When St. Paul tells us that we were crucified with Christ, he is not inviting us to imagine two neighboring crosses silhouetted against the same darkened sky, Christ suffering here and we suffering there, bound together only by a coincidence of hour and place. That picture is far too small for the burden Paul lays upon it. He is not describing nearness, but participation; not companionship, but inclusion— something far more intimate and far more unsettling.
