MEDITATIONS ON REMBRANDT’S PRINTS OF CHRIST’S PASSION - Iain McKillop
INTRODUCTION
It has become fairly common for Christians to use art as a source of spiritual reflection. This isn’t a new phenomenon: since the Early Church, the art of the Catacombs & especially Byzantium, visual art has been used to express Christian faith. Certain spiritualities have used visual art far more than others. The Orthodox & Roman Catholic Churches have commissioned art far more than Evangelical & Charismatic churches, which rely more on the written & preached word than visual stimuli. Perhaps over half of the great masterpieces of Western art are on religious themes or have a religious background, & we can use them alongside scripture to consider our faith. Rembrandt’s contemporaries used engraved & etched religious prints for contemplation.
Few of us, even from visual traditions, always look hard & long at artworks to truly read them & plumb the depths of their content & meaning. It has been said that to understand a work you need to study it for at least as long as the artist took in making it. I’m not sure that needs to be true, yet I recognise that whenever I really study a picture in depth, or whenever I come back to reconsider a work, I often grow in appreciation of it. I was trained as an art-historian, then trained in Fine Art before taking further studies in theology. With this background I could of course write far longer & more exhaustive commentaries on each of the works that I discuss here. But sometimes that might be “too much information!” The intention here is to give just enough material to enlighten then awaken the reader & viewer’s own thoughts & spiritual responses. This is not an exhaustive scholarly commentary on the art. It is intended as a source for spiritual reflection & prayer. Hopefully this might encourage us to more true discipleship, a deeper response to spiritual truths, & thus, hopefully, into a closer & richer relationship with God.
A work of religious art is not a true spiritual experience in itself. Rather it can be a catalyst, a metaphor, a source for contemplation & a vehicle by which we hope to awaken thoughts & respond to God’s Spirit communicating with us. Often an artist will have put their own spiritual responses into the creation of the work. But a viewer will come to a piece from a different life-situation & cultural context, with a different character & way that their mind works to that of the artist. They may read the work with a different approach to spirituality. So our own responses may differ greatly from those of the artist or the artist’s intention. What is important is the reality of what we build from our encounter with a work. As when we read a scripture passage, it is useful & important to understand a work in context & consider what the artist or writer might have intended before we draw our own responses & conclusions. Yet ultimately what matters is the spiritual truth that we derive from our study & meditation. All the artists who I will be considering in these studies created works that I personally find meaningful & inspiring. I present them here in the hope that they may inspire others, though I recognise that they may develop very different responses to my own.
If I could choose 10 Desert Island works of art, at least two would be by Rembrandt van Rijn. My Number One every time would be the portrait of a couple known (possibly mistakenly) as ‘The Jewish Bride’, among others would be ‘Peter Denying Christ’ & his etching of ‘The Three Crosses’. Rembrandt produced over 300 images based on Biblical subjects. He created prints to make a living, since his revenue from painting fluctuated throughout his career, according to popularity among patrons, quickly varying changes in fashions & taste in art among collectors, & his fluctuating reputation due to churchmen not accepting his personal difficulties. As as in his drawings he seems to have used the printmaking process as a way by which he thought-through the implications of biblical themes & stories. Many of his biblical prints seem like visual as well as religious meditations in which he made alterations as his thoughts on their potential meanings changed. He became a master at finding exactly the right point in a story to convey its essential meaning. He developed his compositions, characterisation of figures, play of light & dark (‘chiaroscuro’), & different qualities of mark-making, texture & density of ink to enhance the sense of meaning in his images & to emphasise significant details. Many alterations in the compositions & the states of the prints show that his thought-process entailed making many changes in the images. The most complicated changes were made on plates like ‘Christ Presented to the People’ & ‘The Three Crosses’. Different ‘states’ of many prints show where changes of composition, positioning of figures, the creation & obliteration of areas of space, & intensity of the use of light & dark, drastically altered the content & implied meaning of the same basic picture.
A Dutch spiritual tradition among both Catholic & Protestant believers encouraged the use of religious prints [‘Andachtsbild’] for spiritual meditation & contemplation. As well as encouraging the many connoisseurs & collectors of prints in Amsterdam & beyond to buy his works, Rembrandt intended many of his religious prints to sell for such religious meditation. The care with which he worked on & altered the images suggests that he also developed the works through his own spiritual meditation on the subjects & their descriptions in the Bible.
I have initially taken 12 of Rembrandt’s prints as ideas for Lent Meditations (I have included 2 introductory prints & 2 post-resurrection scenes alongside Passion images). Eventually I intend to create 40 such studies, one for every day of Lent, based on various other works of art from different periods & backgrounds in the Christian tradition. What I am doing in this selection of Rembrandt’s prints could equally be done with many thousand works of art on Christian themes by great artists from iconographers to Giotto, Duccio, Fra Angelico, Bellini, Mantegna, Piero della Francesca, Michelangelo, El Greco, Velasquez, Zurbaran, Murillo, Holbein, Hugo van der Goes, Van Eyck, van der Weyden as well as a myriad more recent artists. (Watch this space!)
To my mind, of all religious artists who ever worked in a Protestant culture, Rembrandt was the greatest master at portraying the essential moments in biblical stories that would convey their meaning. His drawings & the alterations made during the development of his printing plates, show that he thought hard & long about the best light, compositions, characterisations & gestures to communicate the essence of a story & its meaning for faith most effectively. His paintings are often even more sensitive than his prints, as in The Return of the Prodigal Son, Judas Returning the 30 Pieces of Silver, The Entombment, The Supper at Emmaus, The Woman Taken in Adultery, Abraham sacrificing Isaac & The Denial of St. Peter.
The Reformers encouraged a different attitude to art from much Roman Catholic teaching. Catholic Counter-Reformation leaders often encouraged the use of visual art for enhancing the spirituality & attractiveness of the setting for worship, aiming to stir believers to corporate & personal worship & devotion. At times both Catholics & Protestants used visual art for religious propaganda. Sometimes they used visual propaganda to criticise or condemn each other. Protestantism tended to encourage biblical knowledge more through preaching & reading than visual images, of which many were suspicious, due to the commandment forbidding idolatrous use of images. Protestant religious art was often more obviously symbolic & less directly devotional. Working as a Protestant artist in the intensely Protestant Dutch culture, Rembrandt found less of a market for biblical subjects than if he had been a Catholic artist, working in a Catholic country. (His mother remained devoted to the Catholic faith throughout her life, rather than following the dominant Protestant culture in reformed Holland). Yet there was still a market in Holland for religious subjects, & Rembrandt had trained & been influenced by Dutch religious artists. He managed received commissions for religious paintings from Protestant collectors with a visual sensitivity, as well as some rarer Catholic patrons. It is likely that he also worked on certain biblical paintings on his own initiative, hoping to gain a market for them, rather than having them directly commissioned.. As with his prints, several of Rembrandt’s canvases & drawings of biblical subjects feel as though they developed from personal meditation on scripture & faith.
Rembrandt’s career swung between popularity & poverty, as artistic fashions & his reputation fluctuated. Dutch patrons generally admired fine detail, so his freer later works were less popular than earlier more carefully ‘finished’ pictures. Yet he managed to develop a taste for freer work in some patrons. He faced bankruptcy, lawsuits & threats to confiscate his assets at various times in his career. He also incurred hostility from religious institutions, particularly due to misjudgement & criticism of his moral behaviour. His deceased wife’s will stipulated that if he remarried his inheritance, on which he relied, would be forfeit. His future necessarily unmarried relationship brought churchmen’s disapproval & opprobrium.
As a result of his precarious financial & personal situation he often relied on the selling prints to help supplement his income. As well as drawing from his own faith, Rembrandt’s religious prints were designed to appeal to the Dutch fashion for contemplating prints like those explored in these studies to supplement meditation on scripture. Rembrandt was a collector of prints himself, some of which he may have used for his own meditation. Sales of his properties mention about 3,000 prints in his collection, including some by significant artists, which demonstrate his connoisseurship. These were also important sources & inspiration for his own compositions. Pictorial influences combine with his own biblical study, to enhance sensitivity & symbolic iconography in his prints & paintings.
1 ST. FRANCIS BENEATH A TREE - 1657
INTRODUCTION
It has become fairly common for Christians to use art as a source of spiritual reflection. This isn’t a new phenomenon: since the Early Church, the art of the Catacombs & especially Byzantium, visual art has been used to express Christian faith. Certain spiritualities have used visual art far more than others. The Orthodox & Roman Catholic Churches have commissioned art far more than Evangelical & Charismatic churches, which rely more on the written & preached word than visual stimuli. Perhaps over half of the great masterpieces of Western art are on religious themes or have a religious background, & we can use them alongside scripture to consider our faith. Rembrandt’s contemporaries used engraved & etched religious prints for contemplation.
Few of us, even from visual traditions, always look hard & long at artworks to truly read them & plumb the depths of their content & meaning. It has been said that to understand a work you need to study it for at least as long as the artist took in making it. I’m not sure that needs to be true, yet I recognise that whenever I really study a picture in depth, or whenever I come back to reconsider a work, I often grow in appreciation of it. I was trained as an art-historian, then trained in Fine Art before taking further studies in theology. With this background I could of course write far longer & more exhaustive commentaries on each of the works that I discuss here. But sometimes that might be “too much information!” The intention here is to give just enough material to enlighten then awaken the reader & viewer’s own thoughts & spiritual responses. This is not an exhaustive scholarly commentary on the art. It is intended as a source for spiritual reflection & prayer. Hopefully this might encourage us to more true discipleship, a deeper response to spiritual truths, & thus, hopefully, into a closer & richer relationship with God.
A work of religious art is not a true spiritual experience in itself. Rather it can be a catalyst, a metaphor, a source for contemplation & a vehicle by which we hope to awaken thoughts & respond to God’s Spirit communicating with us. Often an artist will have put their own spiritual responses into the creation of the work. But a viewer will come to a piece from a different life-situation & cultural context, with a different character & way that their mind works to that of the artist. They may read the work with a different approach to spirituality. So our own responses may differ greatly from those of the artist or the artist’s intention. What is important is the reality of what we build from our encounter with a work. As when we read a scripture passage, it is useful & important to understand a work in context & consider what the artist or writer might have intended before we draw our own responses & conclusions. Yet ultimately what matters is the spiritual truth that we derive from our study & meditation. All the artists who I will be considering in these studies created works that I personally find meaningful & inspiring. I present them here in the hope that they may inspire others, though I recognise that they may develop very different responses to my own.
If I could choose 10 Desert Island works of art, at least two would be by Rembrandt van Rijn. My Number One every time would be the portrait of a couple known (possibly mistakenly) as ‘The Jewish Bride’, among others would be ‘Peter Denying Christ’ & his etching of ‘The Three Crosses’. Rembrandt produced over 300 images based on Biblical subjects. He created prints to make a living, since his revenue from painting fluctuated throughout his career, according to popularity among patrons, quickly varying changes in fashions & taste in art among collectors, & his fluctuating reputation due to churchmen not accepting his personal difficulties. As as in his drawings he seems to have used the printmaking process as a way by which he thought-through the implications of biblical themes & stories. Many of his biblical prints seem like visual as well as religious meditations in which he made alterations as his thoughts on their potential meanings changed. He became a master at finding exactly the right point in a story to convey its essential meaning. He developed his compositions, characterisation of figures, play of light & dark (‘chiaroscuro’), & different qualities of mark-making, texture & density of ink to enhance the sense of meaning in his images & to emphasise significant details. Many alterations in the compositions & the states of the prints show that his thought-process entailed making many changes in the images. The most complicated changes were made on plates like ‘Christ Presented to the People’ & ‘The Three Crosses’. Different ‘states’ of many prints show where changes of composition, positioning of figures, the creation & obliteration of areas of space, & intensity of the use of light & dark, drastically altered the content & implied meaning of the same basic picture.
A Dutch spiritual tradition among both Catholic & Protestant believers encouraged the use of religious prints [‘Andachtsbild’] for spiritual meditation & contemplation. As well as encouraging the many connoisseurs & collectors of prints in Amsterdam & beyond to buy his works, Rembrandt intended many of his religious prints to sell for such religious meditation. The care with which he worked on & altered the images suggests that he also developed the works through his own spiritual meditation on the subjects & their descriptions in the Bible.
I have initially taken 12 of Rembrandt’s prints as ideas for Lent Meditations (I have included 2 introductory prints & 2 post-resurrection scenes alongside Passion images). Eventually I intend to create 40 such studies, one for every day of Lent, based on various other works of art from different periods & backgrounds in the Christian tradition. What I am doing in this selection of Rembrandt’s prints could equally be done with many thousand works of art on Christian themes by great artists from iconographers to Giotto, Duccio, Fra Angelico, Bellini, Mantegna, Piero della Francesca, Michelangelo, El Greco, Velasquez, Zurbaran, Murillo, Holbein, Hugo van der Goes, Van Eyck, van der Weyden as well as a myriad more recent artists. (Watch this space!)
To my mind, of all religious artists who ever worked in a Protestant culture, Rembrandt was the greatest master at portraying the essential moments in biblical stories that would convey their meaning. His drawings & the alterations made during the development of his printing plates, show that he thought hard & long about the best light, compositions, characterisations & gestures to communicate the essence of a story & its meaning for faith most effectively. His paintings are often even more sensitive than his prints, as in The Return of the Prodigal Son, Judas Returning the 30 Pieces of Silver, The Entombment, The Supper at Emmaus, The Woman Taken in Adultery, Abraham sacrificing Isaac & The Denial of St. Peter.
The Reformers encouraged a different attitude to art from much Roman Catholic teaching. Catholic Counter-Reformation leaders often encouraged the use of visual art for enhancing the spirituality & attractiveness of the setting for worship, aiming to stir believers to corporate & personal worship & devotion. At times both Catholics & Protestants used visual art for religious propaganda. Sometimes they used visual propaganda to criticise or condemn each other. Protestantism tended to encourage biblical knowledge more through preaching & reading than visual images, of which many were suspicious, due to the commandment forbidding idolatrous use of images. Protestant religious art was often more obviously symbolic & less directly devotional. Working as a Protestant artist in the intensely Protestant Dutch culture, Rembrandt found less of a market for biblical subjects than if he had been a Catholic artist, working in a Catholic country. (His mother remained devoted to the Catholic faith throughout her life, rather than following the dominant Protestant culture in reformed Holland). Yet there was still a market in Holland for religious subjects, & Rembrandt had trained & been influenced by Dutch religious artists. He managed received commissions for religious paintings from Protestant collectors with a visual sensitivity, as well as some rarer Catholic patrons. It is likely that he also worked on certain biblical paintings on his own initiative, hoping to gain a market for them, rather than having them directly commissioned.. As with his prints, several of Rembrandt’s canvases & drawings of biblical subjects feel as though they developed from personal meditation on scripture & faith.
Rembrandt’s career swung between popularity & poverty, as artistic fashions & his reputation fluctuated. Dutch patrons generally admired fine detail, so his freer later works were less popular than earlier more carefully ‘finished’ pictures. Yet he managed to develop a taste for freer work in some patrons. He faced bankruptcy, lawsuits & threats to confiscate his assets at various times in his career. He also incurred hostility from religious institutions, particularly due to misjudgement & criticism of his moral behaviour. His deceased wife’s will stipulated that if he remarried his inheritance, on which he relied, would be forfeit. His future necessarily unmarried relationship brought churchmen’s disapproval & opprobrium.
As a result of his precarious financial & personal situation he often relied on the selling prints to help supplement his income. As well as drawing from his own faith, Rembrandt’s religious prints were designed to appeal to the Dutch fashion for contemplating prints like those explored in these studies to supplement meditation on scripture. Rembrandt was a collector of prints himself, some of which he may have used for his own meditation. Sales of his properties mention about 3,000 prints in his collection, including some by significant artists, which demonstrate his connoisseurship. These were also important sources & inspiration for his own compositions. Pictorial influences combine with his own biblical study, to enhance sensitivity & symbolic iconography in his prints & paintings.
1 ST. FRANCIS BENEATH A TREE - 1657
LOOK
St. Francis kneels before a glade of trees facing a large crucifix. Behind him a cavern with an attached thatched hovel, covers another hooded monk reading. In the distance stands a tower surmounted by a campanile. The print uses a wide variety of marks. Francis’ face, Christ’s body & parts of the tree are detailed in drypoint, with darker etched foliage. The gnarled bark adds realism. The light area with the other monk is sketched with simple, abstract lines. Areas of shade in the in hovel, & above the saint & cross rise diagonally, giving increasing emphasis to Francis & Christ’s presence in the crucifix.
READ
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, let them take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lost it, and those who lost their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose themselves?” [Lk.9:23-25].
“Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” [Matt.10:38-39].
“May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” [Gal.6:14].
