‘That Best of Woods’: Christ’s Salvific Death and Dream of the Rood
“And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being interpreted is, The place of Calvary.” —Mark 15:22
“They crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS…Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own…Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.” —John 19:18-19, 25-27, 30
“And [the thief] said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” -Lk. 23:42-43
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?…And Jesus again crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent. And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose…Now the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake, and the things that were done, were sore afraid, saying: Indeed this was the Son of God. —Matt. 27:46, 50-52, 54
Today is Good Friday 2023, the day on which, almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ suffered and died a horrific and humiliating death on a cross to save mankind from sin and open the gates of Heaven. Christ suffered more than anyone else has ever been capable of suffering that day, when He bore not only the physical abuse but the weight of every sin ever committed, both in the past and the future.
Betrayed by His friend Judas, denied by His friend Peter, abandoned by all His other friends but His Mother, John, and a few other women, Jesus was mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, stripped, nails driven through his hands and feet—all because He loved us. Jesus once told St. Teresa of Avila, “I would create the universe again just to hear you say that you love me.” Based on that, I think we can also say He would have undergone His whole Passion to save just one soul. That’s how much He loves each of us!
The “Dream of the Rood” is an Old English poem, traditionally attributed to St. Caedmon (d. c. 680) or Cynewulf. “Rood” is an Old English word for the cross. The poem contains Anglo-Saxon imagery such as calling the apostles “thanes,” depicting Christ as a glorious young hero, and calling those crucifying Jesus “warriors.” Jesus’s Passion is depicted as an epic battle. The narrator begins by describing his “dream,” where he saw a golden, bejeweled, luminous cross above him. At the end, the narrator goes off to “seek the tree of victory [the cross],” so as to attain Heaven. But the cross itself speaks to the narrator, telling the story of the Crucifixion:
“[That] best of woods began to speak words:
‘It was so long ago––I remember it still––
that I was felled from the forest’s edge,
ripped up from my roots. Strong enemies seized me there,
made me their spectacle, made me bear their criminals;
they bore me on their shoulders and then set me on a hill,
enemies enough fixed me fast. Then I saw the Lord of mankind
hasten eagerly, when he wanted to ascend upon me.
I did not dare to break or bow down
against the Lord’s word, when I saw
the ends of the earth tremble. Easily I might
have felled all those enemies, and yet I stood fast.
Then the young hero made ready—that was God almighty—
strong and resolute; he ascended on the high gallows,
brave in the sight of many, when he wanted to ransom mankind.
I trembled when he embraced me, but I dared not bow to the ground,
or fall to the earth’s corners––I had to stand fast.
I was reared as a cross: I raised up the mighty King,
the Lord of heaven; I dared not lie down.
They drove dark nails through me; the scars are still visible,
open wounds of hate; I dared not harm any of them.
They mocked us both together; I was all drenched with blood
flowing from that man’s side after he had sent forth his spirit.
‘Much have I endured on that hill
of hostile fates: I saw the God of hosts
cruelly stretched out. Darkness had covered
with its clouds the Ruler’s corpse,
that shining radiance. Shadows spread
grey under the clouds; all creation wept,
mourned the King’s fall: Christ on the cross.
And yet from afar men came hastening
to that noble one; I watched it all.
I was all beset with sorrow, yet I sank into their hands,
humbly, eagerly. There they took almighty God,
lifted him from his heavy torment; the warriors then left me
standing drenched in blood, all shot through with arrows.
They laid him down, bone-weary, and stood by his body’s head;
they watched the Lord of heaven there, who rested a while,
weary from his mighty battle. They began to build a tomb for him
in the sight of his slayer; they carved it from bright stone,
and set within the Lord of victories. They began to sing a dirge for him,
wretched at evening, when they wished to travel hence,
weary, from the glorious Lord––he rested there with little company.
And as we stood there, weeping, a long while
fixed in our station, the song ascended
from those warriors. The corpse grew cold,
the fair life-house. Then they began to fell us
all to the earth––a terrible fate!
They dug for us a deep pit, yet the Lord’s thanes,
friends found me there…
adorned me with gold and silver.
“Now you can hear, my dear hero,
that I have endured the work of evil-doers,
harsh sorrows. Now the time has come
that far and wide they will honor me,
men over the earth and all this glorious creation,
and pray to this sign. On me the Son of God
suffered for a time; and so, glorious now
I rise up under the heavens, and am able to heal
each of those who is in awe of me.
Once I was made into the worst of torments,
most hateful to all people, before I opened
the true way of life for speech-bearers.
Lo! the King of glory, Guardian of heaven’s kingdom
honored me over all the trees of the forest,
just as he has also, almighty God, honored
his mother, Mary herself,
above all womankind for the sake of all men.
“Now I bid you, my beloved hero,
that you reveal this vision to men,
tell them in words that it is the tree of glory
on which almighty God suffered
for mankind’s many sins
and Adam’s ancient deeds.
Death He tasted there, yet the Lord rose again
with his great might to help mankind.
He ascended into heaven. He will come again
to this middle-earth to seek mankind
on doomsday, almighty God,
the Lord himself and his angels with him,
and He will judge—He has the power of judgment—
each one of them as they have earned
beforehand here in this loaned life.
No one there may be unafraid
at the words which the Ruler will speak:
He will ask before the multitude where the man might be
who for the Lord’s name would taste
bitter death, as He did earlier on that tree.
But they will tremble then, and little think
what they might even begin to say to Christ.
But no one there need be very afraid
who has borne in his breast the best of beacons;
but through the cross we shall seek the kingdom,
every soul from this earthly way,
whoever thinks to rest with the Ruler.’”
Jesus said we must each take up our own crosses and follow Him (Matt. 16:24). The cross is the only ladder to Heaven. If we carry our crosses well, we too will one day hear the words Jesus spoke to the Good Thief St. Dismas (Luke 23:43), “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”