John 17.6-19: Leaving This World

 In Jesus' so-called "High Priestly Prayer," he prays, "And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you..." (John 17:11) Jesus did leave this world when he ascended, leaving the disciples standing on Olivet. 

That the disciples were left on the earth as Jesus returned to God is a reminder of the difference between creator and creature. Humans are still in this world, though, and a good effort is expended in helping us see how it feels to leave this world. 

In 1946, rocket scientists in New Mexico launched a captured Nazi V-2 rocket into space. One of the things they equipped the rocket with was a 35mm motion picture camera. Filming as the rocket moved about 65 miles above the earth's surface, the camera captured the first pictures of earth from just beyond the beginnings of outer space. This wasn't the first image of the curvature of the earth, but it gave earth-bound humans a different view of the place where they live. The film and camera survived the rocket's crash landing because it had been secured in a steel container.

First photo from space. October 1946. (White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory)

Almost thirty years later, humans would see this world from even farther away, courtesy of the 'Blue Marble' photo taken by the crew of Apollo 17. 

Jesus' prayer continues, " I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them.... They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ...As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." It's clear from Jesus' prayer that to follow Jesus is to remain here in this world, active, moving, continuing the work that Jesus did when he was in this world. It's not hard to understand, though, why we continually want to see what it's like to be far above it. 

Trinity: Welcome Home

Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. If you are from a Christian tradition that embraces the Apostles' Creed, you have probably said those words. We know them to be true. the disciples watched Jesus move farther and farther away from them as he ascended. And where Jesus went was to heaven. Have you ever wondered what that looked like?

When artists consider the Trinity, it's often like this painting by Masaccio. Jesus is on the cross, his arms outstretched. The first person of the Trinity stands behind Jesus' head. A dove representing the Holy Spirit hovers between the two. This is the Trinity at the moment of Jesus' death. But what about after the Ascension? What happened when Jesus returned to heaven?

Pieter de Grebber. God Inviting Christ to Sit on the Throne at His Right Hand. 1645. Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht.

Pieter de Grebber, a 17th-century Dutch painter, imagined that scene of "What happened next?" In this scene, Jesus kneels before the first person of the Trinity, who is seated on a throne. The symbol for the Holy Spirit, a dove here as in Masaccio's painting, hovers nearby. The enthroned God stretches out a hand inviting Jesus to take his place to the right of the throne.

Is this how you picture this part of the story? Have you imagined this scene at all? In the version here, Jesus appears to be still wearing the fabric wrapped around his hips that we see in many versions of the Crucifixion/Resurrection. Jesus is kneeling, with hands raised so we see the wounds in his hands. There is red fabric - some kind of cloak, perhaps - behind Jesus.

It occurs to me that this doesn't really look like a long-lost son coming home. It absolutely doesn't look like a triumphant king returning home after a win. It looks like someone who didn't count equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8).

Previous posts for Trinity Sunday can be accessed through the scripture index tabs under the blog title.

One of the earliest (maybe THE earliest?) depiction of the Trinity. This week on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook.

Acts 1.6-14: Up - Toward Heaven and Out of Sight

The disciples just stood there. Until one of the men in white pointed out that they were just standing there (Easter 7A, Acts 1:6-14). After it was pointed out that they were just standing there, they left, having watched until they could no longer see Jesus. Their last sight of Jesus might have looked something like this.

Salvador Dali. The Ascension of Christ. 1958. Private Collection.

The artist has offered us a very different point of view of this story. Where we usually look across a landscape to see Jesus hovering above the mountain and the disciples, in Dali's painting, we stand where the disciples stood as they watched Jesus leave them. This is the second time since Jesus' resurrection that his friends and followers have been called to let go of Jesus. The disciples know here how Mary felt on Easter morning when Jesus would not let himself be held onto. By this point in the story Jesus is out of the disciples' reach, though he has promised that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. 

The painting includes references to power, of multiple kinds of power. The composition was inspired by a dream in which Dali saw the nucleus of an atom (modern power), here bearing a pattern similar to that of a sunflower's center. Dali saw the nucleus as unifying heaven and earth - which Christ did in his very person. The figure ascends into the heavenly realm, a crescent shape of blue-white created from the outstretched wings of a dove (a symbol of the Holy Spirit, whose power was promised to the disciples - and us). Gaia, the personification of the Earth, is at the top center of the composition. 

Empowered? Powerless? Earthly power? Heavenly power? Spiritual power? Nuclear power? All of these are contained in the composition which reminds us that the disciples just stood. Looking up. Up toward heaven as Jesus left their sight.

Jesus' feet are important in another Ascension Day text. See which one on Art&Faith Matters' Facebook page. For additional Ascension images on Facebook, click here or here.

Transfiguration...or is it?

Look. Up in the sky. It's Jesus. And he's wearing a white tunic. 

One of these is the Ascension; the other is the Transfiguration. Which one is which?

There are similarities in the scriptural accounts of these incidents. Both take place on a mountaintop. Both take place within the sight of people. Both have two figures that unexpectedly appear. So when artists set out to paint these stories, the results may look very similar. How can you know which picture shows which story? 

The most obvious distinguishing mark is probably found on Jesus' hands. The Ascension happens after Jesus' crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, so ascending Jesus will have nail marks in his hands and feet that transfiguring Jesus will not have.  

You can also survey the crowd. Who witnessed the Transfiguration? Jesus, disciples, Moses and Elijah. Who was at the Ascension? The disciples (and two angels, if you read the account in Acts 1 rather than the accounts from the Gospels). Which do you see in which picture?

Though the compositions seem remarkably similar, the details will tell you which story is being told.

The Transfiguration is celebrated Sunday, February 15. Ascension Sunday will be May 17, 2015.

Left: Raphael. Transfiguration of Jesus, Vatican Museums, 1516-1520. http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/PINs/PINs_Sala08_05_035.html

Right: John S. Copley. Ascension, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1775. https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/the-ascension-32172

This week's Art&Faith Matters Facebook post looks at Transfiguration B's reading from 2 Kings 2:1-14. Two comparative paintings are here and here.
For additional thoughts on Transfiguration, click here and here.