"For me to live is Christ & to die is gain. "[Phil.1:21]
REFLECT
While not in itself an image of Christ’s Passion, this print is a useful introduction to the contemplation, since it reflects what we ourselves are doing when we meditate on the meaning of religious works of art. St Francis’ regular practice was to kneel in prayer & devotion before the Cross. It is not clear from the image whether the crucifix before him is physical, a vision, or a spiritual revelation. It is drawn in drypoint more softly than most of the picture, except Francis’ face. It seems that the saint may be seeing this in his mind’s eye as he prays, or is receiving a spiritual vision, unveiled as he meditates prayerfully on scripture. Both he & the other friar are reading Bibles. When we read scripture or use images to meditate we hope for them to awaken our spiritual vision & theological imagination. It is useful to imagine ourselves within the scene or biblical situations & think-through its relevance to the reality of our physical & spiritual experience. As read scripture & view religious images we consider what the ideas & feelings within them might mean to our lives & faith, especially what the scene says to us about God, Christ, & their relevant to our personal situations.
As we meditate on Christ’s Passion, we are doing something rather like Francis in this picture. Francis was living in his present day (represented by the church in the background). His simplicity of lifestyle is suggested by the thatched hovel & cave, by comparison with the dominant church-building.
Rembrandt began the plate simply, as seen in the sketched-in background monk. He then hatched the scene carefully in drypoint & signed the unfinished plate (this remains visible beneath his larger, more prominent, final signature). Later the same year he completed work, adding detail like the background tower & drypoint shading in the 2nd state. He focused & strengthened the image with the shading, heavier etched lines in the tree-trunk & foreground foliage.
Unlike many Roman Catholic pictures of Francis in prayer, there is no depiction of rays coming from Christ’s wounds to create stigmata on Francis. The emphasis on the saints’ prayer before the cross rather than stigmata, may be because Rembrandt was working in a Protestant culture, where there was more focus on Christ than the saints, & intercession through saints was discouraged. Stories of miracles related to Francis & his visions would be well known to Dutch Protestants as well as Catholics. For them Francis was admired as an example of the faithful Christian at prayer, living an authentic life of faith. His simplicity of life-style would not necessarily have been regarded by wealthy merchants & social elite who collected Rembrandt’s prints as a practice to be emulated. But here he is an example of one who put faith in the crucified Christ, encouraging the viewer to consider what Christ’s self-giving has achieved for us. Rembrandt was probably intending us to direct our contemplations & our reading of the Bible towards faith in God through Christ. As Francis aimed to emulate Christ & encouraged the Church to follow him more closely, we are asked to compare our own lives with Christ’s example & teaching & emulate Jesus..
Rembrandt occasionally represented saints, as here, but most of them are directly related to Christ’s story or biblical theology: His prints representing incidents in the lives of Saints Peter, John, Stephen & Paul are directly related to the development & spread of the gospel. His many prints of Jerome represent him primarily as an example of faithful prayer. Jerome was well known for living in simplicity in the Holy Land, using his scholarship to translated scripture in ways that helped the gospel spread through the western world. Francis was similarly recognised as an example for all Christians, not just Catholics, as one of the greatest examples of a saint who was faithful in prayer, ministry & mission. He had aimed to reform the Church to more closely following Jesus’ teachings & example, encouraging Christians to move away from less biblical traditions that dominated the Catholic Church of his time. He was thus valued by Protestants as a reformer. It is not so evident that the wealthy or the dominant Dutch Protestant Reform Church of Rembrandt’s culture wanted to reform itself as thoroughly as they believed their Catholic neighbours should do. From the difficulties & hypocrisy that Rembrandt encountered with the churchmen of his time, he must have recognised that the Church in his culture required as much reform as the Church in which Francis prayed for change.
In studying an historic work of art, as in studying scripture, it is important to try to comprehend the culture in which it was made & into which it was designed to speak. In hermeneutics one tries to understand intended purposes behind the writing of the scripture, its sources & how texts were meant to be interpreted when originally written. In studying artworks their purpose must be considered, as well as the artist’s background, sources & aims. In interpreting a work of spiritual art it is particularly important to consider its religious background, the church culture which influenced it & what the artist or those who commissioned the work may have intended the image to communicate. We should always try to understand what a work meant for the culture in which it was made before we interpret what it might mean for us today, to avoid misinterpretation. Sadly misinterpretation or ignoring original intentions have often led to mistakes in religious beliefs or false practices & failure to properly appreciate or understand the true meaning.
PONDER
Look at Rembrandt’s image; imagine yourself in the place of St Francis... What would you be thinking & praying before the cross? How important is Christ’s cross to your personal faith? How much do you contemplate how the implications & achievements of Christ’s Passion apply to you?
When Jesus told his followers that they needed to ‘lose’ the world & personal ambition, take up their cross & follow him, what do you think he meant? Paul too spoke of ‘counting everything as loss for the purpose of gaining Christ & salvation’. Are we to give up all literally, as Jesus’ disciples & Francis seem to have done? Is personal ambition & accumulation wrong or was Jesus encouraging his true followers to ensure that their priorities & aims were always right? In the light of such teaching, what should be our spiritual ambitions & the practical aims by which we live?
St Francis looked to Jesus’ life as a true example that all Christians should emulate. He regarded Christ’s humility, service & self-offering as models on which we should build our discipleship. How does the selfless self-offering of Jesus set an example for you practically in the life that you live at present?
Francis aimed to reform the Church to more fully follow the faith &example set by Jesus & remove the corruptions & non-biblical traditions which led it away from Christ’s ideal. In your traditions, your church, denomination & other parts of the worldwide church, what do we need to reform in order to more authentically model & witness to Christ?
PRAY
Lord, help me review my life in the light of all you taught & in the light of your self-giving on the cross. I pray that you will expand the breadth of my faith, as Francis learned more in following you & reflecting on your life. By your Holy Spirit deepen my understanding, my faith, and the integrity and authenticity of my discipleship.
Guide my thoughts on what it means for me “to live for Christ” & what I need to remove or reform in my life. What do I need to add to make me a truer follower of Jesus’ way?
We adore you O Christ and we bless you for you show the way of life and give us true priorities to follow. Loving Lord, through all you gave up personally, you gained redemption for us and for all your world. AMEN
2 CHRIST DRIVING THE MONEY CHANGERS FROM THE TEMPLE
LOOK
In the crowded dark interior of the Temple, Jesus raises a whip to drive out traders. His raised hand with the whip is at the exact centre of the composition & the point from which light radiates. The hatched lines would have normally radiated halo-like from Jesus’ head. There are two other major points of light in the picture: the arched Temple-entrance & the area behind Jesus’ where turbaned religious authorities are gathered, symbolically surrounded by darkness. In foreground & middle distance some commercial corruptions in the Temple are illustrated: Right to Left: A soldier raises a spear towards two children who desecrate the building, fighting with toy swords; a fallen man stretches to catch an escaping bird; another is dragged by a cow. A dog turns from chasing the bird to barking at Christ. (Alternatively this may be a fleeing, bleating lamb looking symbolically to Christ.) A barrel/large bucket has been overturned, with the gnarled table from which coins & bags of money slip. One trader holds tight to his bulging money-bag while his well-dressed companion falls backwards, reaching towards the dark, left-hand corner where two men appear to be haggling over a deal (perhaps the darkness implies that their trade may not have total probity. A man loaded with a basket of birds on his head rushes towards the exit. (The birds look more like chickens than doves!)
Behind Christ a procession moves forward carrying sacrifices including trays of fruit. Behind them, on a raised platform, beneath a fabric canopy perhaps intended to represent the Temple curtain, turbaned religious leaders look on. (Their position resembles that of the priests in Rembrandt’s painting of the ‘Woman taken in Adultery’ [National Gallery, London]. These gather around the High Priest who raises a staff of office surmounted by a brazen serpent. Immediately in front of them is the shadowed back of a kneeling, bearded man. This is possibly Judas approaching them to offer to betray Jesus. Rembrandt may have intentionally altered perspective to make their figures larger than those in front of them: this scene is obviously intended to be important to the story. Figures in the distant Temple entrance are lightly drawn. By contrast to the arrogant disinterested priests, one gives alms or healing to a poor man with a crutch. This contrasts with the small group immediately in front of them, who appear to be haggling in trade.
READ
Jesus entered the Temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them: “It is written: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’, but you are making it a den of robbers.” [Matt.21:12-13]
[Perhaps also read the more detailed account from earlier in Jesus’ ministry, which includes many of the details in the print: Jn.2:13-22.]
REFLECT
Some commentators have identified this scene with the Cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of John’s Gospel [Jn.2:13-22], but the inclusion of the figure who appears to be Judas plotting with the group of priests, makes it more likely that we are witnessing the cleansing before Jesus’ arrest. We can’t be sure that there were two such incidents. The evangelists may have placed the same event at different points in their narrative, for different reasons – John to show from early in his ministry that Jesus had come to reform religion & cleanse the way to God; Matthew to indicate reasons for the rise of priestly plots that led to Jesus’ death. With Rembrandt’s interest in the Bible, he included several details form John’s longer account: the whip of cords v.15, the cattle & sheep, the pouring out of the coins [v.15] & the zeal with which Jesus cleansed God’s house [v.17].
Christ & the figure at the doorway are the only people in the composition to act righteously. His figure directly copies that in Durer’s woodcut of the same subject. Jesus’ face is in shadow, perhaps suggesting righteous anger; he is strongly etched with expressive lines. His clothes are white: Rembrandt deliberately left some printing ink unwiped from the plate, to make other figures greyer. The areas of intense white in the composition emphasise the spiritual meaning in the scene, upon which we are intended to meditate: The light shining through the entrance arch shows the religious purity which the Temple’s was meant to exemplify. This balances the light above the priests & the crown of the canopy covering the Tabernacle. This place should represent purity, prayer & healing (suggested by the Brazen Serpent held by the High Priest [Num.21:4-9; 2Ki.18:1-4; Jn.3:14]), not plotting & arrogance. At the centre of the plate Jesus’ raised hand & whip, stress the reform of religion that we are intended to apply to our own faith & religious practices. The wear on the overturned table suggests how much it has been used & the extent of its corruption.
This print was created at a time when churches throughout Europe were attempting reform. The Dutch Protestant Church just tolerated Jews for trade purposes &was hostile to Roman Catholics, particularly as the nation had recently overcome the rule of Catholic Spain. Protestantism stressed Dutch political & religious independence. But there were several opposing reform movements within Dutch Protestantism, in which differening practices & doctrinal teachings caused hostility. Such divisions are still often divisive in preventing Christian unity today. Perhaps, as well as encouraging us to reform our own faith & religious practices, the story in the print could encourage us to consider what we might need to remove in our attitude to other believers to make the worldwide Church more like the untied Body of Christ which Jesus & St. Paul intended. If we reform our own faith & religious practices, we might be better examples to help others to also work towards greater Christ-likeness. Yet we should never try to make everyone’s practices & relationship with God the same. God made us all with wide variety in our spirituality. Some relate & worship corporately & loudly, some more privately & quietly; some spirituality is awakened visually, some through literature, music, intellectual theology, reason, poetry, story, spiritual biography, metaphors & symbols. As we all have varieties of characters, intellects & gifts, we need to find the triggers to spirituality which best bring us to God to worship “in Spirit and in Truth” [Jn.4:23-24], & which help bring others to similarly true spiritual relationships. We should surely be recognising & approving what is good in others’ gifts & practices, working out how we can work together, learn from each other’s faith & value the ways that some may have come to understand in truer ways that us.
This picture demonstrates above all that our expression of faith must be true, righteous & Christ-like, not chaotic.
PONDER
It is easy to read the story of the Cleansing of the Temple self-righteously, to show how Jesus reformed the Jewish religion of his day. That is definitely why this incident was included in Matthew & John’s Gospels. Yet in applying scripture to our own lives it is important to consider how the ethical & religious meanings within this story might relate to our own circumstances. How would Jesus react if he came into your own church? What would he approve, according to his standards? Of what would he disapprove? Are there ways in which you can improve your Christian practice & discipleship?
What would Jesus say to you if he looked into your material, religious & spiritual life? What would he want you to clear out? What would he want you to enhance, in order to be a truer to Christ’s example & teaching of faith.
What is real, “in Spirit and in Truth” in your relationship with God & in your worship? How has this developed & grown? What helped that growth & what might help you enhance it further?
One of Christ’s aims was that all his people would be able to work together as one body, using their gifts & spirituality to expand his work & mission in the world. How might you & your church work together better with other Christian communities to give a united witness in a world that needs the truth of Christ? Do you feel like ‘one body’ with other Christians in your own church & Christians in other churches? What do you contribute as a part of that body? How do your gifts link in with those of others & work together holistically to promote Christ & true faith?
PRAY
Lord of Truth, help me to relate to you in Spirit and in Truth. “Search me and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked ways in me, and lead me in the paths everlasting.” [Ps.139:23-24.]
Lord, guide our Church to believe, work and practice according to your truth. Where we fail you, root out what is wrong, cleanse, forgive and change us. Where our traditions fall short, strengthen us in true discipleship and worship. Where we please you, Lord, by your Spirit, enhance the ways in which we practise our faith, and make us effective witnesses for you.
3 CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE - 1651-1652
In the crowded dark interior of the Temple, Jesus raises a whip to drive out traders. His raised hand with the whip is at the exact centre of the composition & the point from which light radiates. The hatched lines would have normally radiated halo-like from Jesus’ head. There are two other major points of light in the picture: the arched Temple-entrance & the area behind Jesus’ where turbaned religious authorities are gathered, symbolically surrounded by darkness. In foreground & middle distance some commercial corruptions in the Temple are illustrated: Right to Left: A soldier raises a spear towards two children who desecrate the building, fighting with toy swords; a fallen man stretches to catch an escaping bird; another is dragged by a cow. A dog turns from chasing the bird to barking at Christ. (Alternatively this may be a fleeing, bleating lamb looking symbolically to Christ.) A barrel/large bucket has been overturned, with the gnarled table from which coins & bags of money slip. One trader holds tight to his bulging money-bag while his well-dressed companion falls backwards, reaching towards the dark, left-hand corner where two men appear to be haggling over a deal (perhaps the darkness implies that their trade may not have total probity. A man loaded with a basket of birds on his head rushes towards the exit. (The birds look more like chickens than doves!)
Behind Christ a procession moves forward carrying sacrifices including trays of fruit. Behind them, on a raised platform, beneath a fabric canopy perhaps intended to represent the Temple curtain, turbaned religious leaders look on. (Their position resembles that of the priests in Rembrandt’s painting of the ‘Woman taken in Adultery’ [National Gallery, London]. These gather around the High Priest who raises a staff of office surmounted by a brazen serpent. Immediately in front of them is the shadowed back of a kneeling, bearded man. This is possibly Judas approaching them to offer to betray Jesus. Rembrandt may have intentionally altered perspective to make their figures larger than those in front of them: this scene is obviously intended to be important to the story. Figures in the distant Temple entrance are lightly drawn. By contrast to the arrogant disinterested priests, one gives alms or healing to a poor man with a crutch. This contrasts with the small group immediately in front of them, who appear to be haggling in trade.
READ
Jesus entered the Temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them: “It is written: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’, but you are making it a den of robbers.” [Matt.21:12-13]
[Perhaps also read the more detailed account from earlier in Jesus’ ministry, which includes many of the details in the print: Jn.2:13-22.]
REFLECT
Some commentators have identified this scene with the Cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of John’s Gospel [Jn.2:13-22], but the inclusion of the figure who appears to be Judas plotting with the group of priests, makes it more likely that we are witnessing the cleansing before Jesus’ arrest. We can’t be sure that there were two such incidents. The evangelists may have placed the same event at different points in their narrative, for different reasons – John to show from early in his ministry that Jesus had come to reform religion & cleanse the way to God; Matthew to indicate reasons for the rise of priestly plots that led to Jesus’ death. With Rembrandt’s interest in the Bible, he included several details form John’s longer account: the whip of cords v.15, the cattle & sheep, the pouring out of the coins [v.15] & the zeal with which Jesus cleansed God’s house [v.17].
Christ & the figure at the doorway are the only people in the composition to act righteously. His figure directly copies that in Durer’s woodcut of the same subject. Jesus’ face is in shadow, perhaps suggesting righteous anger; he is strongly etched with expressive lines. His clothes are white: Rembrandt deliberately left some printing ink unwiped from the plate, to make other figures greyer. The areas of intense white in the composition emphasise the spiritual meaning in the scene, upon which we are intended to meditate: The light shining through the entrance arch shows the religious purity which the Temple’s was meant to exemplify. This balances the light above the priests & the crown of the canopy covering the Tabernacle. This place should represent purity, prayer & healing (suggested by the Brazen Serpent held by the High Priest [Num.21:4-9; 2Ki.18:1-4; Jn.3:14]), not plotting & arrogance. At the centre of the plate Jesus’ raised hand & whip, stress the reform of religion that we are intended to apply to our own faith & religious practices. The wear on the overturned table suggests how much it has been used & the extent of its corruption.
