A Look at the Isenheim Altarpiece by Chris White

Little is known about the artist Matthias Grunewald except that he apprenticed under Albrecht Durer who was a famous illustrator of books during the printing revolution of the Renaissance.  Grunewald painted this altarpiece for a monastery in Germany 5 years before the Protestant Reformation was torched off by his fellow countryman Martin Luther.  Today the altarpiece resides at an art museum in France.

Significant about the picture is the realism and extreme emotion.  First of all, note how low the cross is.  Jesus is barely above the ground.  This was how crucifixion was done because it was about pain and humiliation.  The reason it was written ‘cursed is him who hangs on a tree’ is because it was so terrible a death that the Jews could come to no other conclusion that the victim was utterly bereft of the God’s grace.  Also see the contortions of the hands.  Although they seem to express Jesus’ agony before his heavenly father, they would have also looked like this because the crucifixion nails were put through the wrist destroying the system of tendons and contorting the hands.

On the right we see John the Baptist at the crucifixion.  The artist knew that John preceded Jesus in death and was not mixed up on his details.  He has the scriptures in one hand with the other hand pointing to the Lord.  John is the last of the Old Testament prophets and he is pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy.  In John chapter 1 as Jesus approaches John the Baptist for baptism he declares to the crowd “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  At John’s feet there is a sacrificial lamb with a cross.  There is a hole in its chest and blood is being poured out into a chalice.  A reminder that the covenant cup we share is one sealed by the pouring out of Jesus’ blood.

To the left Mary the mother of Jesus is dressed in a white habit.  She could be seen in no other way by this point in history.  She was model for all nuns and therefore was dressed as one.  John the apostle looks like a European adolescent of the day with the page boy haircut.  John was likely a teenager at the time of this event and so an accurate rendering here.  Kneeling in prayer is Mary Magdalene.  She is not in a gown of white and has long, long hair that has been let down.  She has an alabaster jar of ointment.  Grunewald had the typical assumption that the woman of ill-repute who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair and anointed his feet with expensive nard was Mary Magdalene.  Nowhere in scripture is Mary Magdalene declared to be a reformed prostitute, but the idea has had a lot of sticking power through the centuries.  Mary is showing us what all sinners must do, we must come to the foot of the cross and pray that Christ will forgive us of our sins.

Last of all we look at Jesus.  His body is not bleeding here, but his body is covered in dark pock marks all over his skin.  This is very purposeful.  The altarpiece was created for the chapel of a hospital that was run by the brothers of St. Anthony.  Their hospital was for treating people with skin diseases.  One of the common maladies of the day was caused by eating rye grain that was tainted with a fungus.  The disease was quite painful and frequently the victims suffered from hallucinations as one of the elements of the rye fungus is a direct precursor to the drug we know as LSD.  The message of this crucifixion of Jesus covered in skin sores is for the patients.  Jesus understands your particular suffering and has borne your pain upon the cross, therefore hope in him.

The Story Behind Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper by Chris White

The Last Supper has long been one of the most popular topics of artists for many generations, but Leonardo da Vinci’s version is probably the most well-known of them all.  It is a wall painting in the dining room of the convent Santa Maria della Grazie near Milan Italy.  This painting was started the year after Columbus sailed to the new world and wasn’t completed until 3 years later.  Da Vinci was no doubt a genius, but if you were to ask his employer Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, he would tell you that he hardly ever finishes anything he starts and only then with a lot of nagging and pressure.  Sforza was a powerful figure in Renaissance Italy.  He was fabulously wealthy, militarily powerful, well-cultured and connected, and for a man of his position, quite pious.  Da Vinci lived at Sforza’s estate and was constantly doing projects for him ranging from statuary to visual spectacles designed to entertain the Duke’s dinner guests.  Da Vinci’s stock in trade was not painting but rather sculpture and machinery.  I find this interesting because this was also true of Michelangelo.  Yet both men are most famous for their paintings almost defining Renaissance art.

Duke Sforza spent much time at the convent of Santa Maria.  He would often go there for days at a time on spiritual retreat and found great solace in the gardens and the worship services held there.  His great plan was to be buried there and so he was also a major supporting patron of the monastery.  When Leonardo was sent there to paint the last supper it was for the walls of the of the Sforza mausoleum.  But Leonardo hated painting and really didn’t care for some of the brothers at the monastery either.  This made the work for him wearisome and full of drudgery which is why he avoided working on it as much as possible.  It was really mostly the pressure and cajoling of Ludovico Sforza on Da Vinci that brought this project to completion.

