23/09/11 | Posted by MattPage
What does Jesus look like when you close your eyes
and picture him? Long hair and a beard? Blue eyes even? The oldest images of
Jesus ever found go on display today in New York University's Institute for the
Study of the Ancient World and there's something distinctly strange about them.
The pictures painted closest to the time when Jesus was alive show him with
short hair, brown eyes, and, most surprising of all, beardless.
Photography © 2011 Yale University Art Gallery
Of course visual depictions of Jesus have changed
enormously over the centuries, due in part to the fact that the four gospels
give no physical description of Jesus whatsoever. Furthermore, the early church
seems not to have been overly concerned with portraying Jesus visually. Indeed
given that most of the very earliest church was Jewish it’s possible they
adopted mainstream Judaism’s interpretation of one of the Ten Commandments -
“You shall not make graven images”.
But as the racially-Jewish population within
Christianity dwindled, it became acceptable once again to depict his face,
although by the time these earliest works were painted, Jesus had already been
dead for two centuries.
The paintings were discovered almost a hundred
years ago in an archaeological exploration at Dura Europos in modern day Syria.
The city was abandoned in the 250s, and the site had never subsequently been
re-inhabited meaning that much was as it had been left.
What’s remarkable about the site - which was
located at the intersection of the Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman empires - is
that alongside the Christian ruins were places of worship to Greek, Roman and
local gods as well as the world’s best-preserved ancient synagogue. The
co-existence of these diverse religions, at a time when persecution of
Christianity was rife elsewhere suggests a multicultural, tolerant and
relatively peaceful city. Other evidence from the site suggests that there was a
wide range of cultural traditions and people groups. Fragments of no fewer than
seven different languages (Greek, Aramaic, Latin, Parthian, Middle Persian,
Hebrew, and Safaitic) have been discovered at the site.
In total there are four scenes depicted from the
Gospels. Christ Healing the Paralytic (pictured above) shows one of Jesus’
earliest healings from Mark 2. Then there is a picture of the Good Shepherd, a
popular image amongst the earliest Christian art. Also shown is the story from
Matthew 14 of Jesus and Peter walking on the water (below) although Jesus’ face
appears not to have survived. Lastly there is what appears to be part of a
picture of the two/three women at Jesus’ empty tomb.
Photography © 2011 Yale University Art Gallery
It’s interesting that whilst these images were
created long before the New Testament was compiled and before Christianity had
become the official religion of the Roman Empire, these few images capture the
majority of aspects of Jesus’ life. His appearance is typical of that of the
teacher; he is shown performing miraculous signs and healings; the Good
Shepherd suggests a sacrificial and caring leader; and the empty tomb witnesses
to his resurrection.
The exhibition, aptly named ‘Edge of Empires’ uses
objects from Yale University Art Gallery, and runs until January 2012.
Ave Maria
GOOD NEWS BIBLE JOHN 15:
18-27 - THE WORLD’S HATRED
The Bible- The World's Hatred.... God bless each and all
and have a great week folks..
The World's Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, just
remember that it has hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, then the
world would love you as its own. But I chose you from this world, and you do
not belong to it; that is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you:
‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If people persecuted me, they will
persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too. 21 But
they will do all this to you because you are mine; for they do not know the one
who sent me. 22 They would not have been guilty of sin if I had not come and
spoken to them; as it is, they no longer have any excuse for their sin. 23
Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 They would not have been guilty of
sin if I had not done among them the things that no one else ever did; as it
is, they have seen what I did, and they hate both me and my Father. 25 This,
however, was bound to happen so that what is written in their Law may come
true: ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’
26 “The Helper will come—the Spirit,
who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him
to you from the Father, and he will speak about me. 27 And you, too, will speak
about me, because you have been with me from the very beginning.
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