This print was created at a time when churches throughout Europe were attempting reform. The Dutch Protestant Church just tolerated Jews for trade purposes &was hostile to Roman Catholics, particularly as the nation had recently overcome the rule of Catholic Spain. Protestantism stressed Dutch political & religious independence. But there were several opposing reform movements within Dutch Protestantism, in which differening practices & doctrinal teachings caused hostility. Such divisions are still often divisive in preventing Christian unity today. Perhaps, as well as encouraging us to reform our own faith & religious practices, the story in the print could encourage us to consider what we might need to remove in our attitude to other believers to make the worldwide Church more like the untied Body of Christ which Jesus & St. Paul intended. If we reform our own faith & religious practices, we might be better examples to help others to also work towards greater Christ-likeness. Yet we should never try to make everyone’s practices & relationship with God the same. God made us all with wide variety in our spirituality. Some relate & worship corporately & loudly, some more privately & quietly; some spirituality is awakened visually, some through literature, music, intellectual theology, reason, poetry, story, spiritual biography, metaphors & symbols. As we all have varieties of characters, intellects & gifts, we need to find the triggers to spirituality which best bring us to God to worship “in Spirit and in Truth” [Jn.4:23-24], & which help bring others to similarly true spiritual relationships. We should surely be recognising & approving what is good in others’ gifts & practices, working out how we can work together, learn from each other’s faith & value the ways that some may have come to understand in truer ways that us.
This picture demonstrates above all that our expression of faith must be true, righteous & Christ-like, not chaotic.
PONDER
It is easy to read the story of the Cleansing of the Temple self-righteously, to show how Jesus reformed the Jewish religion of his day. That is definitely why this incident was included in Matthew & John’s Gospels. Yet in applying scripture to our own lives it is important to consider how the ethical & religious meanings within this story might relate to our own circumstances. How would Jesus react if he came into your own church? What would he approve, according to his standards? Of what would he disapprove? Are there ways in which you can improve your Christian practice & discipleship?
What would Jesus say to you if he looked into your material, religious & spiritual life? What would he want you to clear out? What would he want you to enhance, in order to be a truer to Christ’s example & teaching of faith.
What is real, “in Spirit and in Truth” in your relationship with God & in your worship? How has this developed & grown? What helped that growth & what might help you enhance it further?
One of Christ’s aims was that all his people would be able to work together as one body, using their gifts & spirituality to expand his work & mission in the world. How might you & your church work together better with other Christian communities to give a united witness in a world that needs the truth of Christ? Do you feel like ‘one body’ with other Christians in your own church & Christians in other churches? What do you contribute as a part of that body? How do your gifts link in with those of others & work together holistically to promote Christ & true faith?
PRAY
Lord of Truth, help me to relate to you in Spirit and in Truth. “Search me and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked ways in me, and lead me in the paths everlasting.” [Ps.139:23-24.]
Lord, guide our Church to believe, work and practice according to your truth. Where we fail you, root out what is wrong, cleanse, forgive and change us. Where our traditions fall short, strengthen us in true discipleship and worship. Where we please you, Lord, by your Spirit, enhance the ways in which we practise our faith, and make us effective witnesses for you.
3 CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE - 1651-1652
LOOK
In the darkness of the garden, Jesus kneels in prayer. A kneeling angel in the centre of the plate embraces Jesus gently. Below him, just sketched in outline the disciples are sleeping. In the distance, behind the angel’s wing, a group of more generally sketched figures, some with spears, enter the gate in the wall of the garden. The design seems incomplete, with only one state of the print being made, yet the lack of detailed finish helps to add expression to the scene. Light shines in from the left, illuminating the angel & the left side of Jesus, leaving the right of the figure & part of his face in strong shadow. Behind is a dark tower of Jerusalem, perhaps intended to represent the Temple or the Roman citadel. Heavy dark clouds move away from Jerusalem, hanging above Jesus. The dark landscape background forms a triangle with the dark shadow rising from the left in the foreground. Both point the eye towards the head of Jesus. The swirl of the clouds above form shadows, which twist down around Jesus then flow diagonally down to the left in a form that resembles a serpent of shadow enfolding him. The shadow of the knoll on which Jesus prays seems like a clawed hand reaching threateningly towards Jesus. Behind this the disciples sleep in the half-light, seemingly unaware of what Jesus is undergoing & the marching soldiers in the distance.
READ
Jesus went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place he said to them: “Pray that you may not come to the time of trial.” Then he withdrew about a stone’s throw from them, knelt down and prayed: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done. Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayer more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them: “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that that you may not come to the time of trial.” [Lk.22:39-46]
REFLECT
It should be noted that the two verses which are exclusive to Luke’s Gospel, mentioning the comforting angel & Jesus sweating blood, are not found in all early manuscripts of the gospel. We cannot therefore be certain of their authenticity. They may have been invented to add further spiritual implications & drama to this part of the story. But certainly they were considered to be spiritual truths when Rembrandt was illustrating this poignant scene. He did not emphasise the blood, but concentrates our thoughts on the intervention of the strengthening angel,
The composition of this print is similar to Rembrandt’s equally sensitive print of the angel stopping Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac. I wonder if the themes connected in the artist’s mind as they have during my contemplation of the images. Abraham thought that his covenant relationship with God required the sacrifice of his precious son. At the last minute he was prevented from following this extreme testing of his faith by a messenger from God. No longer would human sacrifice be required to appease & secure a relationship with the divine. Jesus had already sacrificed himself partly in becoming a limited human being. As God’s Son he came to realise that to secure a lasting covenant relationship between God & humanity would need further sacrifice of himself. In Gethsemane he is reaching the climax of his ministry, but in his case, the messenger from his Father did not come to prevent his death but to strengthen him in facing it. To follow God’s ways does require elements of self-giving & sometimes sacrifices of things that we cherish. Nevertheless, in our own cases, as with Abraham & Christ, we need to be as certain as we can that we are making the right choices & sacrifices. We need to develop spiritual discernment: it is too easy, even in matters of faith, to either be self-indulgent or over self-sacrificial for wrong reasons.
I see that night of prayer in Gethsemane as key to Christ overcoming the struggle to redeem humanity. After his arrest it would not have been easy to concentrate on prayer. Mental pressures & physical pain during his trials, sentence, scourging, journey to Calvary & the agony of crucifixion could have overpowered his brain. In Gethsemane he surely deeply considered & resolved the necessity of his death & what he faced. I sense that in Gethsemane & his prayer in Jn.17, Jesus cemented us to him, to be able to carry the world he loved throughout the coming intense suffering. The name Gethsemane means “olive press”. In the garden at some time olive oil must have been pressed. The press is a meaningful metaphor for the pressure under which Jesus overcame fears & doubts & accepted his coming death. Olive oil was used for anointing: Jesus had been initially anointed by God, baptised by John before his mission, then by Mary at Bethany six days before this time in Gethsemane [Jn.12:1-8]. He would now anoint his people by his death.
At Passover time sacrificial lambs were prepared & New Testament writings often link Jesus’ death with this sacrifice. The parallel may have been on his mind during the Last Supper & in Gethsemane. The implications must have been a heavy burden on his mind. Each Jewish Passover thousands of lambs were killed. They must have been confused & afraid during the blood-bath in the Temple. Jesus sensed what might lie ahead even more. It must have taken huge determination to overcome terrors & doubts & accept the way he felt his trusted Father was leading him. Most of our own decisions may seem shallow by comparison, yet God’s love understands our fears just as much & can support us.
The sorrow is reflected in Jesus’ pose. Despite his resolve to follow his Father’s will, being human, he would still feel pressures & confusion. Luke 22:44 emphasised his ‘anguish’ & his sweat being ‘like great drops of blood’. If this detail circulating among the sources of the Gospels is true, this phenomenon may have fascinated Luke, if he had the medical background that tradition suggests [Col.4:14]. The description may refer to the rare medical condition of haematidrosis or haematohidrosis, which can occur under extreme stress & emotional or physical pressure.
The inclusion of the angel implies that heaven gave needed support, yet in our own stressful situations we may not feel a divine care automatically. Pressures can cause intense loneliness as well as pain, so it is important for us to support those who are under stress. Today there seems to be a dearth of angels being sent to give support: perhaps because we are ourselves called to fulfil that role of supporting others on God’s behalf. As Teresa of Ávila wrote: “Christ has no body now but ours; no hands or feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world; ours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Ours are the hands through which he blesses the world. Ours are his hands, his feet, his eyes; we are his body.”
By contrast to Jesus’ sorrow & the shadows appearing to threatening him, the sleeping disciples seem at rest, more in harmony with the landscape around them. Christ had asked them to stay awake with him but fatigue after the drinks & festivities of the Passover meal probably easily overcame them. We understandably criticise the disciples for failing Jesus; he told them of his worries & they must have sensed tension in their master. Luke implies more than other Gospel accounts that the disciples knew something of what was coming. They are describes as sleeping ‘because of grief’ [v.45]. Yet they were probably unaware of the extreme intensity of what he was facing. How often do our good intensions to follow God’s will, ultimately fail God & others because our priorities are different & we prefer our rest?
PONDER
We cannot be general in helping people find healing & peace; we need to address their particular needs & issues. Consider how you might help in specific situations you know. Pray for situations into which you long to give support. How can you best help others in the difficulties?
Recollect problems & questions you have faced. What helped you to resolve them? Can you learn from these? Do you automatically turn to God in problem times, or initially try to resolve them personally? Using human resources, minds & wisdom to work through solutions is important but at what stage do you turn to God for the Spirit’s aid?
How sensitive are you to recognising when another person has troubles? Have you been sensitive enough in your response. Perhaps pray for sensitivity & awareness when others are in trouble, & wisdom to know how best to help.
PRAYER
Lord, when I am confused, worried about taking decisions or need your help in any way, help me to trust and listen to your guidance. May your Spirit speak to me in ways that I can hear, understand and act upon.
By your Spirit’s prompting, make me aware when others are in need or suffering in any way. Help me be sensitive and active in my support. Give me the wisdom to know how best to help. Lord, spread your love & care through us.
Lord, when fears, threats or sinful situations overshadow our world, give your Church the courage to stand out and act in your wisdom and strength to oppose them. By your Spirit’s life in the world and through the influence of your active people, we pray that your power will overcome wrongs and build your Kingdom in this troubled world.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because by your determination to follow your Father’s will you have redeemed your world. AMEN
4 CHRIST BEFORE PILATE – 1635-6
In the darkness of the garden, Jesus kneels in prayer. A kneeling angel in the centre of the plate embraces Jesus gently. Below him, just sketched in outline the disciples are sleeping. In the distance, behind the angel’s wing, a group of more generally sketched figures, some with spears, enter the gate in the wall of the garden. The design seems incomplete, with only one state of the print being made, yet the lack of detailed finish helps to add expression to the scene. Light shines in from the left, illuminating the angel & the left side of Jesus, leaving the right of the figure & part of his face in strong shadow. Behind is a dark tower of Jerusalem, perhaps intended to represent the Temple or the Roman citadel. Heavy dark clouds move away from Jerusalem, hanging above Jesus. The dark landscape background forms a triangle with the dark shadow rising from the left in the foreground. Both point the eye towards the head of Jesus. The swirl of the clouds above form shadows, which twist down around Jesus then flow diagonally down to the left in a form that resembles a serpent of shadow enfolding him. The shadow of the knoll on which Jesus prays seems like a clawed hand reaching threateningly towards Jesus. Behind this the disciples sleep in the half-light, seemingly unaware of what Jesus is undergoing & the marching soldiers in the distance.
READ
Jesus went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place he said to them: “Pray that you may not come to the time of trial.” Then he withdrew about a stone’s throw from them, knelt down and prayed: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done. Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayer more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. When he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them: “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that that you may not come to the time of trial.” [Lk.22:39-46]
REFLECT
It should be noted that the two verses which are exclusive to Luke’s Gospel, mentioning the comforting angel & Jesus sweating blood, are not found in all early manuscripts of the gospel. We cannot therefore be certain of their authenticity. They may have been invented to add further spiritual implications & drama to this part of the story. But certainly they were considered to be spiritual truths when Rembrandt was illustrating this poignant scene. He did not emphasise the blood, but concentrates our thoughts on the intervention of the strengthening angel,
The composition of this print is similar to Rembrandt’s equally sensitive print of the angel stopping Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac. I wonder if the themes connected in the artist’s mind as they have during my contemplation of the images. Abraham thought that his covenant relationship with God required the sacrifice of his precious son. At the last minute he was prevented from following this extreme testing of his faith by a messenger from God. No longer would human sacrifice be required to appease & secure a relationship with the divine. Jesus had already sacrificed himself partly in becoming a limited human being. As God’s Son he came to realise that to secure a lasting covenant relationship between God & humanity would need further sacrifice of himself. In Gethsemane he is reaching the climax of his ministry, but in his case, the messenger from his Father did not come to prevent his death but to strengthen him in facing it. To follow God’s ways does require elements of self-giving & sometimes sacrifices of things that we cherish. Nevertheless, in our own cases, as with Abraham & Christ, we need to be as certain as we can that we are making the right choices & sacrifices. We need to develop spiritual discernment: it is too easy, even in matters of faith, to either be self-indulgent or over self-sacrificial for wrong reasons.
I see that night of prayer in Gethsemane as key to Christ overcoming the struggle to redeem humanity. After his arrest it would not have been easy to concentrate on prayer. Mental pressures & physical pain during his trials, sentence, scourging, journey to Calvary & the agony of crucifixion could have overpowered his brain. In Gethsemane he surely deeply considered & resolved the necessity of his death & what he faced. I sense that in Gethsemane & his prayer in Jn.17, Jesus cemented us to him, to be able to carry the world he loved throughout the coming intense suffering. The name Gethsemane means “olive press”. In the garden at some time olive oil must have been pressed. The press is a meaningful metaphor for the pressure under which Jesus overcame fears & doubts & accepted his coming death. Olive oil was used for anointing: Jesus had been initially anointed by God, baptised by John before his mission, then by Mary at Bethany six days before this time in Gethsemane [Jn.12:1-8]. He would now anoint his people by his death.
At Passover time sacrificial lambs were prepared & New Testament writings often link Jesus’ death with this sacrifice. The parallel may have been on his mind during the Last Supper & in Gethsemane. The implications must have been a heavy burden on his mind. Each Jewish Passover thousands of lambs were killed. They must have been confused & afraid during the blood-bath in the Temple. Jesus sensed what might lie ahead even more. It must have taken huge determination to overcome terrors & doubts & accept the way he felt his trusted Father was leading him. Most of our own decisions may seem shallow by comparison, yet God’s love understands our fears just as much & can support us.
The sorrow is reflected in Jesus’ pose. Despite his resolve to follow his Father’s will, being human, he would still feel pressures & confusion. Luke 22:44 emphasised his ‘anguish’ & his sweat being ‘like great drops of blood’. If this detail circulating among the sources of the Gospels is true, this phenomenon may have fascinated Luke, if he had the medical background that tradition suggests [Col.4:14]. The description may refer to the rare medical condition of haematidrosis or haematohidrosis, which can occur under extreme stress & emotional or physical pressure.
The inclusion of the angel implies that heaven gave needed support, yet in our own stressful situations we may not feel a divine care automatically. Pressures can cause intense loneliness as well as pain, so it is important for us to support those who are under stress. Today there seems to be a dearth of angels being sent to give support: perhaps because we are ourselves called to fulfil that role of supporting others on God’s behalf. As Teresa of Ávila wrote: “Christ has no body now but ours; no hands or feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world; ours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Ours are the hands through which he blesses the world. Ours are his hands, his feet, his eyes; we are his body.”
By contrast to Jesus’ sorrow & the shadows appearing to threatening him, the sleeping disciples seem at rest, more in harmony with the landscape around them. Christ had asked them to stay awake with him but fatigue after the drinks & festivities of the Passover meal probably easily overcame them. We understandably criticise the disciples for failing Jesus; he told them of his worries & they must have sensed tension in their master. Luke implies more than other Gospel accounts that the disciples knew something of what was coming. They are describes as sleeping ‘because of grief’ [v.45]. Yet they were probably unaware of the extreme intensity of what he was facing. How often do our good intensions to follow God’s will, ultimately fail God & others because our priorities are different & we prefer our rest?
PONDER
We cannot be general in helping people find healing & peace; we need to address their particular needs & issues. Consider how you might help in specific situations you know. Pray for situations into which you long to give support. How can you best help others in the difficulties?
Recollect problems & questions you have faced. What helped you to resolve them? Can you learn from these? Do you automatically turn to God in problem times, or initially try to resolve them personally? Using human resources, minds & wisdom to work through solutions is important but at what stage do you turn to God for the Spirit’s aid?
How sensitive are you to recognising when another person has troubles? Have you been sensitive enough in your response. Perhaps pray for sensitivity & awareness when others are in trouble, & wisdom to know how best to help.
PRAYER
Lord, when I am confused, worried about taking decisions or need your help in any way, help me to trust and listen to your guidance. May your Spirit speak to me in ways that I can hear, understand and act upon.
By your Spirit’s prompting, make me aware when others are in need or suffering in any way. Help me be sensitive and active in my support. Give me the wisdom to know how best to help. Lord, spread your love & care through us.
Lord, when fears, threats or sinful situations overshadow our world, give your Church the courage to stand out and act in your wisdom and strength to oppose them. By your Spirit’s life in the world and through the influence of your active people, we pray that your power will overcome wrongs and build your Kingdom in this troubled world.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because by your determination to follow your Father’s will you have redeemed your world. AMEN
4 CHRIST BEFORE PILATE – 1635-6
LOOK
This is a very crowded scene but the still-relatively young artist was showing that he could control the complexities of composition. Within the turmoil, Jesus is the most upright & emotionally controlled figure at the apex of a triangle consisting of an elderly turbaned Pilate and a group of priests who appear to be demanding that he accede to their demands. The major focus of light is on Jesus and the priests, presumably to emphasise the contrast between their character and aims.
