This post was inspired by the wonders of the 3-year lectionary's readings for today. The texts fit together perfectly and I think can paint an absoutely beautiful picture if one knows the scriptures and tradition, the two great muses of the soul.
The picture above is what's known as the Alexamenos graffito, and it happens to be one of if not the earliest depictions of Christ we have. However, it is not a positive one. Its alternative name is the blasphemous graffito because it features our Lord dying on the cross but His head is that of a donkey, and as a man worships beside him is accompanied by the words "Alexamenos worships his god." The obvious implication is that this piece was made by a pagan in order to ridicule the Christian Alexamenos with the scandal of our Lord's death. This, however, was certainly not a unique scene for Christendom.
St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians that "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1:18) and that 'Christ crucified" is "to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness" (1:23). Even the neopagans today ridicule our Lord's death, saying that their gods can't die or that Christ must have been too weak to stop them, the same taunts that He faced on the cross. I have also seen memes of people wearing small nooses on their necklaces as a parody of the cross, since it is a more recent form of execution. However, we do not shy away from this mockery, but we, speaking truth in love, accept the verbal lashes on our backs and rejoice that we are counted worthy to share in Christ's sufferings.
However, I think the symbolism in the graffito is nonetheless significant. It is not just any god that Alexamenos worships, but the donkey god. This depiction of Christ as a man with the head of a donkey is fascinating, as it is reminiscent of the thereanthropic gods of the pagans. The Norse and Greek gods were known for their shapeshifting, the Mesopotamean almost all had some kinds of animal features involved like bird wings or fish tails, and we mustn't forget the Egyptian pantheon, full of the deities who were men with animal heads. In this way, the blasphemer stumbles upon something profound, namely that Christ is something Other than we are. He is some kind of hybrid, not mere man but certainly man in some way. However, as the mysteries of godliness are hidden to the mind of the flesh, he grasps for those he knows, the only way to describe Him, which is that of a demigod.
What's more, the donkey has great significance in the history of salvation. Remember, Christ rides in on a donkey's colt when He makes His triumphal entry, as the Davidic king was meant to do. This was not a symbol of conquest. Even as our Lord was "just and endowed with salvation," He was "humble, and mounted on a donkey" (Zech. 9:9). This sign of humility is seen in the Beatitudes, where our Lord blesses the humble and meek, and in Micah 6, where we are told the best aroma to the Lord is to "do justice, to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with [our] God" (6:8).
In the passage from Micah, there is another reference that should not go unmentioned: "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord" (6:5). If you don't recognize this story, I'll give a quick recap: in Numbers 23, a king named Balak called a famous wizard named Balaam to curse the Israelites, and as he attempted to on three different occasions, each time he ended up blessing them. Eventually, he did end up seducing some Israelites into sexual immorality with some cult prostitutes anyway, but the real memorable part involves the route to his last attempt to stop them. In it, he is riding his donkey, which takes him off the path three different times. After Balaam strikes it for the third detour, the donkey speaks to chastise him because he couldn't see the Angel of the Lord attempting to smite him for his wickedness each of those times only for the donkey to avoid the angel. Now, this has great significance to Christ as our donkey. For one thing, Christ is the one who saves us from eternal death, which is the Lord's wages for our sin. In addition, Christ is the one who gives us the message of salvation and who enlightens our mind to see the world in truth. What's more, this truth actually shames the wise and powerful pagan sorcerer, just as we are told that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Cor 1:25) by the apostle. In this way, we are Balaam, the wicked man who strikes the humble and loyal donkey, and yet this One loves us so much as to save us from the fires of hell nonetheless (Rom 5:8). He also preaches to us both our insolence and the joys of salvation, and we too bless the Church with our words and our actions. We, the redeemed of God, join and suffer these insults, but through them we are blessed, as our Lord says in the beatitudes: "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt 5:11-12).
O dearest Lord, please grant us humility, so that we may, like the humble colt, bear you in everything we say and do. Give us patience to bear with the world's ridicule and give us the fruits of the Spirit to give to a starving world. Amen.
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