James Tissot
Dear God, my wife sent me this picture a few days ago, and this is my first opportunity to really spend some time with it. My first inclination is to look and see if I can identify the people who are there and what they are doing, but I think I want to work backwards and look for people I know should be there, either up close or way off in the distance.
You know what? That’s too hard. I can’t figure anything out. There are a lot of people, and I can’t figure out what most of them are doing.
- Why are two guys on decorated horses?
- What’s the one guy looking at? Did he notice the sky is going dark?
- I guess those are Pharisees back on the upper right portion of the image. Some of them seem to be cheering. Even in the death of your enemy, is cheering really the sentiment one should feel?
- I can’t tell if that’s John to the left of the three women grouped together. It kind of looks like a woman’s hair, but it also might be a light beard of a young man.
- I wonder how this crucifixion compared with others. Was there a bigger crowd because of Jesus and who he was? Were there normally people gathered in the distance to watch? I wouldn’t think people would normally show up to watch a crucifixion–especially at Passover. And I don’t know that the crowd looked like this in reality, but I’m sure it was larger than most.
- I’m guessing that is Mary Magdalene close to the cross while is mother is with her sister(s) in the group of three.
- What’s with the guys with the long sticks? Were those the soldiers that hoisted up some vinegar for them to drink? They look tired.
- There’s a tomb there. I doubt Jesus could really see the tomb from his vantage that day, but it’s there waiting for him.
- Just let me stop and sit with the embarrassment of hanging there naked for a moment. With all of these people, including your mother, to see you.
- Imagine looking down on this crowd and knowing something they don’t know. Knowing this is part of the plan. Knowing that they need this to happen. Knowing that it’s all for them. Loving them. Forgiving them.
- I guess the one soldier who is dressed better than the others is the centurion who recognized Jesus’s deity.
- This scene is where the “Jesus was a good teacher but not divine” argument falls apart. If this was the end for a good teacher, why do I care? If he wasn’t God he was delusional. He did it for absolutely nothing. If he is not God and there is not resurrection coming then he lost that day, and it’s a loss there’s no coming back from.
- There are a lot of horses. Did the Pharisees all have horses? It’s an interesting thing for the artist to include. I count seven horses and one donkey.
Jesus, of course, Mr. Tissot has no idea what you saw from the cross. I don’t either. But I am confident in your knowledge of the plan and why you were doing what you did. You turned history in that moment. You tore the veil. You broke down the separation between us and the Father. You prepared the way for the Holy Spirit. You sacrificed yourself, set up your resurrection, and then taught us a new way. You validated all of the bizarre teaching you did the previous three years. You validated the weirdness and illogic of the Sermon on the Mount. And they were too ignorant (and I mean ignorant in the best definition of the world) to see what you were doing. In fact, if they had seen it they might not have done it. No, they needed to think you were delusional and crazy. They needed to not trust you. They needed to hate you. Some of them needed to think you had lost and mourn you. Even now, I need to really simmer in the idea of what you did so I can be here right now, in this moment, praying to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you!
I pray this in you and with the Holy Spirit you left me and all the earth,
Amen
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