While there is not a lot of physical action in the picture the gestures of the figures suggest the ultimatum that is being proposed to Pilate. Either he condemned Jesus, or the priests would stir up the crowd against him. Compositionally the eye is drawn diagonally downward from the canopy of the governor’s seat in the upper right, through Christ, looking up to heaven, surrounded by mocking soldiers, towards the group of priests bullying Pilate to fulfil their will and execute Jesus. In the lower left a priest stirs up the indignation of the crowd to call “We have no king but Caesar” [Jn.19:15]. The dark arch above him seems ominous. It may be symbolic of the coming death of Jesus, the arch through which he might be led to slaughter, or perhaps the dark entrance to the Temple, which should be a place of light not darkness. Above it (in the painted preparatory study, though removed in the eventual print) is a clock-face indicating the early time of 5.00 a.m., suggesting the earliness of the hour at which the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate, the immanence of the decision which Pilate must make, and the few hours left before Jesus death through which he would achieve salvation.
Mirroring Jesus’ verticality, a huge bust of Caesar on a tall pillar looms over the scene indicating the power under which Pilate serves as governor. The priests appear to be bribing the governor by threatening that if he does not submit to their will they will invoke Caesar’s wrath and have him deposed. The priest with the stubborn expression kneeling before him appears to have seized his staff of office or is wielding his own official staff. This points up to heaven between the pillars of the building and the bust of Caesar. Another bearded priest reaches in to seize Pilate’s cloak – an action which would normally have led to immediate death. The group of soldiers behind Christ seem unsure what they should do, as the religious power of the Jewish leaders is dominating that of the secular authorities. There is emotional tension in the scene, but it is very obvious what Pilate’s decision will be, despite his dismissive gesture.
The concerned figure of Pilate’s wife looks out of an arched window between the bust of Caesar, and in direct line with the heads of Christ and Pilate, balancing the alternative diagonals of the staff of office and the soldier’s spear behind Jesus. She directs our thoughts to the injustice of the scene, while Jesus looks up, expressing greater trust or knowledge that good will arise from this.
READ [Jn.18:28 - 19:16]
28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” 32 (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 40 They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.
19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”
13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
REFLECT
This is a large composition, the same size as his first Deposition print [study 8]. Rembrandt was already producing his own prints at this time, but he commissioned the Amsterdam reproduction artist Jan van Vliet to etch this scene. He may not have been satisfied with the expression in the etching, as he did not use van Vliet after those two plates.
Whereas Rembrandt’s later, more frontal version of the scene (Study 5 below) seems to have been based on Matthew’s Gospel, this contains many details from John’s Gospel particularly focusing the blame very firmly on the Jewish authorities and emphasising Pilate's indecision the earliness of the hour, and the determination of the priests to have Jesus destroyed.
It is an ugly image, possibly one of the ugliest of Rembrandt’s career, but that reflects the subject. There was a tradition in Northern European art of contrasting the calm character of Christ with the ugliness of those persecuting him. This can be seen in Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings of The Mocking of Christ [National Gallery, London]. There his persecutors have the characteristics described in mediaeval medicine as Phlegmatic, Sanguine, Melancholic and Choleric. Rembrandt would have own this tradition, so it may be that the varied physiognomies of the priests represented here have a similar intention. Christ, by contrast, has the various ‘humours’ in balance. (Yellow & black bile, blood & phlegm were thought to make up one’s personality and were reflected in one's physiognomy & complexion). So Christ is represented with a more noble calm face.
Christ is cloaked, in the traditional iconography of the “Man of Sorrows” [Isa,Isa.52:13- 53:12 esp. 53:3], which for various reasons was a popular spiritual subject amid the troubles of late C15th Northern European art. It showed Christ identifying with the needs of his suffering people. But usually The Man of Sorrows was relatively isolated, as a figure, to encourage contemplation of his sufferings, not surrounded by so many soldiers and such a dense crowd.
Whereas its pair, the Deposition print, was based on an existing finished oil-painting, this was not. So Rembrandt worked out the lighting & composition of the print in a grisaille oil sketch on paper [National Gallery, London - 1694 - above]. (This composition is in reverse, as the printing process reverses the image on the plate.) He appears to have used the technique of making oil sketches for planning several future prints. In this case the tonal variations gave more substance from which van Vliet could produce an image. However, the print does not have the expressive power or subtle light effects of the oil-sketch, in which the greatest light is on the culpability of the priests, whereas Jesus is in semi-shadow. To obtain the subtleties he required may be why Rembrandt created his own prints afterwards.
Rembrandt would have intended the reproduction to promote his work as a young-up-and-coming artist, by pairing it with the Stadtholder’s commission. They both demonstrated his skills at designing complex images with a wide variety of characters. But one presumes that, conforming with the spiritual practices of his day, another of his intentions for the print was that people would buy it to use for religious contemplation.. The ugliness of what is going on with the priests and people in the scene is in marked contrast to the gift of light & redemption that Jesus came to achieve. This particularly makes the scene uncomfortable for spiritual reflection. But most who have experience of churches will recognise that there are truths behind the hypocrisy being demonstrated here. Sadly, religious institutions are rarely the places of total light, truth, purity & honesty that they should be. Those in power often make decisions based more on political or social expediency than holiness. There are bullies in some church bodies too. Rembrandt may have seen or experienced this already in his life, as the politics of Dutch Protestantism of his time dictated much of the state and society. This has parallels with the undue influence that the priests are being shown to exert on Pilate.
Later in his life, 12 years after the death of his wife Saskia, and 18 years after making this print, Rembrandt was to experience negative influences of the church working against him. Hypocritical church leaders condemned his enforced, unconventional relationship with Hendrickje Stoffels, his housekeeper, nurse to Titus, and Rembrandt’s lifelong companion after the death of his wife. The Council of the Reformed Church summoned Hendrickje before them in July 1654 & branded her for living with the artist “like a whore”, banning her from celebrations of the Lord’s Supper. Rembrandt was hardly a ‘perfect’ Christian, but questions of his personal morality were used, alongside other excuses, to attempt to ruin the artist’s career by discouraging commissions and sales. Such hostility reflects the narrowness of the church of the time (and in some churches today) but was unjustified, since Rembrandt would most probably have married her if his wife’s will had not made this impossible. She and he remained faithful for life & had a daughter, Cornelia, who must also have suffered the opprobrium of the churchmen for her enforced illegitimacy.
Pilate had been placed in a very difficult position. He looks very different from the military governor who he was. The limited historical information on Pilate suggests that he was cruel and vindictive in the way that he asserted Roman power and dealt with those who opposed Roman rule. Rembrandt represented him more as an eastern potentate, but he managed to show the dilemma he was facing in the decision before him. This represents the emphasis in John’s Gospel account on placing the blame for Jesus’ death clearly on the plotting of the Jews & the acquiescence of the crowd to being stirred up by the authorities. Within the complexity of our world and society, it is hard for leaders, even Christians to always act in politically, socially and spiritually holy ways. Nevertheless we can all reflect on this image, which encourages us to attempt to have Christ-like integrity. Contemplating it makes one realise how different Church standards can be from the nature of love, tolerance & forgiveness that Jesus modelled, and the ways of peace and love that he taught.
PONDER
While remaining holy, & recognising the continued importance of keeping & following the standards set by scripture, Jesus was flexible & demonstrated that God’s ways were directed by love, wisdom & understanding, not legalism, vindictiveness or the desire for power. Do you, & does the Church demonstrate this?
What makes Christian or other religious leaders act so differently from the precepts of their religion? Most of us as believers are hypocrites to some extent, when we compare the ways that we live & act with the ways that Christ taught & exemplified. Do you feel that God would view you as having Christian integrity? How might you develop a more authentic Christian lifestyle and Christ-like attitudes?
In his 1644 painting, Rembrandt showed Christ identifying with the condition of the woman taken in adultery being condemned by the powers in the Temple. What situations today might Jesus reach into with loving understanding, where the Church might be failing to reach? Where might Christ support those who society or some Christians might condemn? Often, as in the case with recognition of homosexual orientation and divorce, the Church lags behind the majority in society in its ability to understand & be inclusive. Why might this be? Are we truly following Christ in our principles?
Can you think of people in the community who have suffered from the hypocrisy or double standards of others? How might you support them & give them a truer image of the Christian faith & lifestyle?
PRAY
Lord of truth, help me to remain true to your ways and not resort to hypocrisy.
Where I face difficult decisions, may I not compromise my faith, but make wise decisions with love, always putting others before myself and care before legalism.
Pray for the leaders of the world. the Church and of other faiths, that they may make decisions with integrity, that enable the principles of God’s Kingdom to develop in the world and bring peace.
May your church develop the love, wisdom, care, understanding and fruits of your Spirit, which will help it to bring God’s truth to society and help to build God’s Kingdom.
Help me stand up to truth and support others who are persecuted for their own stance for truth (pray for specific situations)
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because through your self-giving and integrity you have redeemed the world. Your Kingdom come; your will be done! AMEN
This is a very crowded scene but the still-relatively young artist was showing that he could control the complexities of composition. Within the turmoil, Jesus is the most upright & emotionally controlled figure at the apex of a triangle consisting of an elderly turbaned Pilate and a group of priests who appear to be demanding that he accede to their demands. The major focus of light is on Jesus and the priests, presumably to emphasise the contrast between their character and aims.
While there is not a lot of physical action in the picture the gestures of the figures suggest the ultimatum that is being proposed to Pilate. Either he condemned Jesus, or the priests would stir up the crowd against him. Compositionally the eye is drawn diagonally downward from the canopy of the governor’s seat in the upper right, through Christ, looking up to heaven, surrounded by mocking soldiers, towards the group of priests bullying Pilate to fulfil their will and execute Jesus. In the lower left a priest stirs up the indignation of the crowd to call “We have no king but Caesar” [Jn.19:15]. The dark arch above him seems ominous. It may be symbolic of the coming death of Jesus, the arch through which he might be led to slaughter, or perhaps the dark entrance to the Temple, which should be a place of light not darkness. Above it (in the painted preparatory study, though removed in the eventual print) is a clock-face indicating the early time of 5.00 a.m., suggesting the earliness of the hour at which the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate, the immanence of the decision which Pilate must make, and the few hours left before Jesus death through which he would achieve salvation.
Mirroring Jesus’ verticality, a huge bust of Caesar on a tall pillar looms over the scene indicating the power under which Pilate serves as governor. The priests appear to be bribing the governor by threatening that if he does not submit to their will they will invoke Caesar’s wrath and have him deposed. The priest with the stubborn expression kneeling before him appears to have seized his staff of office or is wielding his own official staff. This points up to heaven between the pillars of the building and the bust of Caesar. Another bearded priest reaches in to seize Pilate’s cloak – an action which would normally have led to immediate death. The group of soldiers behind Christ seem unsure what they should do, as the religious power of the Jewish leaders is dominating that of the secular authorities. There is emotional tension in the scene, but it is very obvious what Pilate’s decision will be, despite his dismissive gesture.
The concerned figure of Pilate’s wife looks out of an arched window between the bust of Caesar, and in direct line with the heads of Christ and Pilate, balancing the alternative diagonals of the staff of office and the soldier’s spear behind Jesus. She directs our thoughts to the injustice of the scene, while Jesus looks up, expressing greater trust or knowledge that good will arise from this.
READ [Jn.18:28 - 19:16]
28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews replied, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.” 32 (This was to fulfil what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.)
33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 40 They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.
19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”
13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
REFLECT
This is a large composition, the same size as his first Deposition print [study 8]. Rembrandt was already producing his own prints at this time, but he commissioned the Amsterdam reproduction artist Jan van Vliet to etch this scene. He may not have been satisfied with the expression in the etching, as he did not use van Vliet after those two plates.
Whereas Rembrandt’s later, more frontal version of the scene (Study 5 below) seems to have been based on Matthew’s Gospel, this contains many details from John’s Gospel particularly focusing the blame very firmly on the Jewish authorities and emphasising Pilate's indecision the earliness of the hour, and the determination of the priests to have Jesus destroyed.
It is an ugly image, possibly one of the ugliest of Rembrandt’s career, but that reflects the subject. There was a tradition in Northern European art of contrasting the calm character of Christ with the ugliness of those persecuting him. This can be seen in Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings of The Mocking of Christ [National Gallery, London]. There his persecutors have the characteristics described in mediaeval medicine as Phlegmatic, Sanguine, Melancholic and Choleric. Rembrandt would have own this tradition, so it may be that the varied physiognomies of the priests represented here have a similar intention. Christ, by contrast, has the various ‘humours’ in balance. (Yellow & black bile, blood & phlegm were thought to make up one’s personality and were reflected in one's physiognomy & complexion). So Christ is represented with a more noble calm face.
Christ is cloaked, in the traditional iconography of the “Man of Sorrows” [Isa,Isa.52:13- 53:12 esp. 53:3], which for various reasons was a popular spiritual subject amid the troubles of late C15th Northern European art. It showed Christ identifying with the needs of his suffering people. But usually The Man of Sorrows was relatively isolated, as a figure, to encourage contemplation of his sufferings, not surrounded by so many soldiers and such a dense crowd.
Whereas its pair, the Deposition print, was based on an existing finished oil-painting, this was not. So Rembrandt worked out the lighting & composition of the print in a grisaille oil sketch on paper [National Gallery, London - 1694 - above]. (This composition is in reverse, as the printing process reverses the image on the plate.) He appears to have used the technique of making oil sketches for planning several future prints. In this case the tonal variations gave more substance from which van Vliet could produce an image. However, the print does not have the expressive power or subtle light effects of the oil-sketch, in which the greatest light is on the culpability of the priests, whereas Jesus is in semi-shadow. To obtain the subtleties he required may be why Rembrandt created his own prints afterwards.
Rembrandt would have intended the reproduction to promote his work as a young-up-and-coming artist, by pairing it with the Stadtholder’s commission. They both demonstrated his skills at designing complex images with a wide variety of characters. But one presumes that, conforming with the spiritual practices of his day, another of his intentions for the print was that people would buy it to use for religious contemplation.. The ugliness of what is going on with the priests and people in the scene is in marked contrast to the gift of light & redemption that Jesus came to achieve. This particularly makes the scene uncomfortable for spiritual reflection. But most who have experience of churches will recognise that there are truths behind the hypocrisy being demonstrated here. Sadly, religious institutions are rarely the places of total light, truth, purity & honesty that they should be. Those in power often make decisions based more on political or social expediency than holiness. There are bullies in some church bodies too. Rembrandt may have seen or experienced this already in his life, as the politics of Dutch Protestantism of his time dictated much of the state and society. This has parallels with the undue influence that the priests are being shown to exert on Pilate.
Later in his life, 12 years after the death of his wife Saskia, and 18 years after making this print, Rembrandt was to experience negative influences of the church working against him. Hypocritical church leaders condemned his enforced, unconventional relationship with Hendrickje Stoffels, his housekeeper, nurse to Titus, and Rembrandt’s lifelong companion after the death of his wife. The Council of the Reformed Church summoned Hendrickje before them in July 1654 & branded her for living with the artist “like a whore”, banning her from celebrations of the Lord’s Supper. Rembrandt was hardly a ‘perfect’ Christian, but questions of his personal morality were used, alongside other excuses, to attempt to ruin the artist’s career by discouraging commissions and sales. Such hostility reflects the narrowness of the church of the time (and in some churches today) but was unjustified, since Rembrandt would most probably have married her if his wife’s will had not made this impossible. She and he remained faithful for life & had a daughter, Cornelia, who must also have suffered the opprobrium of the churchmen for her enforced illegitimacy.
Pilate had been placed in a very difficult position. He looks very different from the military governor who he was. The limited historical information on Pilate suggests that he was cruel and vindictive in the way that he asserted Roman power and dealt with those who opposed Roman rule. Rembrandt represented him more as an eastern potentate, but he managed to show the dilemma he was facing in the decision before him. This represents the emphasis in John’s Gospel account on placing the blame for Jesus’ death clearly on the plotting of the Jews & the acquiescence of the crowd to being stirred up by the authorities. Within the complexity of our world and society, it is hard for leaders, even Christians to always act in politically, socially and spiritually holy ways. Nevertheless we can all reflect on this image, which encourages us to attempt to have Christ-like integrity. Contemplating it makes one realise how different Church standards can be from the nature of love, tolerance & forgiveness that Jesus modelled, and the ways of peace and love that he taught.
PONDER
While remaining holy, & recognising the continued importance of keeping & following the standards set by scripture, Jesus was flexible & demonstrated that God’s ways were directed by love, wisdom & understanding, not legalism, vindictiveness or the desire for power. Do you, & does the Church demonstrate this?
What makes Christian or other religious leaders act so differently from the precepts of their religion? Most of us as believers are hypocrites to some extent, when we compare the ways that we live & act with the ways that Christ taught & exemplified. Do you feel that God would view you as having Christian integrity? How might you develop a more authentic Christian lifestyle and Christ-like attitudes?