Truth be told, Da Vinci had great artistic talent, but was a bit lazy at the craft of wall painting.  He avoided using the fresco method which would have better preserved the work, because he wanted to work on it slowly and revise it a lot.  And so his methodology of wall preparation and painting led to its early failure.  Within 5 years of completion, restorative work needed to be done.  It has been restored so many times, that some believe there is very little paint on that wall left that was actually laid down by Da Vinci himself.

The picture of the Last Supper is a depiction of that moment when Jesus reveals that one of his disciples will betray him.  The Apostles are all in groupings of three all in consternation about which one is the betrayer.  With one hand Jesus is signaling it will be the person who shares this bread.  But very subtly, Jesus’ other hand points us to Judas who is grasping his coin bag in one hand and furtively grabbing a piece of bread before leaving the room to betray Jesus to the Sanhedrin.

When I think of the actual event we call the Last Supper, I think of what Jesus taught all of us about love.  First of all, he washed the feet of all who were present.  This was an act of loving service that was humble and even included his betrayer.  Second of all the Passover meal, and then the bread and cup, point to Jesus’ love extending to the utmost including self-sacrifice and death for our redemption.  True Christian love is much more than an emotional thing, it is sacrificial, it is seeking the best for others at the expense of self.

Secondly, the bond of Christ’s community, the church family, is sustained by the fact that we believe together.  Christ is rightly at the center of Da Vinci’s table for he is Lord who draws us all together.  Judas was welcomed to the meal and the community, but left because of his unbelief.  He was not unloved by the Lord, but chose to separate himself from his love and this was to his eternal regret.  All of us experience betrayal of some sort in our lives, but the worst betrayal is always from those we love.  If you have or are experiencing betrayal now, know that the Lord Jesus knows exactly how you feel as He underwent that same pain too.

The events of the Last Supper are commemorated on what is known as Maundy Thursday.  The message to the men around the table that night and to the rest of us is the Lord's great commandment.  His commandment is to love one another just as he has loved you.  This high calling of love is the true mark of being one of the Lord's disciples (John 13:34-35).   This is the essential message we should remember from the Last Supper.

On Struggles, Satan, and the book of Job by Chris White

“And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; but save his life” Job 2:6

                                                                             

I must confess I am a bit leery about deriving too much theology about Satan from the book of Job.  I believe in the veracity of the book and even the most casual reading of it reveals a literary masterpiece, but I don’t think its purpose is to offer us hardcore doctrine about the interactions of God, Satan, and the human race.  What I do see is a sufficient answer (as opposed to an exhaustive explanation) as to the question of how evil can touch the children of a good God.  The main point is that God is the sovereign Creator and He has things well under control and that there are going to be difficult things that happen to us in this life that we are not going to understand and never will.  Somehow the evil one is in there but these secrets belong to God and your understanding of them is not a prerequisite to being blessed in the final analysis.  I wonder how many of us have gone through a trial thinking God was teaching us one thing, when in fact it was something else altogether.  Much energy can be expended trying to unscrew the inscrutable! A good friend of mine recently mentioned she was struggling through a particular trial and was really worried about all the work she was not getting accomplished.  The Lord spoke to her heart very distinctly that moment that His job for her that day was to rest and not worry.  Not an easy task for anyone enduring a struggle, but a wise way of expressing faith in the goodness of a sovereign God.

On Predicting the Return of Jesus Christ by Chris White

It was December 31^st, 999 AD.  For the last three years all of Europe from the great to the small were caught up in hysteria over the return of Jesus and the end of the world.  On the positive side, many people forgave debts, gave their wealth to the poor, enemies were reconciled, dissolute behavior reformed, and many who had wandered away from the Lord returned.  On the negative side, many people quit planting crops, stopped repairing buildings and abandoned their jobs in light of the end.  There was no actual basis for this except the feeling that since a day with the Lord is as 1000 years and that the Lord promised to return soon, that it was unlikely he would wait any longer than a millennium (2 Pet.3:8).  It was now 11:45 pm.  Pope Sylvester II had just finished saying the mass and had taken his seat on throne of St. Peter.  With the smell of incense still wafting through the air, the congregation went down on their knees.  Some, decided to lay completely prostrate on the floor with their arms and legs straitened to form the shape of a cross.  At the stroke of midnight some people began sobbing and shaking uncontrollably out of fear of what was going to happen next.  As the minutes passed, nothing actually did.  No lightning strikes from the east to the west, no angelic trumpets or brilliant lights in the sky.  In fact all was quiet.  Soon bells began to peal all over Europe to ring in the new year and life quickly and happily got back to its normal patterns.  Apparently they were not the final generation after all.

