Art Reading Scripture
Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came with lanterns and torches and weapons." John 18:2-3
At once (Judas) came up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you are here to do." Matthew 26:49-50
I have a soft spot in my heart for Judas Iscariot. Ever since reading "The Ballad of Judas Iscariot" by Robert Buchanan which ends beautifully in a scene of Judas repentance and redemption I have been attracted to Judas and this story. The book, "Judas: The Most Hated Name in History" by Peter Stanford only deepened my interest and hope for and through this disciple of Christ. Lastly, my long study of Last Supper paintings based on the story told by the Gospel of John, draws me to the intense and intimate relationship between Jesus and Judas, the Savior and the sinner.
Judas epitomizes a "lost" character in the story of Jesus. Fittingly, this painting of Caravaggio's, "The Betrayal of Christ," was lost for nearly two centuries, after it disappeared from Rome into a private collection in Scotland. In 1990 it was rediscovered in Dublin Ireland in the possession of the Irish Jesuit Fathers of the House of Ignatius, who put it on permanent display at the National Gallery of Ireland.
The characters: On the left are the Beloved Disciple, Christ and Judas. Their heads seem to merge into one. The Beloved (unnamed disciple associated with John) flees in panic, crying out in emotional anguish at the betrayal being played out in the night. Christ stands in the center, pulling slightly away from Judas kiss. His eyes are dark, cast down in an expression of disappointment and submission to the inevitable, what must be because the cup cannot pass from him. Judas bends in to kiss. His arms and hands embrace Jesus. Judas stares off into space, does not look Jesus in the eye, suggesting that in that moment he understands the horror of the betrayal, the kiss and what will happen to Jesus. The juxtaposition of the three puts Christ at the center of the saint and the sinner, the beloved and the betrayer, the place where Christ finally meets all who follow him. The sinner embraces Christ, his only hope in the midst of betrayal. The saint flees in sorrow and fear from the one who will come again to offer him the peace and life of which he has despaired. In Christ, at the center, meet the hopes and fears of all his followers, in all their failings of faith.
Next are three soldiers in black armor, one of whom only his helmet is visible. Paralleling and contrasting Judas embrace, the lead soldier reaches towards Jesus neck with a steely grip. Their expressionless faces say they are merely following orders, doing their job. It is night and their armor and purpose is dark. When Judas left the Passover meal in John's Gospel the John briefly comments, "And it was night." The concluding line of this story from Luke's Gospel from Jesus lips says, "But this is your hour and the power of darkness." Caravaggio painted his pictures playing with dark backgrounds, but seldom are the characters so starkly garbed in black.
Finally there is one other character in the painting, an on looker holding a lantern. He gazes over the top of the soldier's heads, his faces illuminated like that of Christ and his two disciples. In fact, Caravaggio painted himself into the scene. He embodies the three of whom he is most interested in observing. He is a disciple of Christ and at the same time deeply flawed and violent, depending on money from religious patrons, and constantly fleeing both the law and himself in search of a peace he cannot find. The lantern he holds up glows dimly, not enough to illuminate the faces of the characters of faith. That brighter light comes from somewhere else, beyond the scene. Christ remains at the center of his life and paintings, the only thing that keeps him going and holds him together.
Keep the faith. Say your prayers. Love like Jesus.
Pastor Tim Bauer
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