In his 1644 painting, Rembrandt showed Christ identifying with the condition of the woman taken in adultery being condemned by the powers in the Temple. What situations today might Jesus reach into with loving understanding, where the Church might be failing to reach? Where might Christ support those who society or some Christians might condemn? Often, as in the case with recognition of homosexual orientation and divorce, the Church lags behind the majority in society in its ability to understand & be inclusive. Why might this be? Are we truly following Christ in our principles?
Can you think of people in the community who have suffered from the hypocrisy or double standards of others? How might you support them & give them a truer image of the Christian faith & lifestyle?
PRAY
Lord of truth, help me to remain true to your ways and not resort to hypocrisy.
Where I face difficult decisions, may I not compromise my faith, but make wise decisions with love, always putting others before myself and care before legalism.
Pray for the leaders of the world. the Church and of other faiths, that they may make decisions with integrity, that enable the principles of God’s Kingdom to develop in the world and bring peace.
May your church develop the love, wisdom, care, understanding and fruits of your Spirit, which will help it to bring God’s truth to society and help to build God’s Kingdom.
Help me stand up to truth and support others who are persecuted for their own stance for truth (pray for specific situations)
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because through your self-giving and integrity you have redeemed the world. Your Kingdom come; your will be done! AMEN
5 CHRIST PRESENTED TO THE PEOPLE – 1655
LOOK
An elaborately dressed & turbaned Pilate with a long staff of office is presenting Jesus to the people, pointing to him, presumably saying “Behold the Man!” or asking them to choose between freeing Jesus or Barabbas who stand beside him. The main figures stand on a platform above the crowd in front of an imposing building of classical design. A dark archway is behind them. In later states of the prints (below) there are dark arches below the platform. Armed guards surround Jesus, who stands bound to the right. Barabbas may also be represented in the group as the bald stocky man behind Pilate & Jesus. To the left a youth stands with jug & bowl for Pilate to wash his hands. Above are statues of Justice & Fortitude. On each side arches & windows contain onlookers including (on the left) Pilate's wife dressed as a Dutch matron. The crowd [lower left] is stirred up & shouting,: priests & elders gather on the right. One elder moves forward below Christ, with outstretched beseeching hands. He may be reaching to encourage the crowd, or asking for Pilate’s condemnation. However, it is just as likely that Rembrandt intended him to represent Nicodemus stepping out to beg for Jesus’ freedom. The direction of his shadow emphasises that he is reaching towards both Christ & Pilate.
READ [Matt.27:15-27]
At the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner to the crowd... At that time they had a notorious prisoner, Judas Barabbas. So after they gathered Pilate asked: “Who do you want me to release to you; Barabbas or Jesus who is called Messiah?” He realised they had handed him over from jealousy. His wife sent word: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man...” The chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and have Jesus killed... Pilate asked “Then what should I do with Jesus?” They all called “Let him be crucified!” He asked “Why what has he done” But they answered the more: “Let him be crucified!” When Pilate saw he could do nothing and that a riot could begin, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd saying: I am innocent of this man’s blood: see to this yourselves.” Then all the people answered: “His blood be on us and on our children!” So he released Barabbas and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
REFLECT
This was one of Rembrandt’s last prints on a religious theme. Like Three Crosses, printed 2 years before, it is one of Rembrandt’s largest, most altered & accomplished plates. It went through 8 different printing states, before the composition gave the focus that Rembrandt desired. The early versions had a large crowd in the foreground. He simplified this with dark arches below Jesus. In the last state, below where Jesus stands are two dark arches, with a mysterious large sculpture between. We cannot be sure of the artist’s intentions in making these alterations but it seems that Rembrandt was focusing viewers on their own response to Jesus, undistracted by details in secondary areas of the scene.
This theme commonly called ‘Ecce Homo’ or ‘Ostentatio Christi’, was fairly popular in art:. Believers were intended to meditate upon it to clarify whether they were sufficiently supportive disciples or neglected Christ. Like the Pieta & Man of Sorrows iconography, it was also a vehicle for contemplating the piteous nature of what Jesus was willing to undergo for our good, compared to the human powers who condemned him. Rembrandt had etched the subject twenty years earlier between 1635 & 1636. That large composition, the same size as his first Deposition print [cf. below] was much more elaborate & based on details in John’s Gospel. He also worked that composition into an oil sketch. It had a diagonal movement downward from the canopy of the governor’s seat in the upper right, through Christ as the highest large figure, looking up to heaven, surrounded by mocking soldiers. Below a group gather around Pilate trying to persuade him to execute Jesus. In the lower left another priest stirs up the indignation of the crowd. A huge bust of Caesar on a tall pillar looms over the scene indicating the threat under which Pilate must make his decision in response to the priests’ hypocritical justification of their call for Jesus’ death: “We have no king but Caesar” [Jn.19:15].
By contrast the later 1655 composition in this later print is frontal & relatively still, apart from the gesturing crowd at the sides. The earlier print revelled in Baroque complexity; now the viewer is confronted by the scene on the stage & asked to consider how we relate to Christ who faces us. This frontality followed a different art tradition: it is similar to the composition of Lucas van Leyden’s 1510 etching of Ecce Homo, also showing the scene with a Netherlandish architectural background. Rembrandt owned a copy of this print & probably developed his composition from it. Rembrandt & van Leyden’s designs reflect the Dutch judicial practice of magistrates presenting condemned criminals before the public in a town, on balconies or high platforms of official buildings. Pilate, in a long robe, holding a staff of office resembles the official dress of a Dutch magistrate. The setting is similar to Amsterdam’s new Town Hall (now the Royal Palace) completed just 20 years before. The artist thus set the trial of Christ in a contemporary context, asking us to imagine how we would act if confronted in our own day. Would we follow the crowd or stand for truth?
Unlike many of Rembrandt’s prints this is entirely in drypoint & is the largest plate that he worked in such a way. Rembrandt's worked on the plate in at least 8 stages or ‘states’. In the last 4 states he slightly reduced the height by 2.5cm. for the practical reason of making it fit easily on a standard size of paper. (He added a strip to the paper for the earlier states). But there seem to have been compositional & content reasons also. By removing the architrave above the building he focused the viewer’s attention more fully onto the central scene. He had almost completed the upper part of the composition in the 1st state & only slightly altered the shading & architecture in the next 3 states. The composition may have been popular & he sold the small preliminary runs, but drypoint marks are not as durable as etching, so the 5th state needed re-hatching of some shading due to wear on the copper plate. This led him to making significant changes in the composition. In the 6th state he removed the crowd in front of the platform, replaced them with an arch, which became two dark arches in the 7th & 8th states, which he signed & dated above the right archway.
It has been suggested that Rembrandt made so many alteration & printed the early states on expensive paper so that he could sell them as rare editions to the many connoisseur print collectors in Amsterdam, as he did later in his career. But the changes were important to adding feeling & meaning. The original composition was conventional, resembling other artist’s images of the scene. By removing the crowd in front of Jesus, he focused us more on the central events on the platform. The arches inserted below Christ make him appear more lonely before the power of the building. He seems to be standing over a chasm. The final the two dark arches could prefigure Calvary; their blackness being like eyes in “The Place of the Skull’. Between these arches he drew a mysterious sculpted male figure, perhaps the Lord of the Underworld, though he rubbed this away in the final, state. We can’t be certain of the identification but the meaning certainly seems to indicate the spiritual as well as the political treat to Jesus.
PONDER
Jesus appears vulnerable. How isolated do you feel amid all the political intrigue of the world, which also seeps into Church politics? In problem issues & situations, how much are you willing to stand out for the truth as Jesus did?
Some believe that the Christian Church should keep to religious issues & not get involved in politics. Yet throughout the Bible, especially in the Books of the Law & the prophets, those of faith are called to combat social ills & support the needy in situations of political & social wrong. What do you think? Should your church or you as an individual Christian involve yourself more in standing up for what you believe to be right? Or should you just pray & focus on religion? If the former, how might you get more involved? And how committed are you in interceding for the world?
This scene shows the dilemma that many face in the presence of power. Making some political decisions is not easy when facing difficult alternatives. Jesus was innocent of charges against him. The religious leaders aimed to maintain their dominance & the status quo. Pilate had to choose between what he knew was right or compromising truth to satisfy the powerful & appease a mob. It is easy to criticise ills in individuals & society & common to feel impotent to influence strong world powers or our own leaders. Do you pray enough for political, social & religious leaders? Is prayer for them sufficient? Can you do anything practical to help or influence some in making right decisions?
Pilate asked Jesus: “What is Truth?” [Jn.18:38]. How do you know what is true in making decisions?
With what does Jesus, looking at you, confront you? What does his truth ask of you? How does he challenge you?
PRAY
Pray for those making difficult decisions in our world, may they gain wisdom & guidance & choose rightly...
Lord of Truth, we pray that in our own lives you will give us the wisdom, guidance and strength to make right decisions; to live by the truth, and to influence the world for good.
We adore you O Christ & we bless you, for you set an example by standing for truth & redeemed the world.
6 CHRIST CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO THIEVES – c1641-55
LOOK
This is a small etching & drypoint (only 13.6 x 10 cms.) Nevertheless it is very sensitively drawn & tightly packed with details to explore. Its oval form & its emotional content suggest that it was intended as an illustration for close examination & spiritual meditation. The mound of earth near the foreground has the resemblance of a skull. The Marys are slumped in despair at the foot of the Cross, mostly turned away from the sadness of the scene. Other women are lightly drawn in in the background.
At Jesus’ feet a silhouetted a more upright kneeling figure, perhaps Jesus’ mother bows her head in sorrow & maybe thought before the body of Jesus. Behind her, the younger John looks up at the cross. In the foreground a man watches thoughtfully considering the scene. His horse bends its head, perhaps in reverence or also feeling sorrow at the death of one that even a beast recognises as its creator. This figure, who appears to wear a coronet of laurels, could be intended to represent the centurion who recognised that it was the ‘Son of God’ who was dying. To the right & left are grouped the elders who have sought Jesus’ death. Some gesticulate towards the cross.
More intriguing among the witnesses is the focus on the two standing figures to the left of the cross. One is secularly dressed, the other could be a priest or elder. These are probably Joseph of Arimathea in a hat looking down towards the sorrowing women, & Nicodemus, turbaned & looking more directly towards Jesus, perhaps recognising the spiritual significance of what has happened. The unrepentant thief seems to be the shaded figure on the foremost cross. Leaning against this is a stick with the sponge that was used to moisten Jesus’ lips. The penitent thief is in greater light. Looking directly towards Jesus, who seems to be speaking & not yet quite dead. His face is very lightly outlined, as though light is shining directly upon him.
READ [Luke 23:32-43]
Two others who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching but the leaders scoffed at him, saying: “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, the chosen one!” ...
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him, saying: “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him saying: “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? We have indeed been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied: “Truly I telly, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
REFLECT
From the position of the figure in the foreground, Rembrandt seems to be intending the viewer to identify with him. If I interpret rightly from his coronet & white horse that this is the centurion, we recognise that we are witnessing the death of the ‘Son of God’, giving his life on our behalf. This delicate small scene of Jesus’ death is very personal. The women are in understandable sorrow, & we are intended to empathise with the sadness of the scene. Jesus has been drawn so lightly & sensitively in drypoint that we can sense this scene as an act of caring love.
This may be only a very minor print in the oeuvre of the artist, but I find it one of his most moving due to the lightness of touch & soft emotive texture. Not many pulls could have been taken from this lightly drypointed print, though two states of it are known. The Tree Crosses print is a far more dynamic emotional tour de force, rightly praised for its expressive qualities, but this work evokes a different, quieter inner response. We are considering the love of God reaching through the sorrow of Calvary & offering hope & security to the believer.
The figure of Jesus is the least defined detail in the picture. Light is shining on him; perhaps Rembrandt was indicating by this that Jesus, the Light of the World, was shining the light of salvation on the dying penitent thief who looks towards him. He too is drawn lightly in contrast to the unrepentant thief, who we see from behind & etched more heavily. The penitent thief is stocky rather than elegant, but there is a sense of hope in his face. We are given no indication of the personality of his fellow criminal; he is almost anonymous with his head hidden behind the dark, more sharply hatched cross. While the crosses of Jesus & the penitent are upright, the cross of the unrepentant thief leans forward. This may be unintentional, but it contains the feeling that he is already falling away from salvation. An unusual detail is the sponge on a lance that leans against this dark cross. The sponge is a detail from John’s Gospel, [Jn.19:29] where it was offered to Jesus. It may be leaning against the other cross to suggest that this thief has rejected the relief that Christ offered. Perhaps the unidealised figure of the penitent thief is intended to indicate than salvation is available to any of us, no matter how ungainly or sinful our lives might be. This is, of course, the heart of the meaning of this incident in the Passion story.
PONDER
Consider the light that faith shines into your life. Try to list what this light & salvation offers to you & others.
What do you consider ‘Salvation’ means & of what does it consist.
Many people today are still afraid of death, particularly fearing the ways that we might die or the possibilities of pain, disability or mental anguish. Rembrandt’s contemporaries were in far more regular constant with death than we usually are, since they had shorter life-expectancy, high child mortality & more limited medical knowledge. They were also far more afraid of spiritual condemnation & the possibility of hell & damnation. Today many like to think that death is the end, though they also like to imagine those they love being at rest. Many contemporary Christians are rightly uncomfortable with the concept of hell. Many find the idea of condemnation, though mentioned in scripture & referred to by Jesus himself, as incompatible with much of the rest of Jesus’ teaching about God as loving & forgiving. Would Jesus’ God create a place like hell or punish people eternally? Many sense that Jesus’ description of a place of damnation was probably responding to the imagery of some of the former beliefs, superstitions & fears of his contemporaries, rather than being literal. The eternal fire & damnation, about which Jesus & others warned, may have been metaphors to encourage people to follow God’s ways, not physical realities. Consider this idea; does it make sense...Do you find this convincing in the light of Jesus’ teaching? [Matt.3:12; 5:22, 29-30; 10:28;13:39-42, 49; 23:15-33, 41; Mk.9:42-49; Lk.12:5; Jn.15:6].
Are you or any who you love afraid of death? How may you shine God’s light & promises into such fear?
PRAY
Forgiving Lord, thank you for the light that you have shone into my life, and the salvation that you achieved for me. May I live my life worthily in response to that light and the promises that you have made for me.
Help to give me the wisdom to know how to spread that light sensitively into the lives of others.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because you shine light, hope and promise into our situations and through your self-offering you have redeemed the world.
7 THE THREE CROSSES – 1653 onward
LOOK
Calvary is viewed from a distance, from behind a crowd watching the crucifixion. Christ’s Cross is illuminated from above with a strong pool of light around his cross. The whole scene is The subject is Jesus Christ on the cross, flanked by the two thieves who were crucified with him, & the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, weeping & supported by the Evangelist. Roman soldiers on horseback, along with grieving citizens, surround the crosses. A beam of light, representing God's light from heaven, pierces the darkened sky to envelope the crucified figure of Christ.
The darkest areas in the print were hatched in drypoint to create intense shadow, while most figures, including Christ were etched. As you look into the image you’ll discover increasing complexity of the scene at Calvary. It many be illustrating the moment when Christ died or the emotional anguish in his ‘Cry of Dereliction’: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Matt. 27:46-54]. The darkness covering the earth seems to be rent apart, like the Temple curtain being torn. Light floods in to illuminate Jesus & cast many other figures in shadow.
Rembrandt includes details from several Gospel accounts. The majority of the detail may be form Luke 23 recording the weeping women, darkness covering the land, the torn Temple curtain, the penitent & unrepentant thieves & the centurion. Matthew wrote of the dead rising from their graves & wandered about, which may be suggested by the scene in the bottom right hand corner of the plate. The dark cavern could also suggest the entrance to the place of the dead, the socket of Calvary (‘the place of the skull’), or the grave in which the dead Christ would rest. Much of the central area inhabited by figures in the earlier states was left as the bare rock of Calvary. This gives greater emphasis to Christ’s isolation in the scene as he dies to redeem this world.
As well as illuminating Jesus, the light of heaven also reaches the repentant thief. In early states the unrepentant thief is distinguished by his bent body on the Cross, almost as if his head is raised to curse God. In the final states, his spiritual condition is suggested by his body being almost entirely enveloped in darkness; only a slight remainder of his silhouette remains. By contrast the pose of the repentant thief resembles that of Christ, though his body is much more relaxed, as though he may already have died & is receiving the peace of salvation as Jesus himself dies.
In the first state, the light also illuminates more figures around the base of the cross. To the left the Marys & other women gather to comfort each other. Behind them a standing young man, (perhaps John) lifts his hands as he watches Christ. To the right the kneeling centurion seems to have dismounted from his horse & kneels in recognition that he is watching the death of God’s Son [Lk.23:47]. Behind his horse other mounted soldiers with spears & swords observe.
