“Christ and His friend Abbot Mena" an 8th century Coptic Icon is now housed at the Louvre. However typically the Louvre seems to be shut to this image at present. Every time I try to ‘go’ to the Louvre it’s closed for refurbishment, a holiday, or shut for lunch (yes seriously) one day, yes one day I will get inside those hallowed doors. To be barred from a place raises up many feelings. Resentment, anger, disbelief, and the ‘it’s not fair why me’ cry of the lost.
Holy Week is one of those weeks which for me has a disquieting affect. We are so familiar with the Gospels accounts we know what is going to happen, the inevitability about the end result is death. From Thursday to Easter Saturday we are drawn into the place where we do not want to be, and the passion of the Garden of Gethsemane is visceral. Hope seems a long way off.
An image that highlighted that was Giovanni Bellini: Agony in the Garden which is housed in our own National Gallery (a place that I am happy to say I have so far not been barred)!
It was painted circa 1458-60 a 600 year old image that shows Jesus left alone by his friends.
Both images show us depictions of Jesus alongside us when we are present and alongside Jesus; and yes whilst we are asleep and oblivious to his presence. Perhaps we have always viewed the garden of Gethsemane as a place where Jesus is observed at his most human. Jesus voices all our human instincts of fear, pleading for the removal of the task/obstacle to be faced and the acceptance to the will of the Father who will, whatever that task will be, be with us every step of the way as God was/is present at the Cross.
Perhaps with an image like Bellini we can see Jesus as our intercessor too, with the Father? In scripture we hear the frustration of Jesus whilst we all doze oblivious of what is about to happen…
“…Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Matthew 26:36-46
…and I can’t help but recall the earlier moment from Matthew 24:36
“…But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…”
I hadn’t actually considered those two references before, but on reflection to me it is a stark reminder to always be ready to come face to face with our Saviour. I don’t want to be barred at the ‘Pearly Gates’ like the Louvre! I cannot imagine what a life without God or the hope of the coming Kingdom is, it is quite, quite unimaginable. However death is for us unimaginable. To know that God is with us even in the most darkest moments, the Covenant, that gift of hope that is so precious.
Powerfully there is another image which shows for me quite movingly how God is always present even at the most agonising and terrible moments. It is a littler earlier circa 1450 than the Bellini of 1460, however this time we see God depicted in Trinity, and enthroned in majesty; God as the Father holding His son, alongside Him in His agony.
As we have seen throughout this past year the rainbow has been a sign of hope, hope in the NHS, hope that we will have a brighter future - the spectrum of everything working together in harmony. There is much that can be read into a rainbow. Jesus as sacrifice is the fulfilment of the earlier Covenant from God to us. Jesus is our mediator, (Hebrews 9:15) Jesus is with us, through the Holy Spirit we are His hands and feet. Returning to the image ‘Christ and His friend’, look closely at the bottom of the robes of Christ and the Abbot. There are no toes peeking out from under Christ’s garment, but there are in the garb of Abbot Mena; reference that with Jesus by our side and walking step by step alongside God in forgiveness (of falling asleep?) love will never fail.
After much ribbing from my family about my “dove from above, a la Monty Python” attempt at a rainbow I finally (possibly) finished it! Yeah, I ain’t no Rembrandt, but I did enjoy painting it!
Sources:
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giovanni-bellini-the-agony-in-the-garden
https://youtu.be/w7ymxW3rndk Christ Has No Body Now But Yours (The Porter’s Gate)
https://youtu.be/m6P0YkzWuNM Love will never fail
Peace be with you friends <><
I look forward to virtually gathering with you tomorrow morning at 9am for Celtic Morning Prayers.
I am going to have a break over Holy Week and for a week after for an Easter Holiday.
Caroline :)
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