Taking Christ Ward

Title: Taking Christ Ward
Artist: Ilya Repin
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Size: tbd
Date: 1886
Location: tbd

John 18:1-14 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) “I am he,” Jesus said. When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me. “Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

The group that came to arrest Jesus was composed of Roman soldiers, Jewish servants and an apostate apostle. John will make it clear that both Jew and Gentile are guilty of the death of the Son of God. Jesus is about to die for the life of the world, and the whole world needs it. The Jewish forces that were sent were not a police force as such but court servants at the disposal of the Sanhedrin when necessary for police purposes. The detachment of soldiers (speira) refers to a cohort, a group of 600 soldiers under a military tribune. The entire cohort would not have been deployed on this mission, but there would have been a significant force. The festivals in Jerusalem were always politically volatile, and after the welcome Jesus had received there was good reason to expect trouble--or so it would have seemed to the Roman and Jewish authorities who understood Jesus so poorly. They bring torches and lanterns to search for the Light of the World; they bring weapons against the Prince of Peace.

Ilya Yefimovich Repin (August 1844 – September, 1930) was a leading Russian painter and sculptor of the Peredvizhniki artistic school. In 1866, after apprenticeship with a local icon painter named Bunakov and preliminary study of portrait painting, he went to Saint Petersburg and was shortly admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts as a student. From 1873 to 1876 on the Academy's allowance, Repin sojourned in Italy and lived in Paris, where he was exposed to French Impressionist painting, which had a lasting effect upon his use of light and color. His realistic works often expressed great psychological depth and exposed the tensions within the existing social order. Beginning in the late 1920s, detailed works on him were published in the Soviet Union, where a Repin cult developed about a decade later, and where he was held up as a model "progressive" and "realist" to be imitated by "Socialist Realist" artists in the USSR.

Christ before Pilate

Title: Christ before Pilate

Artist: Hans Multscher

Medium: Panel

Size: 148 x 140 cm

Date: 1437

Location: Staatliche Museen, Berlin.

Mark 15:1-5 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.

"You say so." Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of."

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

The whole of the Sanhedrin, depicted as a grotesque menagerie in this panel, had obviously accused Jesus of declaring himself Messiah, “King of the Jews”. Such a declaration could easily lead to a charge of sedition and treason against the Emperor. Some scholars have pointed out that When Pilate asks Jesus "Are you the king of the Jews?" we should probably hear a mocking emphasis on the word “you”. Would Pilate really believe a bound and beaten Jewish peasant was claiming the be king? Conversely, we should probably hear Jesus’ response with an equally mocking emphasis on the same word : “You say so”.

This panel is one of several making up the Wurzach Altarpiece by Hans Multscher (ca. 1400, Reichenhofen/Allgau, d. 1467, Ulm), considered among the most important 15th-century German paintings. Multscher was a German sculptor active in Ulm, who was trained in the Netherlands or northern France. Paintings were integral to his altarpieces, but it is a matter for debate to what extent he practiced painting himself. The Wurzach altar, the only painting attributed to him by some experts, exhibits a realism nearer to contemporary Flemish rather than German painting.

Jesus Condemned by the Sanhedrin

Title: Jesus Condemned by the Sanhedrin

Artist: Michael D. O’Brien

Medium: Acrylic on hardboard

Size: 24in x 24in

Date: c. 2005

Location: Private collection

Mark 14:53-65 They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.

Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.' " Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"

They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.

Though the council may not have genuinely believed that Jesus had committed blasphemy by allusions of himself to the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14), they have an important reason to deal with him quickly: he poses a clear threat to the temple establishment, and as a messianic claimant he threatens the whole roman power structure that they, the Jewish aristocracy, represent.

Michael D. O'Brien (b. 1948) is a Roman Catholic author, artist, and frequent essayist and lecturer on faith and culture, living in Combermere, Ontario, Canada. Born in Ottawa, he is self-taught, without an academic background. His paintings, in a neo-Byzantine style with a contemporary interpretation, are also featured on the covers of all of his books. His work can be seen on his website http://www.studiobrien.com/.