By the final state much of the detail had disappeared into the blackness & shadows. The soldiers & watching crowd on either side were reduced in number. Many secondary figures were erased entirely, like those around Mary & soldiers on horseback. This gave emphasis to more important details on which the artist intends the viewer to concentrate. John stands, half illuminated in light, but little light falls on the women around Jesus’ mother Mary, perhaps suggesting their corporate grief & the passage “Weep women of Jerusalem...” [Lk.23:27-31]. Mary is almost a disembodied head surrounded by darkness.
The figures running back to Jerusalem in the foreground were reduced to one, rushing to give news of Jesus’ death. Are they disciples running in fear from the scene, spies running to tell the priests that their plan has been fulfilled (since the priests might have remained ‘clean’ by staying away), those reporting to Pilate that Jesus was dead, Joseph & Nicodemus running to ask for Jesus’ body, or those coming to tell us the news that Christ has died for us?
One of the strangest figures in the scene is the mounted horseman included in the later states, who is almost as dominant in the composition as Christ himself. The horse has been turned round to face Christ, so this may still be intended to represent the centurion, picked out by the light, but larger & represented in greater detail. However he wears a turban, more like Rembrandt’s representations of religious leaders. Could he perhaps be Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus? He is dressed more like an aristocrat than a soldier. (His costume derives from a C15th medallion by the Renaissance printmaker & sculptor Pisanello, of which Rembrandt owned a copy. Rembrandt used him again in his painting ‘The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis’.) He is a man of authority, maybe intending to represent the Dutch connoisseur viewer who has bought the print for religious contemplation, & is being encouraged to reflect on his place in Christ’s Passion & what it has achieved for him. We like him, are witnessing this scene of our redemption.
READ [Luke 23:44-49]
“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole earth until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed., and the curtain of the Temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice said: “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said “Certainly this man was innocent (‘God’s Son’ / ‘”righteous’ in some versions). And when all the crowds who were gathered there for the spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”
REFLECT
The amount of work that went into this major print shows that Rembrandt was committed to its creation. After many alterations this became one of his most dynamic & largest prints, using line, perspective, light & shade to create the emotional effect of Calvary & draw the viewer’s focus onto important features in the scene. It became one of his most sought-after prints, due to its drama, content & innovations, though it was not as finely detailed as many connoisseur collectors of prints valued at the time. In painting Rembrandt also moved towards less finely detailed techniques from those in which he was trained. Fine detail & naturalism were prized among collectors of other artists’ work during the time of his whole career. His looseness of technique may partly have been developed because fine detail took time to achieve, & he increasingly needed to create paintings quickly to make a living. But the expressive qualities that he developed were also intentional. The innovative interaction of dramatic light & expressive marks of his most distinctive paintings & prints add to the meaning of the works, as in this print.
In the process of creating printing plates, artists often print ‘proof’ impressions to check the progress of the etching or engraving. Various ‘states’ of Rembrandt’s prints record this process. He also took several impressions of these states, to sell to ‘connoisseur’ collectors, who wanted a definitive collection or rare limited states. In the case of this plate, Rembrandt continued to make alterations in etching & drypoint for about 10 years. We do not know whether he was dissatisfied with the effect & focus, or whether he was using it as part of his thought-process of meditating on the emotive scene. Perhaps he just wanted to keep selling new prints as his finances were often precarious, & he was certainly in hardship during the time that this print was being developed. There is evidence that to afford the materials for printing he needed to sell off many of his other prints. About 60 impressions are thought to have been made from states 1 to 3 In the 4th & 5th states, varied amounts of ink were also used to create different light effects.
During these stages the composition changed drastically, making the sky & its effect upon the figures darker & more expressive. One might call this scene melodramatic, but its drama highlights the cosmic significance of Salvation. The contrasts between the darkness & the light, giving greater focus on Christ, create the impression of an intense struggle happening within the Saviour & the natural & spiritual worlds as Salvation overcomes sin. The crowd witnessing the scene & the physical world are in chaos & the spiritual dimension seems to be anguish, as the creator & master of all, the Son of God dies. Yet the intensity of the light from heaven reminds us that this is the moment when the redemption of creation is being achieved. The intensifying of the light in the later states particularly distinguishes the repentant from the unrepentant thief. This could acts as a reminder to the viewer of the importance of their own penitence in the process of contemplation.
Increasingly through the alterations, the focus on Christ became accentuated, making the crowds on Calvary more obviously witnesses of this spiritual event. Luke wrote of many onlookers watching the scene, some gong away beating their breasts, presumably in penitence at their contribution to Jesus’ death. Luke stresses those who recognised the significance of this death: Jesus’ followers, ‘watching from a distance’, & the centurion recognising that something of incredible spiritual significance was happening. As this print was designed for contemplation, we are reminded that the viewer is similarly an onlooker upon the scene where their own Salvation is also being achieved.
Although, for dramatic effect & to unify the composition, Rembrandt altered or removed much of the detail of these figures, each of the witness groups are still represented in the scene. The media today often mentions huge numbers among the crowds involved in tragedies: Tiananmen Square, the World Trade Centre, The Manchester Arena bombing, the invasion of Ukraine. But crowds are not anonymous; they are made up of individuals like us, who experience intimate individual tragedies. It is easy to look at this scene of the Passion without thinking of the individuality of the people represented. Each one, even the less detailed figures only vaguely delineated, is an individual case for which Christ is dying. Imagine that the scene is illuminating Christ for you in the chaotic world around you. What is your reaction? And what is he achieving here for you & for your world?
PONDER
Imagine yourself as one or several figures in this scene. (An onlooker witnessing the scene, Mary or John, the turbaned figure / ‘centurion’, one of the figures running back to Jerusalem. What is happening for you as that character? What might be that character’s response to this death?
In this print the cosmos & the crowds witnessing the scene at Calvary seem to be in chaos. Within this turmoil Jesus’ dramatic death is actually a stable point, offering hope in a chaotic, sinful world. Consider what is happening in the world today & how Christ’s death & salvation apply to society & the world around you
Imagine that the scene is illuminating Christ for you personally. What has he achieved for you? What is your personal response to what is being achieved in this scene?
If the heavens are being torn open, like the Temple curtain being torn apart as salvation wass achieved, what does this new, closer access to God & salvation that Jesus achieved mean for you?
The figures rushing away from the scene towards us appear to be running to give the news of what has happened at Calvary to others. Imagine that you are telling others the importance of Christ’s death. How would you explain it?
PRAY
Lord, amid the turmoil of our world and of our lives, your self-giving offers us comfort and the ways to peace.
Help us to look to you in confidence and find your healing love and care. Teach us how we can reach to others and bring them your peace. Help us to build God’s kingdom and shine your light into darkness and distress.
We adore you O Christ, we praise and thank you, for through your cross you offer peace and light amid the chaos of our world.
8 DEPOSITION FORM THE CROSS - 1633
LOOK
Like its pair, ‘Christ before Pilate’, this is a very large print (53x41cms). Joseph, a dominant cloaked & turbaned figure stands before the cross. At his feet a richly decorated cloth is laid out for the body. It is far more elaborate than the linen cloth normally represented in Deposition pictures, but suggests the royal importance of Christ. Usually the Marys & John are dominant in the composition. Here Jesus’ mother, hidden beneath a hood, John, as a dark silhouette & Mary Magdalene in a striped dress, kneel below the ladder. The group watches Christ’s figure but of these only Magdalene’s face is seen, looking up at him. Other women huddle in the far distance beyond Joseph. The emaciated ragged man at the ladder’s base resembles penitent Judas in Rembrandt’s painting Judas Returning the Pieces of Silver but we cannot be certain that this is intended to be Judas. Four figures higher in the composition stretch to lower the weight of Jesus’ corpse. All faces in the design concentrate our attention on Jesus’ body & head. The architecture & walls behind the scene appear like a ruined western city. The composition is formed by many diagonals including the crossbeam, ladder, downward flow of the cloth & rays of light. The strong verticals of Joseph’s body & walking-stick contrast with Jesus’ twisting body. The central area is brightly illuminated, as in the original oil-painting of the scene.
READ [Matt.27:57-61]
When it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body; then Pilate ordered the body to be given to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb, which had been hewn out of rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb...Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.
REFLECT
This replicates Rembrandt’s 1632-3 oil- painting, which was probably his most important commission to date. The plate was etched by reproduction-artist Jan van Vliet. It is the 2nd plate as the 1st was damaged in the etching process. The image was originally arched, as in the original painting. The lines of light in the print are not in the painting, but replace strong light radiating from Christ’s body & the cloth in the painting. The artist probably added his personal touches to van Vliet’s work with a burin. Rembrandt portrayed himself in the face of the man on the left lowering Jesus’ body.
This is the first of Rembrandt’s prints of the Deposition. It is very finely worked with etching & burin, typical of the fine quality that was expected from illustrative prints for spiritual meditation. It would initially have been intended to promote the 27 year old artist’s skills & rising reputation, by promoting his recent commission for the Stadtholder Frederick Henry. This careful print by the then-well-known Amsterdam reproduction-artist Johannes van Vliet was equivalent to an early form of copyrighting, recognising the design as that of Rembrandt. The artist’s later self-printed image Descent from the Cross by Torchlight (next study) is far less detailed, but it is more expressive in technique & more original.
The composition & several details resemble Rubens’ great altarpiece of the subject in Antwerp Cathedral. Rembrandt owned a print of this by Lucas Vorsterman, but had probably never seen the original altarpiece. Like Rembrandt Rubens used prints to disseminate images of his work & register sole rights to the publication of designs. Rembrandt wasn’t just paying homage to Rubens & his iconography. By echoing the famous work, the artist aimed to impress the Stadtholder, demonstrate his skills & significance as a master to the public, & attract potential future commissions.
In Rubens’ Deposition Jesus’ body is elegant, though his left hand & leg are angular. By contrast Rembrandt’s Christ is ungainly & unidealised in proportion. He is obviously dead with no strength in his muscles: his limbs hang limp, his chest & stomach sag. This realism contrasts with the idealism of many figures in Roman Catholic images of Christ & feels particularly Protestant. Northern European Catholic art also used some realism, as in the distorted figures of Christ on mediaeval ‘plague crosses’ once common in Germany especially or Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece.
By depicting the image of Christ as naturalistic rather that idealised & elegant, the self-giving of Christ seems more real. It is almost an illustration of Phil.2:6-11: “Christ Jesus, though in the form of God did not regard equality of God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness... he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Salvation was achieved, not by a beautiful process but by intensity of commitment & love. Christ was willing to go through suffering on behalf of the world. The ugliness of Christ’s body here reminds us that Jesus went into the mire & ugliness of much human life in order to bring us to light. As St. Paul wrote: “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person, someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” [Rom.5:6-8].
Rembrandt’s portrayal of himself as the figure in white on the ladder helping to lower Christ’s body is significant. As well as publicising his skills & his being entrusted with an important commission, it was also a way of advertising his personal religious commitment. This might impress the Stadtholder & a print-buying public, in the hope of obtaining more sales & commissions. Like his self-portrait canvases, his image was a form of signature or self-promotion of the young artist’s identity as the creator of such an important work. But it is also a personal testimony of faith. To include oneself so clearly in a religious image is a personal reflective process. Imagining yourself in the situation encourages you to consider how its meaning relates to you. It can challenge your commitment to the aspects of faith that the image represents. In this print, more than in the painting on which it was based, the rays of light from heaven illuminate the artist’s figure as well as that of his Redeemer & seem to identify him as a disciple & servant.
The meditative practices encouraged by Ignatius of Loyola asked believers to imagine themselves in a biblical scene & consider how issues in the story relate to us. Meditative processes in Protestantism similarly encouraged believers to imaginatively live in the Bible stories & relate them & the theological beliefs derived from them to their own lives.
PONDER
Imagine yourself as the figure in which Rembrandt represents himself, lowering Christ’s body. What might be in your mind as you are practically involved in taking Christ down? How might this death relate to you & challenge you?
Imagine yourself as one or more of the other figures at the base of the cross (one of the Marys, John, the penitent or Joseph of Arimathea. What might you be thinking?
What might the light illuminating the scene from above be revealing?
Do you tend to idealise Christ romantically or sentimentally? How do you respond to the unidealised realism of this image of him? Does it make you read Phil.2:6-11 with a new perspective?
PRAY
Lord, help me understand how much you gave up, in emptying yourself of glory for me and for the world in which I live.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you because by your humble self-giving you identified with us and redeemed the world.
9 ‘DESCENT FROM THE CROSS BY TORCHLIGHT’ 1654
Like its pair, ‘Christ before Pilate’, this is a very large print (53x41cms). Joseph, a dominant cloaked & turbaned figure stands before the cross. At his feet a richly decorated cloth is laid out for the body. It is far more elaborate than the linen cloth normally represented in Deposition pictures, but suggests the royal importance of Christ. Usually the Marys & John are dominant in the composition. Here Jesus’ mother, hidden beneath a hood, John, as a dark silhouette & Mary Magdalene in a striped dress, kneel below the ladder. The group watches Christ’s figure but of these only Magdalene’s face is seen, looking up at him. Other women huddle in the far distance beyond Joseph. The emaciated ragged man at the ladder’s base resembles penitent Judas in Rembrandt’s painting Judas Returning the Pieces of Silver but we cannot be certain that this is intended to be Judas. Four figures higher in the composition stretch to lower the weight of Jesus’ corpse. All faces in the design concentrate our attention on Jesus’ body & head. The architecture & walls behind the scene appear like a ruined western city. The composition is formed by many diagonals including the crossbeam, ladder, downward flow of the cloth & rays of light. The strong verticals of Joseph’s body & walking-stick contrast with Jesus’ twisting body. The central area is brightly illuminated, as in the original oil-painting of the scene.
READ [Matt.27:57-61]
When it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body; then Pilate ordered the body to be given to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb, which had been hewn out of rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb...Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.
REFLECT
This replicates Rembrandt’s 1632-3 oil- painting, which was probably his most important commission to date. The plate was etched by reproduction-artist Jan van Vliet. It is the 2nd plate as the 1st was damaged in the etching process. The image was originally arched, as in the original painting. The lines of light in the print are not in the painting, but replace strong light radiating from Christ’s body & the cloth in the painting. The artist probably added his personal touches to van Vliet’s work with a burin. Rembrandt portrayed himself in the face of the man on the left lowering Jesus’ body.
This is the first of Rembrandt’s prints of the Deposition. It is very finely worked with etching & burin, typical of the fine quality that was expected from illustrative prints for spiritual meditation. It would initially have been intended to promote the 27 year old artist’s skills & rising reputation, by promoting his recent commission for the Stadtholder Frederick Henry. This careful print by the then-well-known Amsterdam reproduction-artist Johannes van Vliet was equivalent to an early form of copyrighting, recognising the design as that of Rembrandt. The artist’s later self-printed image Descent from the Cross by Torchlight (next study) is far less detailed, but it is more expressive in technique & more original.
The composition & several details resemble Rubens’ great altarpiece of the subject in Antwerp Cathedral. Rembrandt owned a print of this by Lucas Vorsterman, but had probably never seen the original altarpiece. Like Rembrandt Rubens used prints to disseminate images of his work & register sole rights to the publication of designs. Rembrandt wasn’t just paying homage to Rubens & his iconography. By echoing the famous work, the artist aimed to impress the Stadtholder, demonstrate his skills & significance as a master to the public, & attract potential future commissions.
In Rubens’ Deposition Jesus’ body is elegant, though his left hand & leg are angular. By contrast Rembrandt’s Christ is ungainly & unidealised in proportion. He is obviously dead with no strength in his muscles: his limbs hang limp, his chest & stomach sag. This realism contrasts with the idealism of many figures in Roman Catholic images of Christ & feels particularly Protestant. Northern European Catholic art also used some realism, as in the distorted figures of Christ on mediaeval ‘plague crosses’ once common in Germany especially or Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece.
By depicting the image of Christ as naturalistic rather that idealised & elegant, the self-giving of Christ seems more real. It is almost an illustration of Phil.2:6-11: “Christ Jesus, though in the form of God did not regard equality of God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness... he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Salvation was achieved, not by a beautiful process but by intensity of commitment & love. Christ was willing to go through suffering on behalf of the world. The ugliness of Christ’s body here reminds us that Jesus went into the mire & ugliness of much human life in order to bring us to light. As St. Paul wrote: “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person, someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” [Rom.5:6-8].
Rembrandt’s portrayal of himself as the figure in white on the ladder helping to lower Christ’s body is significant. As well as publicising his skills & his being entrusted with an important commission, it was also a way of advertising his personal religious commitment. This might impress the Stadtholder & a print-buying public, in the hope of obtaining more sales & commissions. Like his self-portrait canvases, his image was a form of signature or self-promotion of the young artist’s identity as the creator of such an important work. But it is also a personal testimony of faith. To include oneself so clearly in a religious image is a personal reflective process. Imagining yourself in the situation encourages you to consider how its meaning relates to you. It can challenge your commitment to the aspects of faith that the image represents. In this print, more than in the painting on which it was based, the rays of light from heaven illuminate the artist’s figure as well as that of his Redeemer & seem to identify him as a disciple & servant.
The meditative practices encouraged by Ignatius of Loyola asked believers to imagine themselves in a biblical scene & consider how issues in the story relate to us. Meditative processes in Protestantism similarly encouraged believers to imaginatively live in the Bible stories & relate them & the theological beliefs derived from them to their own lives.
