Conscience meets Crucifixion

The Rejected, 

Ink on Kozo paper, 38.5"x72", 2000.

Let us look at the question Chris Hedges asked recently in Liberty Square in New York City “as part of an appeal to Trinity Church to turn over to the Occupy Wall Street movement an empty lot:” 

Where were you when they crucified my Lord?

The above should be seen as an exhortation towards self-examination. The examination of ones conscience. A self examination which prepares one to respond to the question when it is encountered in ones being. The crucifixion is a two pronged metaphor: the injustices that people face, as well as those who subject others--their bodies, minds and indeed the souls to strife. Everything else follows from here. 

A crucifixion in Christian thought happens every time a grave injustice is done; injustices where dignity is stripped away, wills are forced: rapaciousness, and mayhem is loosed upon the weak—those with less reach. It happens daily. The conscience asks this question of the Christian every time ones core becomes aware that something egregious had come to pass, and ones place in that injustice. The core can be ignored but the question comes up—it is always asked.  

The conscience also asks the same question of others, and I presume on the following lines: In your being and knowing, did you not see their plight? 

There is an obvious, and not oblivious aspect in play here. So the question is a yardstick, a plumb line, a spirit level if you will--towards a consideration for ones fellows.