The power of the word

A picture is worth a thousand words. A well chosen symbol can be used to summarise a culture. Our western world has chosen the cross to symbolise its culture. We find it in many flags, we find it in many organisations. The cross can be seen as a symbol for the four elements or as a symbol for the meeting of the devine with the world but is mostly known as a symbol for christianity. A Roman device for torturing people became the symbol for religions based on the life of Jesus.

According to the Bible, the symbol of the cross itself was not powerful enough, not even with the body of Jesus hanging on it. In John 19:19 /19:22 is explained how Pilatus added the words: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" to the symbol. Some of the Jewish high priests did not agree and wanted him to change the words but Pilatus ended the discussion with:"What I have written, I have written". According to the story it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

Many think that the abbreviation INRI was put on the cross, but John's story makes clear that it was the intention to be read by the people. But were the people from Jerusalem so well educated? There were Roman soldiers, but what were Greeks doing there? Anyway, INRI was never put on the cross.

It is not even sure that John was right. Matthew says it was: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews", Luke claims it was: "This is the King of the Jews" and Mark wants us to believe it simply was "King of the Jews". Were things lost in translation?

Nevertheless, many of us know the cross with the abbreviation INRI and believe it was put there by the Romans.

The game with abbreviations is a game we all like to play. Many false abbreviations are known and became truth afterwards. SABENA was "Such A Bad Experience, Never Again!" and indeed, never again. IBM became "I Blame Microsoft", and so on.

I don't know who started with abbreviations, I don't know when they became fashion, I don't know who started with the abbreviation INRI. But somewhere somehow someone decided to make it part of the symbol. And someone somehow gave it another meaning:

It was (according to John): Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaeorvm or Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaerorum (the latin version only?)

It became (according to others): Ivstvm Necar Reges Impivs or Iustum Necar Reges Impius.

From the statement "King of the Jews" to a justification for wars: "It is right to destroy those who do not respect". In combination with the cross this means clearly that it is right to destroy those who do not respect the cross but it is the believe of many preachers that it is right to destroy those who are thinking different. This message is also very clear in the Bhagavad Gita, standard work for Hindus and looking for it, I am sure that I will find it in the Torah, the Bible and the Koran too.

By the way, "Iustum Necar Reges Impius" is believed to be part of the holy oath that Jesuits have to undersign with their own blood, taken above their hart with a dagger.

“Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop -- thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times what was sown.” -- Mark4:20

The power of the word and if you don't see it our way, we will use the sword. But as history learned, words might be shorter than swords but are significantly mightier: "The pen is mightier than the sword".

Oops, biblical stories to understand Joseph Retinger. Do I have to go back to the life of Ignatius (Iñigo Lopez de Loyola) to understand it all? One thing is sure, looking at their websites, Jesuits really love abbreviations.