PONDER
Imagine yourself as the figure in which Rembrandt represents himself, lowering Christ’s body. What might be in your mind as you are practically involved in taking Christ down? How might this death relate to you & challenge you?
Imagine yourself as one or more of the other figures at the base of the cross (one of the Marys, John, the penitent or Joseph of Arimathea. What might you be thinking?
What might the light illuminating the scene from above be revealing?
Do you tend to idealise Christ romantically or sentimentally? How do you respond to the unidealised realism of this image of him? Does it make you read Phil.2:6-11 with a new perspective?
PRAY
Lord, help me understand how much you gave up, in emptying yourself of glory for me and for the world in which I live.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you because by your humble self-giving you identified with us and redeemed the world.
9 ‘DESCENT FROM THE CROSS BY TORCHLIGHT’ 1654
LOOK
Jesus’ body is being taken down from a rough cross. The main source of light is the torch held over Jesus’ foot. A servant emerging from the dark behind the cross is about to prise out the last nail. Jesus’ released foot has been disfigured by wrenching. A long cloth is being used to lower the body, giving a diagonal flow to the composition. It leads the eye down to another cloth being arranged on a stretcher by a man in half-shadow (probably Joseph of Arimathea.) At the extreme right a figure (a turbaned leader or more likely a soldier in Dutch contemporary uniform) watches the scene as we do. It is clear that Jesus is dead; his head is falling down into shadow. The full weight of his body is being taken by the servant with his back to us, tensing his legs & shoulders to keep balance on the edge of the rock, & another man struggles to descend a ladder while supporting Jesus’ legs. A man in deep shadow above the cross holds the cloth tight. A man reaches from the shadows, with his white hand illuminated below Christ’s head, reaching to take the body. Jesus is being lowered towards an area of intense blackness. Beneath this, in the shadows, vague faces appear to be watching & waiting (perhaps Jesus’ mother & friends, or the figures of the dead released from their graves at Jesus death). The etched lines are heavy & expressive, but those of Jesus’ face are much more lightly scratched with drypoint, rather than bitten by acid, giving Christ a gentler expression.
READ
When evening had come... the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus & respected member of the council, who was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if he was already dead.
...When the centurion confirmed this, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought linen cloth and taking down the body wrapped it in the cloth and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock... [Lk.15:42-46]
Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and spices weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. [Jn.19:38-40]
REFLECT
This was part of an unfinished series of prints of the Life of Christ, designed to help relieve financial & social difficulties. We can’t know how he invested his feelings into the design, but it feels a personal response. Most Dutch artist’s prints designed for religious meditation were far more finely detailed than this: 21 years earlier, Rembrandt had produced a more refined, precise etching of the Deposition, based on Rubens’ famous altarpiece in Antwerp. In that etching & a painting of the same composition, Rembrandt portrayed himself as a servant lowering Christ’s body, identifying with Christ’s sacrifice for him. He intended us to use such images to meditate spiritually on the scene’s meaning for us. Rembrandt drew this 2nd print with expressive, raw emotion, while carefully planning the composition, light, figures & poses. The scene appears to be at night, but the artist studied his Bible & would have read that Jesus’ body was removed from the cross at sunset. So this blackness probably conveys the darkness covering earth in grief at Jesus’ death & the poignant sense of tragedy as he was being taken to his dark grave. The background Temple & Jerusalem are shrouded in gloom. Like the Church, these should be centres of faith, to give light to all, but powers had caused the death of the Light of the World. Rembrandt’s was a time of division between Catholics & rival Protestant groups. He had grieved for his wife & 2 daughters some years before. He was facing bankruptcy & suffering oppressive criticism from strict Dutch Protestant churchmen. He may be encouraging viewers to have true faith & spiritual integrity, dedicated to understanding truth & promoting Christ’s light, not obscuring or killing it.
The rough wood of this cross looks more like a tree-trunk than sawed wood. Some preachers refer to Christ’s cross as “the Tree of Life”; I wonder if that is what the artist is intending to suggest. Ancient legend talked of the Tree of Life from Paradise having become the wood of Christ’s cross. While fictional, this is a meaningful spiritual metaphor. By giving his life on the cross Christ grafted us into the promise of God’s blessing, renewed life & restored a fallen world.
To me the most personal feature in the whole picture is the white hand reaching out of darkness towards Christ’s face, stretching to take the weight of his shoulders. It is such an unusual detail to include in a composition that it cannot be incidental. This could be one of a group raised from death’s shadows, reaching up to its Saviour [Matt.27:52-53]. It could be Rembrandt’s equivalent of portraying himself in the earlier etching. I imagine myself as that person reaching out to Christ. Can you? All believers reach out to Christ in faith for healing, blessing & salvation. But this hand, raised as if to hold the body, suggests that we should be ready to take the weight & responsibilities of the mission for which Jesus gave his life. It is almost like someone raising their hand to be counted as a follower of Jesus.
There is a direct line between Jesus’ head, the white hand & Joseph of Arimathea, no longer a secret disciple, who is preparing the bier for carrying Christ’s body to his tomb. Joseph stepped from obscurity to openly admit that he was a follower & supporter of Christ. The man watching by his side may be Nicodemus, an anonymous witness, or one who ponders the meaning of the scene, as Rembrandt intends us to do. He could be the soldier sent by Pilate to check that Jesus was dead so his body could be released correctly. It could be intended to signify that Jesus has truly died for us. He may be the centurion who realised, as we are asked to recognise: “Truly this man was God’s Son!” [Matt.27:54].
PONDER
Imagine yourself, as Rembrandt did in designing their figures, in the place of one of the characters in the scene. What might you be experiencing, feeling & believing? What has this crucifixion meant for you?
No other image of Christ’s Passion puts so much emphasis on the stretcher on which Jesus’ body would be carried to his tomb. It can’t just be a compositional devise to lead us into the scene, giving a base to the triangle of light. The artist must intend us to look for meaning in its prominence. Rembrandt may intend us to contemplate details from the Bible: Christ’s death was not the end: the empty grave-cloths in the tomb would be proofs of his resurrection, what convinces us? Joseph of Arimathea & Nicodemus admitted discipleship by buying linen & spices for Jesus’ body; how do we? How can we use our resources to support Christ’s mission? Christ’s salvation shines light on us as on Joseph of Arimathea in the picture: will we remain hidden disciples, or will we act & speak out for faith, to share Jesus’ light & mission, & help to build God’s kingdom? Does the stretcher’ prominence suggest anything to you?
Into the prominent black area in the print Jesus enters the dark dimension of death. Are you or any for whom you care afraid of death? How can you shed the light of Christ’s salvation into that darkness to build hope & trust?
What do you believe that the salvation that Jesus achieved consists of for you & for those for whom you care?
PRAYER
Lord, help me improve my life to be worthy of the self-giving love that led you to your death. Help me to trust in your promises of salvation and find what it might mean for me...
Lord, help me to be a true disciple. May your Spirit build in me the faith, wisdom, courage & strength to bring your light to others & shine for you in this world.
Help me bring light and hope into the darkness of others’ lives. We pray for all who are facing death or any form of fear: help them find hope, light & peace through your promises & your assurance of life in your coming Kingdom.
Lord, your death removed the threat of death; your promises shine light & hope into places of darkness & fear. We adore you O Christ and we bless you: for by your death & resurrection you have redeemed your world. AMEN
10 THE ENTOMBMENT OF CHRIST
LOOK
The majority of this print is dark. The earlier state (above) shows Rembrandt beginning to hatch areas that would eventually be more intensely shaded. All the figures are positioned towards the base of the picture, with only the two men standing (probably Nicodemus & Joseph of Arimathea). Behind them is a blank eye-level-height wall. Behind this is the arch of a short tunnel, presumably leading to the outside, since evening light is just filtering over the wall. In the furthest wall are two vague arches. The main light here radiates almost entirely from Jesus’ body, illuminated by a hidden lantern behind the upright foreground figure. Even Jesus’ face is in shadow, as though the light that he gave has disappeared from his character & from those who love him & surround his corpse. Their faces are mostly slightly shadowed. Only the bearded man immediately above Jesus’ shoulder is strongly illuminated.
READ [Matt.27:57-61]
When it was evening there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body; then Pilate ordered the body to be given to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb, which had been hewn out of rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.
REFLECT
This is one of the four prints from the same size plates that are believed to be for his unfinished series of the Life of Christ. Its composition is the most unconventional of the group.
Rembrandt had earlier copied a drawing of the Entombment of Christ from the School of Raphael, which might have been in his own collection. But that was a frontal static composition compared to this print. Even for Rembrandt with his sometimes unusual compositions based on the effect of light in darkness, this is a strange composition. It is perhaps closest to the composition his painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds [National Gallery, London]. But to have all the light concentrated so low in the picture leaves large areas of blank darkness filling the top half of the plate. This may be intentionally drawing attention to the scriptural description of a tomb “which had been hewn out of rock”. The blank rear wall in semi-darkness gives a sense of alienation & coldness of the rock of the tomb. In earlier, less shaded states of the design it is more apparent that behind the flat wall are two arches, which resemble the two dark spaces beneath Christ in the final states of the large print: ‘Christ Presented to the People’. There they seemed like the orbits of a skull. Perhaps that is also symbolically suggested here, as Jesus is being laid in the tomb on his journey to the place of the dead, from which he would rescue humanity [1Pet.3:19].
This image seems to be designed to arouse the pity & empathy of the viewer, recognising the sense of desolate hopelessness of Jesus’ followers. There are a very limited number of verses about Christ’s burial in the Gospels & today we read them in the light of the Resurrection story. But Jesus’ mother & friends must have felt no such sense of hope, even if they remembered fragments of Jesus’ teaching of his return. After the Resurrection John’s Gospel says that Jesus showed the companions on the road to Emmaus, verses in scripture that pointed to his resurrection. It would be fascinating to know to what verses he may have been referring, since there seems to have been no expectation in Jewish Messianic thinking of that time that the Redeemer of Israel would return from death.
This is the dark grey, hopeless state in which so many people today face the inevitability of their own death & that of others. Even some Christian believers find the biblical teaching on death varied, ambiguous & mysterious. Traditional images of heaven are often dubious & rarely reflect the Bible verses on the subject. Some Christian teaching sounds more like wishful thinking or spiritual superstition than based confidently on scriptural promises. The Bible itself is unclear, several passages about existence after death appear rather contradictory. Early in biblical history there does not seem to have been much hope in anything after death. Your body went into the ground & that was seen as the end. Later belief in Sheol developed as an underworld place where the dead rested with some form of consciousness, yet there was little sense of hope of escape to anything better beyond. Ideas of the underworld appear to have modified after the Babylonian exile, when Jews encountered & assimilated some of the beliefs of their captors into their own faith. After the Maccabean Revolt, so many Jews had been martyred that beliefs developed that a just God would give rewards or compensation for your past, at the end of life in an existence beyond. The Sadducees argued with the Pharisees over this, since as literalists, they found no reference to such promises in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus clarified this in his teaching & regularly made promises of life beyond death for his followers. St. Paul & the Apocalypse expanded belief in a life in heaven. But as the 1st Epistle of John reminds us: “What we shall be has not yet been revealed.” Despite this mystery, the writer believed fervently that we will share likeness in some way with the risen & ascended Christ [Jn.3:2].
In our sceptical age, so many people find it difficult to trust promises of existence in some or any dimension beyond death. Many regard death as final. The ways in which Christians mention death & present comforting homilies in funeral services can often seem simplistic & naïve in a mature, thinking society. We want to encourage hope & trust in Christ’s promises to those who encounter the darkness & despair of grief. Yet at times of bereavement we can often only shine hope very dimly into people’s darkness, like the vague light in this picture.
While Jesus’ face in the print remains in shadow, the light radiating from his body, illuminating some of those who have followed him, offers a sign of hope that his bodily self-giving will bring back hope & promise to these people. In practice, amid the confusion of grief, we can perhaps only offer a dim light into people’s darkness. But we pray for them that by introducing the light & promises of Christ into their lives we will be able to guide them towards a light that can increase & strengthen faith as the immediacy & pain of their grief eases.
Christians aren’t themselves immune from feelings of darkness, times of grief, doubt, questioning faith, wondering if our life or our faith are true & worthwhile. Many great believers have experienced prolonged times of what is sometimes called “the dark night of the soul’. We probably wouldn’t be human if we were always positive & lived continuously as though we are in light. We certainly would not be as able to empathise & help others struggle through their darkness if we had never similarly struggled ourselves. This sad picture illustrates very real human experiences.
PONDER
How have the light & hope of faith shone into areas of darkness in your life?
At times of grief or darkness, what has most helped you? Is there anything there that might help you support others?
Can you describe the light that your faith shines into you in words that others might understand? Discuss this & practise explaining this hope that your faith gives you to others, as a way of gaining confidence in sharing faith.
PRAY
Lord, into my darkness please shine light and hope.
Build in me the empathy and understanding that can support others sensitively in their times of darkness. May my words and actions be a catalyst by which your Spirit shines light into others’ lives.
We pray for those who feel that they are in darkness, especially [... Pray Silently For Them By Name]
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because you have shone light into the darkness of our lives and the difficulties of our world.
11 SUPPER AT EMMAUS – 1654
LOOK
The supper takes place beneath a fringed fabric canopy, almost like that above a throne. Christ is central in the scene, delineated with less heavy lines than his companions, perhaps to represent his ‘resurrection body’ by comparison with their physicality. His robes & halo are the brightest parts of the image. On the right a bearded disciple leans back, raising his hands as he recognises their companion’s true identity. The upper half of the standing figure on the left looks rather like an elderly woman. Maids or servants were often represented in other pictures of the scene. However, the legs have bound-trousers, so this is the second companion, who has risen in realisation & is holding their hands, perhaps in prayer. (Only in more modern discussions of Emmaus has it been suggested that one witness may have been female; it would probably not have been considered in Rembrandt’s era, & certainly was not in Christian iconography. The figure is awkwardly proportioned. Perhaps Rembrandt polished out a seated figure at the table, behind whom may have been a maid, then extended the body to form this standing figure. Light shines on their apron & on the floor before them. By contrast to the strongly defined faces of the companions Jesus’ face is very gently drawn & softly hatched, with a kind smile. Half of the Jesus’ face is clearly defined in line, while the other half is only very lightly sketched, giving the impression that we may be beginning to witness his disappearance. The top of his hair is darker, emphasising to the halo of light behind his head. The table is arched, reflecting the angle of Jesus’ arms as he breaks the bread. A fork in perspective on the table leads our eye towards the detail of the bread, since this is the action by which Jesus was recognised. The form of Jesus’ halo also reflects this arc in light. A short stocky servant or innkeeper looks on at the scene from the foreground, leaning on a stair-rail. Both of these draw us visually into the scene. Behind him a dog turns away from the event towards the trees outside a large window which brings more light into the scene. The landscape background & the raised foreground boarded platform suggest that the supper is taking place in an outside portico or veranda with light entering from the right, though most of the light appears to comes from Jesus. The darkest areas of shadow are beneath the window sill & table, while the rest of the scene is bathed in patterns of light from the window & from Christ.
READ [Lk.24:28-35]
As they were nearing the village to which they were going, Jesus walked ahead as if he was going on. But they urged him strongly saying “Stay with us, for it is almost evening and the day is nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. When they were at table together he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened; they recognised him and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road and opening the scriptures to us?”... They returned to Jerusalem to the eleven and those gathered with them... They told them what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
REFLECT
It is thought this may have been intended as part of an unfinished series of prints of the Life of Christ (a popular subject for selling) on plates of the same size & date. Only the Presentation in the Temple, Descent from the Cross by Torchlight & Entombment seem to have been completed. The style of each is varied, which may be why the series was left unfinished.
The canopy above the scene could be deliberately intending to imply the royal nature of Christ. Such swags of fabric were common in Baroque scenes. Yet they would not be common in a picture of an inn or the home of a disciple. (It is not clear from scripture whether the destination of Emmaus to which the travellers were walking from Jerusalem was their home or an inn for the night.) In this composition the canopy seems to suggest that this revelation of Jesus’ identity was also a revelation of his spiritual kingship & his victory over death. If it were a Catholic painting the canopy could also represent the canopy above the altar for the Eucharist, which this meal partly prefigured, to the canopy above an aumbry containing the reserved sacrament. Though spiritually true in what it indicates about the spiritual nature of the risen Christ, this symbolic reading may be taking the intended symbolism a little too far. As Rembrandt often included multiple references in his works, it is possible that such implications were intended.
The inclusion of the dog roots the picture in common reality, like the dog defecating in the foreground of his print of The Good Samaritan. In art dogs are often included as symbols of faithfulness, so could here represent Christ & his Fathers faithfulness towards his people, & in response, the need of our faithfulness to them. There is also a dog in Rembrandt’s small earlier 1634 print of the Supper at Emmaus, where it looks determinedly below the Emmaus table. Rembrandt may have intended us to remember the Gentile woman answering Jesus that “even dogs wait for scraps that fall from their master’s table” [Mk.7:28] – a reminder that we too gather our blessings from Jesus & the Father.
