Behold the Lamb of God

John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and declared to his disciples, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Just before we participate in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in the Lord’s Supper, we sing, “O Christ, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us” (Agnus Dei in the Service of Word and Sacrament).

We sing about the Lamb. We hear about the Lamb. We taste the Lamb. We often see images of the Lamb in our churches … but not quite like the image that Jonathan Mayer has created.

Jonathan is a young, Lutheran artist whose art is filled with both symbolism and realism. You can check out Jonathan’s artwork at his website, Scapegoat Studio or on Facebook.

I asked Jonathan for his inspiration for creating his Behold the Lamb of God painting. He mentioned to me that Behold the Lamb of God did not come to him with a flash of inspiration. Rather, it came about in small steps with a lot of time and effort. You can examine some of his first sketches from his sketchbook to see the progression of where he started to where he finished. 

Jonathan explains the process of creating this unique piece of art: “In January of 2010, I was illustrating my way through the sections of Messiah: The Greatest Sermon Ever Sung. Part II of the oratorio opens with the words of John the Baptist in John 1:29. As a set of general goals for the book, I wanted the artwork to point to Christ, and also to reflect both the content and the expressive nature of Handel's music. This involved listening to the music and reading the biblical texts over and over while I sketched and brainstormed. Between John 1:29 and Isaiah 53, there was no escaping this image of a lamb led to the slaughter.”

Jonathan used as his inspiration the classical painting of the bound lamb prepared for sacrifice entitled “Agnus Dei” by Francisco de Zubaran, a Spanish Baroque painter. 

Jonathan continues to explain the connection between the music and the painting: “Early on, I only knew that I needed something striking. I have always liked Baroque painting, and the way that it casts dramatic lighting on figures against a dark background. The music in this section of ‘Messiah’ is both dramatic and contemplative, and it seemed to fit the feel of a Baroque painting—spotlit on an oppressively dark stage. I started thinking about that metaphor of the Paschal lamb—not just bound and silent, but actually slaughtered. I looked on the internet for reference photos of lambs being slaughtered, and it was a ghastly sight. Vibrant red blood gushed across the pavement like a river as the animal bled to death, its feet bound together. If I was looking for striking or ‘edgy,’ that was it. My first thumbnail sketches were vertical compositions; a spotlight shined down on a slaughtered lamb, and the blood spilled out, filling most of the frame.”

He then cut out a representation of the continents and placed them underneath the blood, so the blood would be covering it. Jonathan commented on this process: “As soon as I did it, I knew it looked wrong. And almost just as suddenly, a solution presented itself. … The continents became the blood. Instead of overlapping different symbolic elements, the blood became the cause and the effect all at once. The sin of the world was the cause of Christ's death; the blood of Christ paid for it.”

The blood of the Lamb shed for the sins of the world. What a powerful image Jonathan has created for us. It is all about the blood of the Lamb. We thank God for it. We are forgiven by it. We sing about it. We preach about it. We taste it. … And now, in this symbolic and realistic image, we are able to visualize all of John 1:29 – we behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.