In other words, I see the writings of the New Testament — all of them — as the written testimony of a profound elaboration of a tragic collective trauma. But I
have deeper reasons not to let go of the cross of Jesus. It is not because I am attached to pain — at least I hope not to be — and it is not because I |
subscribe to some version of the doctrine of atonement which tries to make sense of the violence that was poured on Jesus himself — at the great risk of glorifying violence itself. St. Paul himself has been greatly misunderstood — because of his attachment to the cross — precisely in these two
ways. He has been categorized either as a sick individual obsessed with suffering and death (psychoanalytic interpretation) or as the initiator of the atonement doctrine (classic theological interpretation). None of which makes sense to me. Paul asked his communities to keep Christ crucified at the center of their vision — and indeed he did
the same as an individual — because in his own meditation upon the violent death of Jesus, derived from his mystical experience, he came to see it as a cosmic event. Why? How? What “cosmicity” may there possibly be in the torture and execution of a prophet? |
Clearly, it is not the naked fact of the crucifixion that counts, but the trauma elaboration of the community. Choosing to recognize and name Jesus as Messiah/Christ was to be one thing if he was to live a long life, but it became a completely different thing with his tragic end. And Paul insists to no end |
The Catholic Worker logo: Christ crucified and risen, one with the struggling people. Photo by Jim Forest on Flickr. |
on
this: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) The community was not destroyed by the death of Jesus, but was almost born in it, that is, by musing about it and living it vicariously with him, as he was very much loved. In other words, they learned that passing through death and
destruction is the necessary step to rise on the other side. They found out that if this one, the slaughtered one, but now experienced as a living spirit, is the Messiah, there are several important consequences, which constitute the very bones of the wisdom of the community: |
“The Crucifixion” by Ullrrich Javier Lemus. From The Stations of the Cosmic Christ. | - No matter how despised you are, or how disposable you seem to be, your value is eternal; it has cosmic importance;
- Encountering defeat, failing one’s aims, even being enfulfed by pain and death, is paradoxically a step
forward;
- Letting go has supreme mystical value, and the daily death of your ego, of your habitual mind, must be celebrated as the mirroring of a much larger, indeed cosmic truth, that of the triumph of life.
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I
don’t know completely and fully the reasons why I cannot let go of the cross of Jesus. I will keep investigating for deeper reasons, and I reserve for myself the right to change my mind. But my hard-won new understanding of St.Paul has given me much to think about, and some good answers. |
Banner Image: Roman mosaic containing a Christian cross surrounded by symbols of Christ: the Lamb of God, peacocks, and fish. Preserved in the archaeological museum of Lamta, Tunisia. Photo credit: Habib Mhenni / Wikimedia Commons |
Queries for Contemplation Does the cross of Christ have a role in your spirituality? You may also want
to re-read the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians on the basis of this DM and find out if anything rings different. |
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