Cross as Destruction of Structures

The cross is a violent act, a violent moment in time. On the cross we see a man brutally displayed in all his humanity and without dignity.

Yet, the cross is a self-defeating act, too. For, on the cross, we find a man, destroyed, beaten, by the powers of his age. But the violence done to Jesus is violence done to the structure(s) of the time, the powers, the State. By employing violence on a peace-making Rabbi, the son of God, they employ violence on themselves. Thus, the cross is self-destruction - of the powers and the violence upon which the State is (too often) predicated.