Adam & the Tree; Jesus & the Cross
Throughout history, Christian
art has used various forms of imagery to convey Scriptural events, teachings or
truths. Artists have used realism aiming for simplicity and clarity. Artists
have also used symbolism to express deeper meanings that are often hidden in
the artwork.
Both realism and symbolism
have their place in Christian art.
This week our Christian
churches are celebrating the season of Lent – a time of repentance over our
sins and reflection on the suffering of Christ for those sins. The Old
Testament lesson for the first Sunday in Lent is from Genesis chapter 3, as we
read about Adam’s fall into sin.
Christian art doesn’t only
have to be ancient, classical and well-known. It can also be modern, original
and created by lesser known artists.
The devil is described in
Genesis 3 as a serpent. The serpent is lively and colorful. But God has
pronounced a curse upon him — “I will put enmity between you and the woman,
between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike
his heel” (Gen 3:15 ).
Adam has returned to “the
scene of the crime.” He is repentant, looking at the bitten fruit. He is no
longer naked in his perfection. He is now clothed with the skin of an animal.
With his sin, Adam has brought death into the world. The first to experience
death is the animal God killed in order to cover Adam’s nakedness and replace
the fig leaves Adam had previously used.
Only Adam is portrayed in this
scene from Eden , so that there is a
contrast between Adam and Jesus, who is called the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45 ).
The Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil is purposefully shaped like a cross.
The peacock is the bird of
paradise in ancient art. He is also called the bird of pride. Pride was the sin
of both Satan and Adam, thinking they knew better than God.
The proper preface for Holy Communion
for the season of Lent reads: “… who brought the gift of salvation to all
people by his death on the tree of the cross, so that the devil, who overcame
us by a tree would in turn by a tree be overcome.” These words are really the
impetus upon which these paintings were created
INRI — Latin letters for the
sign that hung over Jesus’ head in Greek, Aramaic and Latin: “Jesus, the King
of the Jews.”
“For as in Adam all die, so in
Christ [the second Adam] all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22 ). Jesus is the second Adam. Adam is
portrayed in the Eden painting as having
already fallen into sin. Jesus is portrayed in the Calvary
painting as already died. His eyes are closed and the spear has pierced His
side.
The serpent is pale and
colorless. He has been crushed under the heel of the woman’s offspring — Jesus
Christ. But the serpent has struck Christ’s heel. It is almost invisible from a
distance, but as you approach the painting, if you look very closely at Jesus’
heel, you will notice two dark red dots. They are the fang marks of the ancient
serpent, for the serpent has fulfilled God’s prophecy: “you will strike his
heel” (Genesis 3:15 ).
The raven is a bird of death.
The peacock is in a place of beauty that brought death to all people The raven
is in a place of death that brought life to all people
The cross is cut from a tree.
Jesus fulfills the prophecy: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Galatians
3:13 ). The cross is purposefully set
at the opposite angle of the Tree in Eden .
The devil beat humanity on a tree, but Jesus defeated the devil on the tree of
the cross.
The borrowed tomb where Jesus
will be placed is in the background. In Epiphany’s Easter painting, the scene
will be reversed with the open tomb in the foreground and the empty cross on
Golgatha’s hill in the background.
Beauty, symbolism and realism –
all fulfilling prophecy and promise: “Consequently,
just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the
result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all
men” (Romans 5:18).
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