The use of Christian art can be and has been a contentious issue. There are arguments for and against it use. For example, it has been argued that the presence of Christian artwork can enhance a sense of God’s presence. I am sympathetic to this argument which makes up part of the wording in defence of iconography by the Second Council of Nicea’s Proclamation in 787 :
“We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype…”
Having said that, I do not agree with the veneration of images. I love Orthodox Christians but I have misgivings about using imagery at all in worship. However, because we live in such a visual age, I believe good imagery to be helpful in conveying ideas to an unchurched population. It also broadens the minds, in a good way or at least in a way to provoke thought, of Christians who do not customarily use imagery. The use of serious over trivialising imagery is also a necessary corrective in our age. Sorry if I am sounding harsh but certain things need saying. This article will focus on what I consider the essentials in any portrayal of Jesus Christ.
What could be the appeal of a portrait of Christ like the one below, painted by Diego Velazquez in Spain in 1632? What qualities are portrayed? Laying aside my slight misgivings of using any imagery at all of Christ for fear of misrepresenting Him, I find the qualities in this portrait true to some essential aspects of Jesus’ person and character. Before continuing, the “Jewish looking” Jesus is about the last factor that is important to me. The reason? There are Jewish people who don’t look Jewish. There are many Jewish looks or looks we associate with being Jewish. I had a Jewish friend at school. Not one member of her family looked Jewish yet she was an Orthodox Jew. She had all the cred of an Orthodox Jew:
- She told me never to mention “His” name (with a hiss on “His”) again when I once spoke to her of Christ so I never did again
- She shrieked when I went to pour something down one of the two sinks in her kitchen – I was inadvertently about to do something impermissible for a Jewish household
She was overall a sweet girl and I liked her. I was invited out with the family on several occasions, her mother was generous to me and my friend and I would walk to school together. All this to say that being Jewish does not necessarily mean a certain look although a Middle Eastern appearance may have been evident in Jesus’ face. I also mean to say that I hold nothing against some lovely Jewish people I have known or met.
This portrait shows a pleasing face. Whilst Isaiah 53:2 lets us know that Jesus, the suffering servant, had no comeliness, this would have been because of His being beaten up intermittently the night before His crucifixion, Maundy Thursday, when He was taken into custody by the Pharisees and illegally convicted of crimes He did not commit. But the Pharisees had no power within the Roman Empire to have Christ crucified. They needed the Roman authorities to do that. So they lobbied the Roman powers who found Jesus innocent. Continued pressure from the Jews forced Rome’s hand so in the end, Jesus Christ was crucified by both Jews and Gentiles – the whole world against Christ – except a few, the remnant.
Despite the omission of a roughed-up Christ in most religious portraiture that I am familiar with, a beaten-up Christ was portrayed in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’.
I do not like to use only one image of Christ because we do not, and cannot, know what He actually looked like. Thus, using only one image gives the false impression that our imagery is accurately true to Christ. What we do know are some of His essential characteristics. These include His:
- gauntness or leanness as He prayed and fasted often
- benevolence and this face is all benevolence
- submissiveness to His Father’s will and so He quietly accepted His supreme task of becoming the perfect, spotless lamb as humanity’s substitute for God’s wrath
- physical pain and restraint as His shoulders were pulled back as He was fastened to the cross
- age, here depicted as 33, not 43 or even 53
I could go on to mention an essential feature not as evident in this portrait because of the circumstance being portrayed – the crucifixion. In everyday life, Jesus would have been a person full of gravitas. These qualities of Christ are for me the most palpable and Velazquez has captured them which is why I admire this portrait.I find it a faithful rendering of qualities highest in significance for an adequate representation of Jesus Christ.
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