The gentleness of Jesus’ features, by contrast with those of the other three figures, reminds us that his resurrection was evidence of God’s love for us & is directed towards us. The light radiates from Christ more than it slants through the window. As Rembrandt so often included key details of biblical stories, it is likely that he would have indicated that this incident took place towards the end of day or in the evening. The emphasis on light in the print may he intended to show that this radiance around the risen Christ is not natural but a sign of revelation. The print encourages viewers to meditate on the evidence for the reality of Jesus’ resurrection & what faith in his resurrection offers to us. .
PONDER
How convinced are you that Jesus’ Resurrection was real? What evidence might help to convince you?
The breaking of bread was the key evidence which opened these disciples’ eyes. In your experiences & your faith, what helps to reveal the nature of Christ to you & sheds spiritual light into your life?
Have you ever had a key ‘revelatory moment’ which clarified in your mind some spiritual truth? Would you be willing to share this?
Remember, however, that God’s Spirit works differently in all our lives. Many great Christians may have had points of revelatory insight, conversion events, miraculous incidents, key life experiences or dynamic spiritual gifts. But St Paul states very clearly that dynamic experiences are not the case in all Christians [1Cor.12:29-30]. Perhaps more great Christians have developed faith by a gradual process, growing in their relationship with God through a natural progression rather than being convinced by miraculous or extraordinary happenings. We should not be jealous of others’ gifts or experiences, since God relates to us all differently & works in us differently, God is developing us into a wide variety of believers who can witness for him from our own particular experiences to the specific situations in which we live & work. Rather than relying on miraculous past events to confirm our faith, it is enough to live “by faith & not by sight.” [2Cor.5:7]. Remember Jesus’ words to Thomas: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” [Jn.20:29].
Can you trace the process by which you have developed & grown in faith & discipleship? For most of us this will have been irregular, ‘up and down’ rather than a rising progress. We grow through times of difficulty & doubt, sin & failure because working through them can make us stronger & more reliant on God.
Perhaps you have struggled with certain beliefs & questions about aspects of faith. What mysteries of faith & the Christian story would you like to be answered or dispelled?
PRAY
Risen Lord, by your Spirit please open my eyes and help me discern when you wish to reveal your truths to me.
Help me to understand the evidence that I need to build a secure faith. Help me to develop and grow with the faith and gifts that you have for me. May I find contentment and fulfilment in the life, gifts and level of faith that your Spirit wants for me, and not wish for the experiences or gifts of others, which you may not intend for me.
I pray of the wisdom to know how best to help others find the evidence they themselves will need to build their faith. May we grow in strength and faith together, encouraging one another in discipleship and trusting in your risen life.
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, because by your resurrection you have shed light into our lives and given hope to our dork world.
12 CHRIST IN APPEARING TO THE DISCIPLES –
LOOK
This work seems incomplete in many ways: the hands of the disciple kneeling before Christ are just defined by a few scratches, as are the feet & legs of the figure kneeling in the right foreground. Yet Rembrandt signed & dated the plate in the foreground (presumably to prevent others from claiming the plate, as a form of copyright), so he must have regarded the image as somewhat resolved. Only the face of Christ & one of the disciples in shadow behind him are in fine detail, yet three of the faces to the extreme right are carefully delineated. The young upright figure among them seems a little out of place. He looks on with slightly more detachment, & may be intended to represent a contemporary viewer, as he is in a buttoned jacket. The younger kneeling figure in the foreground is probably intended to reflect our personal response to Christ’s miraculous reappearance. Jesus himself is the tallest figure, looking down with a certain sternness, reaching sideways with his left hand as he reveals himself to the group.
All the disciples are reacting with a wide variety of expressions & gestures. Two kneel, presumably in deference. The figure before Christ, who I imagine may be Peter, seems to be submissive, perhaps recognising his culpability in denying Jesus. Behind him, on the left of the print, are two seated figures: one bows his head, covering his eyes. (This also might be Peter expressing despair, in which case other kneeling figure could be John.). Beside him a fatter disciple seems asleep, but presumably is intended to be praying. Above them another leaning disciple has his arms raised to comfort them, & behind him four standing disciples look on. One closed his hands in prayer, one holds his hand to his breast, another holds out his open hands to the risen Christ. To the right, the figures are more quizzical, peering around Jesus, trying to understand the event.
The use of shading in the image is interesting. It seems initially to be compositional, which the greatest area of shadow behind & above Christ, & some in the foreground giving a visual lead into the scene. It is also dramatic, as the lines radiating from Christ’s head emphasise his dominant presence & that he is the focus of the attention of all participants in the scene. The power coning from him expresses dynamically the significance of his appearance.
READ
“On the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were locked of the house where the disciples had met, for fear of the Jews...” [Jn.20:19]
“Jesus himself stood among them as said: “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you so frightened and why do doubts arise? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have... While they were still disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him bread and he ate it in their presence.... Then he opened their eyes to understand the scriptures... “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and arise from the dead on the third day,. and that repentance sand forgiveness are to be proclaimed in his name to all nations... You are witnesses to these things...” [Lk.24:36-49]
“he appeared to the eleven as they were sitting at table and upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, for they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all creation....” [Mk.16:14-15]
REFLECT
It is interesting that, while Rembrandt’s prints of Christ’s Passion are often heavily printed, the Resurrection prints, (of which there a fewer) are more lightly worked, in less detail.
Rather than suggesting the joy of Jesus reappearing to his followers, Rembrandt seems to have deliberately chosen to represent this as a deeply serious event, as in the Gospel accounts above. Only in John’s Gospel records “the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord” [Jn.20:20]. In the print the disciples’ reactions, show puzzlement, uncertainty & worry, while Jesus himself has an expression of serious concern, rather like Mark’s text. We often think of the Resurrection in terms of Easter joy, but it is a very serious concept, with serious consequences. If Jesus truly rose from death & has overcome fear of death for human beings, we have a heavy responsibility to share that freedom with others, as commissioned in the Gospels. It was not an option for the disciples to take on the responsibilities of continuing Jesus’ mission: Jesus’ commissioning of them brought as many problems as joys. I wonder if that may be why Rembrandt made the image so serious. As the print was made for religious contemplation, perhaps he intended viewers to feel more than elevated joy that Jesus has risen from the dead, offering believers futures life. The scene raises important questions & lays significant responsibilities on the mission of the Christian Church. When he reappeared Jesus placed those responsibilities on the disciples & us who follow, which could be why they are not dancing with the joy that shallow thought about the Resurrection might encourage.
As in many paintings of Jesus with his disciples, these men seem much older than the real Jesus & his followers would have been at this point in the narrative. The tradition of representing them as sagacious may have developed in art in to emphasise that these were the ancient founders of the Church, rather than a chosen group of relatively young enthusiasts. Although people probably grew older more quickly in the Middle East of Jesus’ day ( I myself have often represented Mary looking old at the time of the crucifixion), these disciples look twice the age that they probably were.
There are at least fifteen figures witnessing Jesus’ appearance, which resonates with the Gospel text, which implies that more than the Twelve were gathered. If the resurrection story was confined to Jesus appearing to just a few faithful disciples, its truth could be suspect. Many critics of faith over the centuries have suggested that since a man reviving from such an horrific death as crucifixion is impossible, everything about Jesus’ resurrection must be fraudulent or the mistaken wishful-thinking of those who had been close to him. You can’t really blame them!... Much of what Christians regard as true & miraculous is impossible... unless it really happened! The more witnesses to the risen Jesus, (Paul implies that there were many []) the more likely it could be that Jesus’ Resurrection was true.
What could possibly have transformed a bunch of relatively ill-educated disciples, frightened for their lives after the death of their leader, into the courageous & sometimes eloquent witnesses who were able to lead the early church in its growth & enable it to become, in just the first few centuries, one of the most influential, confident groups of people in the world? Their witness & growth was based on truth, real experiences & the influence & power of the Holy Spirit, building confidence in a power so much greater than themselves.
One sad aspect of many contemporary Christians is that they have lost that sense of mission. It is much more comfortable just to attend church or believe for your own peace or spiritual stimulation, without considering the responsibilities which your faith places upon you to extend the Kingdom of God as well as deepening your understanding of the truth by putting it into practice. Jesus’ resurrection was not a ‘happy ending’ to the story of his life & Passion. It was the beginning of his true followers’ mission to expand the knowledge of his teaching & enlarge the application of his salvation he achieved throughout the world. The responsibility is now on us.
PONDER
Does it change your reaction to the Resurrection to imagine Jesus’ appearance as puzzling, concerning & of serious consequence, rather than primarily joyful? How seriously do you take the responsibilities that Jesus’ resurrection places upon you?
Does it make any difference to your understanding of the scripture story to think of the disciples as old? They would probably have been at the height of their physical maturity. If Jesus at this time was about 33, he would probably have chosen or attracted his most intimate group of followers form those around his own age. They would have walked many miles with him so needed to have been relatively physically robust. I imagine the Twelve to have been in their 30s or early 40s, but I could be wrong. Yet somehow, to represent them as older implies that they had achieved the wisdom of age that the truths of the Church need to be based upon after so many centuries of the development of the Christian faith.
Unfortunately the Church has often proved unwise in some of its actions & decisions, but profound wisdom is a spiritual quality in which we should be increasing. Remember that wisdom was the great quality for leadership that Solomon valued most [1Ki.3:5-14]. Discernment was a quality that Paul prayed for in the Church [Phil.1:9] & encouraged in its leaders, as if reflected throughout the Letters to Timothy. How might you develop greater spiritual wisdom & discernment to strengthen you for fulfilling your part in Jesus’ commission?
PRAY
Lord, help me to understand the responsibilities that your resurrection places upon me and upon others in my church. By your Spirit, strengthen us to spread your teaching and expand your Kingdom.
As your resurrection has given hope to so many have been suffering or in fear of death, we pray for those who are facing death or bereavement......... (name openly or in the silence of your mind.)
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, for by your resurrection you offer us the possibility of renewed future life, and lead us now to fuller more responsible lives. AMEN
LOOK
This work seems incomplete in many ways: the hands of the disciple kneeling before Christ are just defined by a few scratches, as are the feet & legs of the figure kneeling in the right foreground. Yet Rembrandt signed & dated the plate in the foreground (presumably to prevent others from claiming the plate, as a form of copyright), so he must have regarded the image as somewhat resolved. Only the face of Christ & one of the disciples in shadow behind him are in fine detail, yet three of the faces to the extreme right are carefully delineated. The young upright figure among them seems a little out of place. He looks on with slightly more detachment, & may be intended to represent a contemporary viewer, as he is in a buttoned jacket. The younger kneeling figure in the foreground is probably intended to reflect our personal response to Christ’s miraculous reappearance. Jesus himself is the tallest figure, looking down with a certain sternness, reaching sideways with his left hand as he reveals himself to the group.
All the disciples are reacting with a wide variety of expressions & gestures. Two kneel, presumably in deference. The figure before Christ, who I imagine may be Peter, seems to be submissive, perhaps recognising his culpability in denying Jesus. Behind him, on the left of the print, are two seated figures: one bows his head, covering his eyes. (This also might be Peter expressing despair, in which case other kneeling figure could be John.). Beside him a fatter disciple seems asleep, but presumably is intended to be praying. Above them another leaning disciple has his arms raised to comfort them, & behind him four standing disciples look on. One closed his hands in prayer, one holds his hand to his breast, another holds out his open hands to the risen Christ. To the right, the figures are more quizzical, peering around Jesus, trying to understand the event.
The use of shading in the image is interesting. It seems initially to be compositional, which the greatest area of shadow behind & above Christ, & some in the foreground giving a visual lead into the scene. It is also dramatic, as the lines radiating from Christ’s head emphasise his dominant presence & that he is the focus of the attention of all participants in the scene. The power coning from him expresses dynamically the significance of his appearance.
READ
“On the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were locked of the house where the disciples had met, for fear of the Jews...” [Jn.20:19]
“Jesus himself stood among them as said: “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you so frightened and why do doubts arise? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have... While they were still disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him bread and he ate it in their presence.... Then he opened their eyes to understand the scriptures... “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and arise from the dead on the third day,. and that repentance sand forgiveness are to be proclaimed in his name to all nations... You are witnesses to these things...” [Lk.24:36-49]
“he appeared to the eleven as they were sitting at table and upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, for they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all creation....” [Mk.16:14-15]
REFLECT
It is interesting that, while Rembrandt’s prints of Christ’s Passion are often heavily printed, the Resurrection prints, (of which there a fewer) are more lightly worked, in less detail.
Rather than suggesting the joy of Jesus reappearing to his followers, Rembrandt seems to have deliberately chosen to represent this as a deeply serious event, as in the Gospel accounts above. Only in John’s Gospel records “the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord” [Jn.20:20]. In the print the disciples’ reactions, show puzzlement, uncertainty & worry, while Jesus himself has an expression of serious concern, rather like Mark’s text. We often think of the Resurrection in terms of Easter joy, but it is a very serious concept, with serious consequences. If Jesus truly rose from death & has overcome fear of death for human beings, we have a heavy responsibility to share that freedom with others, as commissioned in the Gospels. It was not an option for the disciples to take on the responsibilities of continuing Jesus’ mission: Jesus’ commissioning of them brought as many problems as joys. I wonder if that may be why Rembrandt made the image so serious. As the print was made for religious contemplation, perhaps he intended viewers to feel more than elevated joy that Jesus has risen from the dead, offering believers futures life. The scene raises important questions & lays significant responsibilities on the mission of the Christian Church. When he reappeared Jesus placed those responsibilities on the disciples & us who follow, which could be why they are not dancing with the joy that shallow thought about the Resurrection might encourage.
As in many paintings of Jesus with his disciples, these men seem much older than the real Jesus & his followers would have been at this point in the narrative. The tradition of representing them as sagacious may have developed in art in to emphasise that these were the ancient founders of the Church, rather than a chosen group of relatively young enthusiasts. Although people probably grew older more quickly in the Middle East of Jesus’ day ( I myself have often represented Mary looking old at the time of the crucifixion), these disciples look twice the age that they probably were.
There are at least fifteen figures witnessing Jesus’ appearance, which resonates with the Gospel text, which implies that more than the Twelve were gathered. If the resurrection story was confined to Jesus appearing to just a few faithful disciples, its truth could be suspect. Many critics of faith over the centuries have suggested that since a man reviving from such an horrific death as crucifixion is impossible, everything about Jesus’ resurrection must be fraudulent or the mistaken wishful-thinking of those who had been close to him. You can’t really blame them!... Much of what Christians regard as true & miraculous is impossible... unless it really happened! The more witnesses to the risen Jesus, (Paul implies that there were many []) the more likely it could be that Jesus’ Resurrection was true.
What could possibly have transformed a bunch of relatively ill-educated disciples, frightened for their lives after the death of their leader, into the courageous & sometimes eloquent witnesses who were able to lead the early church in its growth & enable it to become, in just the first few centuries, one of the most influential, confident groups of people in the world? Their witness & growth was based on truth, real experiences & the influence & power of the Holy Spirit, building confidence in a power so much greater than themselves.
One sad aspect of many contemporary Christians is that they have lost that sense of mission. It is much more comfortable just to attend church or believe for your own peace or spiritual stimulation, without considering the responsibilities which your faith places upon you to extend the Kingdom of God as well as deepening your understanding of the truth by putting it into practice. Jesus’ resurrection was not a ‘happy ending’ to the story of his life & Passion. It was the beginning of his true followers’ mission to expand the knowledge of his teaching & enlarge the application of his salvation he achieved throughout the world. The responsibility is now on us.
PONDER
Does it change your reaction to the Resurrection to imagine Jesus’ appearance as puzzling, concerning & of serious consequence, rather than primarily joyful? How seriously do you take the responsibilities that Jesus’ resurrection places upon you?
Does it make any difference to your understanding of the scripture story to think of the disciples as old? They would probably have been at the height of their physical maturity. If Jesus at this time was about 33, he would probably have chosen or attracted his most intimate group of followers form those around his own age. They would have walked many miles with him so needed to have been relatively physically robust. I imagine the Twelve to have been in their 30s or early 40s, but I could be wrong. Yet somehow, to represent them as older implies that they had achieved the wisdom of age that the truths of the Church need to be based upon after so many centuries of the development of the Christian faith.
Unfortunately the Church has often proved unwise in some of its actions & decisions, but profound wisdom is a spiritual quality in which we should be increasing. Remember that wisdom was the great quality for leadership that Solomon valued most [1Ki.3:5-14]. Discernment was a quality that Paul prayed for in the Church [Phil.1:9] & encouraged in its leaders, as if reflected throughout the Letters to Timothy. How might you develop greater spiritual wisdom & discernment to strengthen you for fulfilling your part in Jesus’ commission?
PRAY
Lord, help me to understand the responsibilities that your resurrection places upon me and upon others in my church. By your Spirit, strengthen us to spread your teaching and expand your Kingdom.
As your resurrection has given hope to so many have been suffering or in fear of death, we pray for those who are facing death or bereavement......... (name openly or in the silence of your mind.)
We adore you O Christ and we bless you, for by your resurrection you offer us the possibility of renewed future life, and lead us now to fuller more responsible lives. AMEN