16-4-2 The offence of the cross
The cross was foolishness to the Gentiles and an offence to the
Jews. In Roman thought, the cross was something shocking; the very
word ‘cross’ was repugnant to them. It was something only for slaves.
Consider the following writings from the period (1).
- Cicero wrote: “The very word ‘cross’ should be far removed
not only from the person of a Roman citizen but from his thoughts,
his eyes and his ears. For it is not only the actual occurrence
of these things or the endurance of them, but…the very mention
of them, that is unworthy of a Roman citizen and a free man…your
honours [i.e. Roman citizenship] protect a man from…the terror
of the cross”.
- Seneca the Elder in the Controversiae records where
a master’s daughter marries a slave, and she is described as having
become related to cruciarii, ‘the crucified’. Thus ‘the
crucified’ was used by metonymy for slaves. The father of the
girl is taunted: “If you want to find your son-in-law’s relatives,
go to the cross”. It is hard for us to appreciate
how slaves were seen as less than human in that society. There
was a stigma and revulsion attached to the cross. This was the
offence of the cross.
- Juvenal in his 6th Satire records how a wife
ordered her husband: “Crucify this slave”. “But what crime worthy
of death has he committed?” asks the husband, “no delay can be
too long when a man’s life is at stake”. She replies: “What a
fool you are! Do you call a slave a man?”.
The sense of shame and offence attached to the cross was also there
in Jewish perception of it. Whoever was hung on a tree was seen
as having been cursed by God (Dt. 21:23). Justin Martyr, in Dialogue
with Trypho, records Trypho (who was a Jew) objecting
to Christianity: “We are aware that the Christ must suffer…but that
he had to be crucified, that he had to die a death of such
shame and dishonour- a death cursed by the Law- prove this to us,
for we are totally unable to receive it” (2).
Justin Martyr in his Apology further records: “They say
that our madness consists in the fact that we place a crucified
man in second place after the eternal God”. The Romans also mocked
the idea of following a crucified man. There is a caricature which
shows a crucified person with an ass’s head. The ass was a symbol
of servitude [note how the Lord rode into Jerusalem on an ass].
The caption sarcastically says: “Alexamenos worships God”. This
was typical of the offence of the cross.
Notes
(1) These quotes are
from Martin Hengel, Crucifixion In The Ancient World
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978) .
(2) Quoted in Maurice
Goguel, Jesus The Nazarene (New York: Appleton, 1926). |
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