The Contextual Cross

You can find the introductory reflection for Holy Week from the Visual Commentary on Scripture here.

This week we’ll be thinking about how the message of the cross lands differently in different contexts and for different hearers. Ben Quash also reminds us that we shouldn’t be too certain about who exactly it is that we will find on the cross. Is it the real Jesus, or is it a creation of our imagination and cultural context? This is always a factor in reading the Bible – I suppose that this is a kind of “reader reception” theory.

Here’s a very contextual cross – a huge carved Celtic cross in memory of Dean Ramsay and located next to St John’s Church on Princes Street. The cross intersecting the circle represents Jesus as the cosmic Christ – at the centre of all things. A powerful symbol, but one that might not speak to all people in the same way.

Here’s a wonderful setting of a Gaelic Blessing, by John Rutter. It centres the peace of Christ in the created world of our experience as well as beyond it