One of the curious enterprises that seems present in every generation of the church is the prognostication of the timing of the Lord’s return.  Someone or a group will begin developing a theory often based on scriptures that are either misinterpreted or sufficiently vague enough to allow for extra meaning to be ascribed to it with little basis.  One of the most surprising people to be involved with this activity was the early scientist Isaac Newton (1642-1727).  Newton was apparently quite a devout man and wrote almost as much about religion as he did science however because he was a laymen did not publish much of his religious studies.  Newton actually made efforts to predict with some sort of coded formula the day of our blessed hope.  In more modern times, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventist Church were both born out of movements which had laid claim to discovery of the Lord’s return.

Perhaps it is human nature to want to probe mysteries and the unknown and the day of the Lord’s Return certainly qualifies as one of the greatest of them all.  But Jesus said no one, not even himself knew this day, but that the exact time and date is known only to the Father.  Jesus never urged his followers to try and predict this event, he simply taught that his disciples should be prepared for this day by living a life of godliness, repentance for one’s sins, and humble service to his kingdom.  That we should be always ready is also clear as Jesus taught it would come suddenly without warning, like a thief in the night, at a moment least expected (Mt. 24:27,43-44).  He also taught with a directness that this event would come after a long delay but without  any further detail added (Mt. 25).  Soon, in terms of the Lord’s return, must be measured by the time scale of heaven, not earth.

When Jesus ascended to heaven his disciples watched the sky so long that finally the Lord’s angels appeared to them and told them it was time to stop looking up and start doing the work the Lord had commissioned them to do here on earth (Acts 1:10-11) .  The Lord also teaches that we are to hold jobs, raise children, build up the faith community, serve our neighbors, and pray for our nation during our sojourn on earth.  But sojourn it is, for we are ever pilgrims in the world as long as our citizenship is in heaven (1 Pet. 1:1-2).  The day of the Lord is beyond finding out by God’s design.  If we knew such a thing we would likely misuse the information to our own hurt such as becoming slothful or even evading responsibility(2 Pet.3:1-5).  No doubt some with more fragile temperaments would simply collapse in anticipatory fear of such a cataclysmic event.  Instead every generation is to live and serve the Lord in joyful anticipation knowing by faith that even though we know not the when of this event, the Lord always keeps his promises, and therefore it is certain (Titus 2:11-14).

5 Mistakes Christians Make About Personal Suffering by Chris White

Recently I was watching a travel program about the wine country of southern France.  The host of the program was interviewing one of the many winemakers in the area and asked her what makes for really good wine.  Surprisingly, she said the best wine comes when we make the vines suffer.  What she meant was that some of the best grapes are produced by vines grown in the harshest of conditions and the rockiest of soils.  I see a correlation between this and the growth of people.  We would think a life with ideal conditions present would only thrive and be productive.  But this isn’t always the case and in some people not true at all.  The reality is that the stress of trials, troubles, and tribulations often results in our best growth as persons. 

As I have been reading and meditating on scripture recently, I have been noticing just how much the New Testament speaks about suffering in our lives and its greater purposes.  That said, our broader culture and even church culture often gets this perspective wrong.  Here are 5 of my observations about how Christians get this wrong and how we should think personal suffering:

1.      Mistaking the consequences of wrong-doing for godly suffering.  According to Peter, suffering justly for one’s sins is not the same as enduring suffering that is unjust.  Only suffering that is meted out and endured when it is undeserved is commendable to God (1 Peter 2:20-21).  This is not to say that suffering for your own wrong-doing is not without pain or purpose in the Christian life.  The writer of Hebrews reminds us “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb. 12:7-8).  Such chastisement does cause us pain and suffering, but it’s done for our training in righteousness not our destruction.  The correct response to this kind of suffering is to repent, apologize and/or make restitution if a person has been hurt by your wrong-doing,  and actually rejoice that God loves you too much to let you go undisciplined.

