"Ichthus", the first symbol of Christianity
During the first nine centuries of Christianity, artists did not paint or sculpture the cross of Christ, because it was regarded as a brutal instrument of torture.
Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" dennotes well the reality and brutality of this form of Roman execution.
He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross, (Philippians 2:8). As St. Paul says, the Word became flesh, became a human being and accepted all the limitations and vicissitudes inherent in this condition, even death itself and, among the many forms of death, the worst of them all, the death on a cross.
This is why the first symbol that Christianity adopted was not the cross, but the fish; not so much because the first disciples were fishermen or because part of Christ's ministry took place by the lakeside, but because the initials in Greek of the confession of faith in full, of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world, formed the word "Ichthys" which means fish.
In fact, the symbol of the fish drawn in the air or on the ground was used as a password, sign and countersign between two strangers to identify themselves as Christians, at a time when Christianity was a clandestine and therefore forbidden religion.
The Cross of Christ and the Commandments
Even when the gospel invited them to embrace the cross, early Christians naturally ran away from it. Even today, our Protestant brothers and sisters do not like the representation of Christ on the cross, because they say that he is risen and therefore, is no longer on the cross. We Catholics are not masochists, we know that he is risen, but we do not want to forget what he went through for us.
The cross of Christ is our flag, the North, South, East and West of our existence. Made of two poles, one vertical and one horizontal, it also symbolizes the two commandments of love: the vertical pole is to love God above all things, which invites us to an ascending life, to rise above everything and everyone, proving that only in this way we are truly free, autonomous, and independent of everything and everyone. Love subjugates us to the object loved; if the object of our love is first and foremost God above all others, people, and things, then we are truly free.
The horizontal pole represents the second commandment of love, to love our neighbour as ourselves, which leads us to the principle of equality: I am neither inferior nor superior to anyone, so that before God we are all equal, since he is our Father, we are all brothers and sisters.
Misery and Mercy
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me (Psalm 51:3) – In looking at the cross of Christ, we must see our own ugliness. What led Christ to the cross were the sins of the people of his time and of all times: stupidity, anger, distrust, institutional corruption, betrayal of a friend, denial of another, running away from the rest, cruelty, injustice, scapegoating, fear, envy, etc., the complete collection of human dysfunctions.
In the cross of Christ, human dysfunction is revealed and exposed. St. Peter puts this same idea clearly by saying: ‘… you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.’ (Acts 3:15) So, the author of life has come, and we have killed him; therefore, in the light of the cross of Christ, no one is innocent. He was killed for our sins, our sins killed Him, for our sins he died."
In the cross of Christ, we encounter our patent sin, our misery, but we also clearly see divine mercy at work. Jesus took upon himself our sin which ultimately killed him; if he remained dead, it would have been his end as well as ours, but since he rose from the dead, in his resurrection he gave us back the life that sin had taken from us and would take from us.
In the cross of Christ, human misery meets divine mercy; in the cross of Christ, divine mercy conquers human misery. In the tree of paradise, human misery has won; in the cross of Christ, divine mercy conquers.
Salvation and Health
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)
Salvation and health have the same word in Latin, “salus”. According to the reading, the symbol of medicine is in fact also a religious symbol. Christ himself identified with the serpent that Moses raised in the desert to heal the Jews who had been bitten by poisonous snakes.
In Adam and Eve, the whole human race was bitten by the serpent which spread its venom and infected the human race. In this episode from the book of Numbers that Jesus quotes and identifies with, we already see the idea that would later lead scientists to discover that the antidote to a snake’s venom is taken from that same venom.
Once the venom has been injected into a large body like that of a horse, the body reacts to the venom by creating antibodies. These antibodies injected into the body of someone bitten by a snake will neutralize the effect of the venom.
There is a type of white blood cells in our blood called neutrophils which, when faced with an invasion of bacteria or viruses, ingest these same bacteria, germs or viruses, resulting in their own death, thus preventing a generalized infection; they die to save us.
"Life for life", as the firefighters' motto goes. Metaphorically, Christ, like a neutrophil, took upon himself the poison of the ancient serpent spread throughout the human race, swallowed it, and it killed him. But from his side came blood and water, which are the antibodies we need to fight sin. The water of baptism and the blood of the Eucharist conquer sin.
Conclusion – The great sins that the protagonists of Christ's death committed are the same sins that we still commit today. Christ died for our sins because it was our sins that killed Him.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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