The Cross and the Lynching Tree Analysis Essay Example

It has come to my attention that within the Good Friday service, the pastor is considering placing a hangman's noose alongside the cross. Within a Church that is so prominently White,the connection between the death of Jesus on the cross and the action of lynching may not be easily made. However, I personally feel that this concept should definitely be introduced and discussed among the congregation. I personally was not able to fully understand the similarities between the two events until doing my own reading and research. More specifically, I have gained much important insight from the book by James Cone, titled The Cross and the Lynching tree.

It is during the Christian Holy week that the death and resurrection of Jesus is commemorated and celebrated. Good Friday leading into Easter Sunday serves as such a wonderful example of God’s promise and power. The symbol of the cross is easily the most popular and recognizable representation of the Christian faith. However, It is undeniable that the story of Jesus’ death on the cross is incredibly gruesome and torturous. The intense violence and unjust brutality of Jesus’ crucifixion is typically overshadowed by the beauty and hope of the gospel story. The painful suffering and oppression of Jesus continues to be a reminder to those who are currently experiencing similar unjust oppression, that Jesus understands as He suffered with them. To many Christian African Americans, Such suffering can be related to the lynching of thousands of black men and women in America in the past centuries. 

Author and Theologian, James Cone explores the significance of Jesus’ crucifixion as a representation of the unjustified lynching deaths endured by African Americans. “I offer my reflections because I believe that the cross placed alongside the lynching tree can help is to see Jesus in America in a new light, and thereby empower people who claim to follow him to take a stand against white supremacy and every kind of injustice” (xix). I learned through Cone that there is great importance to serving a God who also understands the painful oppression experienced by many followers. This is due to the fact that God was willing to take on human flesh where he too experienced such oppression and injustice first-hand.

The first reason I support the Pastor's decision is to further understand the undeniable presence of God and his guidance over the Civil Rights movement and overall racial reconciliation for African Americans. In his work, Cone acknowledges the fact that for many African Americans, it is quite difficult to believe and remain faithful to a loving and just God when they are met with such brutal violence and intense torture. Nevertheless, extremely important figures in the Civil Rights Movement were strengthened and focused in their fight for justice through their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. More specifically, Martin Luther King Jr, found strength and perseverance through his understanding of Jesus’s work on the cross. “He focused his hope on Jesus’ Cross and resurrection. “Christ came to show us the way, Men love darkness rather than the light, and they crucified Him, there on Good Friday on the cross it was still dark but then Easter came, and Easter is the eternal reminder of the fact that the truth crushed earth will rise again’” (page 91).  While the noose can appear to be a sad reminder of the terrible hatred that ended African American lives, Cone explains that the cross allows for a shift in this narrative to one of redemption and hope for reconciliation.

The second reason why I agree with the Pastor’s decision to include the hangman's noose in the Good Friday service is due to the important understanding it provides to the majorly white congregation of what the cross means to many African American Christians. It wasn’t until reading The Cross and the Lynching Tree that I became aware of the undeniable parallels between lynchings of African Americans and the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross. I, and most likely many others in the congregation, neglected to understand the liberating truth that was presented through Jesus’s death on the cross to African Americans, especially to those enslaved during the Civil Rights Movement. “Enslaved blacks who first heard the gospel message seized on the power of the cross. Christ crucified manifested God’s loving and liberating presence in the contradictions of black life…” (Page 2). The important education and discussion created surrounding the noose and the cross will help build understanding to the white members of the church why it is so impactful and empowering to serve a God that suffers with the oppressed and vulnerable. “In the mystery of God’s revelation, black Christians believed that just knowing that Jesus went through an experience of suffering in a manner similar to theirs gave them faith that God was with them, even in the suffering on lynching trees, just as God was present with Jesus on the cross” (Page 21-22). 

Finally I support the pastor’s plan to include the noose alongside the presentation of the cross on Good Friday, to not only signify its connection to the racial injustices of African Americans. Cone also challenges Christians to look for the ways in which the injustices faced by many bear resemblance to the crucifixion. “The church’s most vexing problem today is how to define itself by the gospel of Jesus’ cross. Where is the gospel of Jesus’s cross revealed today?” (page 163) It is not only in the lynching of innocent African Americans that we are encouraged to see a reflection of Jesus’ intense suffering, but anywhere injustice is present.

Fortunately, Cone does not simply leave his readers with the brutal realization that injustice and oppression are still alive and well. He reminds Christians that the gospel story, and other similar circumstances, do not just end with death and despair. “God took the evil of the cross and the lynching tree and transformed them both into the triumphant beauty of the divine” (Page 166). Cone leaves his readers with an important and powerful gospel message of hope and salvation through our Savior, Jesus Christ.