Graffiti And The Foolishness Of The Cross

 

Graffiti And The Foolishness Of The Cross

Brett A. Todd

Far off in Palatine Hill of Rome is the famous “Alexamenos Graffito” which is dated late 2nd to early 3rd century that gives us context and meaning to the words of the Apostle Paul, “but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Yes, there was graffiti way back then.  In fact, the word graffiti dates all the way back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire and is derived from the Italian word which means to scratch. (Note the graffiti photo below).

 

           

The Alexamenos Graffito is a picture of a young man throwing a ritual kiss towards a cross from which a man (Jesus) with a horse or donkey's head hangs.  Below this image are the words, “Alexamenos worships [his] God”.  The meaning behind these words is that Christians worship an ass.  Yes, you read correctly, an ass.  Clearly, this is nothing more than ridicule toward early Christians in Rome. 

Though Paul was not in Rome, he was keenly aware of Christians who were persecuted around the Roman Empire.  In one of Paul’s letters he tells his readers that for these Gentile pagans, the crucifixion of Jesus was a “scandal” (σκάνδαλον, Galatians 5:11).  In fact, these early Christians were called atheists because they refused to adore any of the Greek-Roman gods that every Roman citizen was expected to worship.  How dare these Christian atheists not worship Jupiter, Mars, and Neptune.  As Paul said, for these Romans, Christianity was a scandal.  As one author states, “Not respecting the state cults meant that you did not want the Roman Empire to prosper.  For Rome, atheism was equivalent to treason…” 

The famous Alexamenos Graffito is certainly not flattering, but it does leave strong evidence of Christian life and how Christianity spread throughout the known world.  Remember, this graffiti was from a non-Christian admitting there were those Christians in Rome who were worshiping a man who was crucified on a cross.  Though this is not refutable evidence of the existence of a man called Jesus, it should give one pause.

In our next study, we will ask the question, “Did Jesus consider himself to be sinless?”