Lenten blog | March 14, 2025

Pi, graffiti and doors

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 14th:  Genesis 14:17-24; Psalm 27; and Philippians 3:17-20.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today is Pi-day because the first three digits of Pi are 3.14.  Pi refers to the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  Diameter is the straight line maximum width of a circle.  A circle’s circumference can be imagined as an infinite number of straight lines coming together to form a circle’s curve.  The straight lines must be infinitely small to curve, thus they are only theoretical.  Since Pi is the ratio of the one straight line of a definite length and the infinite number of purely theoretical lines of the circumference, it can never, ever be exactly defined.  Pi has been calculated out to 105 trillion digits, and it never repeats, it never concludes.  Pi is extremely exact, just imagine 105 trillion digits of exactness, but it can never, ever be exactly calculated – even after another 105 trillion digits.

On this second Lenten Friday, as focus narrows even more on the cross, I think of it in similar ways to that of Pi.  Jesus’ enemies testify to the crucifixion.  This is testimony beyond the control of believers.  They mock Him as a common criminal executed by the Romans.  The possibly oldest image of Christ crucified is the Alexamenos graffito on display at the Palatine Museum in Rome.  This crude drawing depicts Jesus with an ass’ head on the cross and is intended to insult the Christian faith of Alexamenos.  Such testimony of Jesus’ crucifixion is hard to dispute because it is obviously not intended to advance the faith. 

Additionally, it makes no sense for believers to make-up the crucifixion.  It was a scandal.  It was so horrific that it would take centuries before believers would depict Jesus on the cross in any form of public artwork.  The earliest example is one panel of the wooden doors to the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome that dates to the 5th century.  That’s 400 years after Jesus’ crucifixion.  Crucifixion remained a form of Roman public execution.  It remained too vivid and sacrilegious for believers to show Jesus crucified.  It happened.  It’s an historical fact.  It can be defined.

The cross, however, is so much more than how Jesus died.  The cross moves beyond description when we ask why Jesus died.  This has been the work of Christian theologians, mystics and the faithful for 2,000 years; and just like the lines of the circle can get smaller and smaller even down to 105 trillion segments but never define the circle, so the cross will always remain a mystery.  This does not mean it is unknowable, just like Pi is extremely accurate, but the cross will never be limited to facts.  The cross partakes of the infinite love of God, it’s like going out to 105 trillion digits and realizing you’re no closer to the end than when you began.

This is why Paul is so disturbed when believers try to limit the mystery of God.  Today he calls them “enemies of the cross of Christ.”  They focus on symbols such as dietary laws and circumcision so that “their minds are set on earthly things.”  Any time in any generation that believers or religious institutions put God’s mystery into a cage, no matter their intentions, it is to define what is undefinable.  It is to limit what is limitless.  It is to replace God’s infinity with earthly things. 

Work toward a better definition of what the cross means to you, but always with the humility that mystery is beyond definition.  The cross happened, but Lent is far too short, and a lifetime of Lents is far too short, to run out of wonder at what it means.  But let us keep working at it always for the cross is the omnipotent power and glory of God, and the ineffable love of God.

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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.