Attached to a Petty, False Self

THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS

Question of the day:
Why does the good, innocent, and loved in us have to die?

Jesus on the cross is not an image of the death of the bad self but, in fact, the self that feels essential, right and necessary—but isn’t necessary at all! It’s the image of Jesus who was only thirty-three years old and had not even gotten started on his mission, the misunderstood and misinterpreted Jesus, the oppressed Jesus.

There were all kinds of good justice arguments he could have made. He had every good reason to play the victim card or the blaming card, but he was not attached to this petty, false self. You will know this to be true at your greatest moments of conversion.

It is invariably our deep attachment to this false and passing self that leads us into our greatest illusions and even sins. It is precisely this “lamb” that has to be killed, our self-image as innocent, right and sufficient.

Richard Rohr
from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 190-91