2.       Believing that personal suffering is without any purpose.  Several years ago I was at a conference in which Joni Eareckson Tada was one of the invited speakers.  Joni’s story is fairly well-known (her bio here: http://www.joniandfriends.org/jonis-corner/jonis-bio/) through print and film, but her life achievements are prolific and her activism broad despite the fact that she has been quadriplegic for the past 47 years.  What was striking to me as a person in the audience that night was she never once alluded to her condition but spoke with great excitement about what God was doing around the world.  I harbor no doubts that Joni doesn’t have days that are frustrating and dark because of her physical condition, nevertheless, she seems to operate from the perspective that her particular suffering has been used by God as means of shaping her for greater purposes.  My home state of Oregon has the dubious distinction of being the first in the nation to legalize physician assisted suicide.  The mentality that promoted this law (it was a statewide referendum) and has taken advantage of it, is one in the same: life has meaning only if you are enjoying it.  If you are suffering bodily or psychic pain to the point you are no longer enjoying your life, then a prescription may be offered you to end your pointless suffering.  In the Bible, Job’s faithless wife suggested much the same thing when Job lost his health.  Job’s faithful response was we must accept both blessings and trials because ultimately they issue from God (Job 2:9-10).  Once again, the proper response to suffering is having the mentality that all that comes our way has been allowed by God and serves the purpose of testing and purifying your Christian faith (1 Pet. 1:6-8).

3.       Thinking you are all alone in your suffering.  By far, self-pity is one of the most powerful weapons Satan has at his disposal to wage war against your faith.  Trouble strikes our lives and causes us pain.  At first we are optimistic.  “This trial will pass soon or God will intervene somehow and then I’ll be happy again,” we think to ourselves.  But life’s problems rarely resolve quickly like they do on television.  As we go further into the journey of suffering, there is a subtle voice that seems to speak in our minds with a slight hiss.  “Sssseee, God doesn’t care about you and your ssssuffering, He’s too busy blessing everyone elsssssse!”  As we listen to this voice, self-pity sets in and soon afterwards is joined by its fraternal twin self-indulgence.   We are all alone in our troubles and might as well do something to ease the pain.  To this kind of attack, St. Peter writes “Resist him (the devil), firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world( 1 Peter 5:9.)  The truth is, if God really has singled you out among all the people in the world to suffer, you probably would be justified in feeling sorry for yourself.  But the reality is that all of us live in a broken world with a lot of broken people and therefore should wisely expect that the pain of this brokenness will intersect our lives from time to time.  We should probably be more shocked that we don’t suffer more than we do.  The point is you are not alone in your suffering.  God and everyone you know has endured or is enduring something painful in their lives.  The key to knowing this for certain is to be transparent about your struggle with others rather than isolate yourself.  You will be surprised what you’ll learn about others who you think are totally happy and blessed when you candidly share with them your sorrows.  Do this and you will pray for others, will have uncommon perspective, and defeat the enemy’s strategy of destroying your faith though self-pity.

4.       Thinking that suffering trials actually destroys a person’s faith.  Both Paul and Peter teach us that trials actually build endurance, character, and hope (Rom.5:3-5: 1 Peter 1:6-8.)  James carries this same idea noting the outcome of our testing produces steadfastness and deep growth in our souls which should be a source of joy (James 1:2-4.)  That said, many of us know people who have walked away from the faith as the result of a trial.  So, how does this square with scripture?  The trial of suffering is an instrument whereby the reality of our faith is tested.  Everybody would follow Christ if every prayer was answered and every Christian encountered nothing but blessing at every turn.  But the New Testament repeatedly teaches that true faith is believing without first seeing or trusting in the promise  of God based on his character not the results we see (Heb. 11:1; 2 Cor. 5:7.)  What happens in some people is that they receive the message of the gospel with great joy because of what it offers them, but when that joy is put to the test by troubles, their faith simply withers (Mt. 13:20.)  Put another way, trials are a means of revealing the true nature of our faith.  If it wasn’t real, it will be removed.  If it is real, a trial will, despite the pain in the moment, in the long run strengthen and temper the faith of a believer.

5.       Thinking that your suffering is more than a momentary light affliction.  In 2^nd Corinthians 4:16-17 Paul writes “So we do not lose heart.  Though the outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”  As a pastor for many years now, I have watched many dear people endure things you just never get over.  The loss of beloved children in accidents, businesses that took a lifetime to build suddenly failing, a dream retirement never realized because of early on-set dementia,  the heartbreak of a father dying just weeks before his first child was born and the list could go on.  These kinds of wounds never go away this side of heaven.  You get through these things (sometimes), but you honestly never get over them.  But we must never forget the reality of eternity.  If you belong to God and God has an eternity to bless you (which He will), then whatever sorrows you must bear by His appointment, though difficult now, are by comparison very momentary and very light.  We keep our hopes in eternity for that is where they are rightly placed because that is our true destiny.