Life Beyond Life

The Dream of the Rood opens up with the dreamer speaking of  a cross that encapsulates beauty beyond measure. However, the smallest of stains takes away all of its beauty . This stain that would be seen as a mere blood stain to non-Christians is the epitome of what Jesus has done, and continues to do for us daily . We are then transitioned into the Rood's telling of his experience of  the crucifixion of Jesus . One's initial reaction is to question how an inanimate object could present itself with life. However, the cross did not present itself with life, but was given life when Jesus Christ was chosen to bare it . This is essentially when Christ and the cross become one. Each ailment that Christ falters, so does the cross . The rood says, "they pierced me through with dark some nails; on me the scars are manifest, the open, woeful wounds. Yet dare I not work any harm to any one of them . They mocked us together. All bedewed with blood was I ..." As the nails pierced Jesus's hands they pierced the rood , as they mocked him ;they therefore mocked his symbol, and as his blood drained from his body ,the blood drained into the cross sealing his mercy that he placed on us . Christ and the cross are our everlasting symbols of glory .