This question appeared to me this morning, as it has before, but this morning it appeared with special urgency. Why does the son of God have to be crucified? (I refer here to the Christian story, though other, and to me less powerful, examples exist.)
Crucifixion is a definition of achieving form. Coming into form is crucifixion. When the Formless becomes form, the Formless is nailed to the spot. We are talking about you here. And me. And all of us. We speak not only of one forming of the Formless. All of creation moans and groans in its birthing,
Why does the son of God, the offspring of God, have to be despised, abandoned, rejected, left for dead? And then spring forth in glorious rebirth? For the crucifixion story is a resurrection story. The Formless forms, the form feels totally abandoned by the Formless. The form discovers the Formless within itself and is resurrected, is twice born. Why does the son of God have to be crucified? Why does a seed have to fall into the ground and die?
One possible story is that the Formless--in and through its concrescence--naturally expresses a template (cf. "temple") for its return to Formlessness. "I am the way" (John 14:6) would then mean "I am the example."
ReplyDeleteMy God, it's a teachable moment: imitate Christ! Imitation's a start...
--Gary
Often in my life I have tried to escape being nailed to the spot I call "me", but it cannot be done. So, as I believe Christ Jesus intended, we embrace the unbearable with loving kindness. We expand the capacity of our hearts to allow for pain or anger or fear or shame to enter. We allow the most tender part of our heart to touch those difficult experiences, and something new shines forth. Eventually, if we are fortunate, we learn to surrender to the particular cross to which we are nailed, and we develop the space inside to embrace all that encompasses this life as something necessary to continuing beyond our current form.
ReplyDeleteI assume your question "Why does the son of God have to be crucified?" is mostly rhetorical. Each of us comes to grips as to whether it is historical, literal truth or if it is another example of the world's many resurrection myths. If you believe the latter, as I admit I do, then a lot of the earlier questions you ask are too detailed ~ asking too much of the myth ~ and damaging it with literalism. As I say, it's a question each of us must answer. (I also believe a person can be a Christian without being a literal fundamentalist, but that's just my opinion.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was a teaching moment. Christ was crucified and returned. Maybe we all can literally follow his example when we reach Christ's level of consciousness. Everything comes and goes and returns, once we learn the WAY we can all come and go and return at will. Littlegeezer
ReplyDelete