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From the Canvas to the Cross | Part V | The Face of God

Picture this: Jesus just dropped a bombshell on His disciples. 

Bartholemew leans in to confirm he heard correctly. Little James' jaw drops. Andrew throws his hands up in implied innocence. Peter reaches for his dagger - he's always had a bit of a temper. Judas quickly gets out of his way, keeping a sharp eye on him all the time. Leaning forward with a tight clutch on his money purse, he knocks over the salt. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, feels faint. 

Big James steps back with arms outstretched, clearly wanting nothing to do with this news. Phillip turns his hands inward and leans toward Jesus. Matthew, Jude, and Simon huddle together, trying to make sense of what Jesus had just Revealed. 

"Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me." (John 13:21, NIV)

If you take an even closer look, as historians, curators, and art critics have for centuries, perhaps you might find all sorts of Hidden 'Easter Eggs', from mathematical sequences to Hidden melodies, evidence of Leonardo DaVinci's extraordinary mind. 

We could easily get lost in the rabbit hole with the theories that have been presented on Leonardo's works, including, and perhaps especially, the most well-recognized portrait in the world, Mona Lisa. For many, her face seems to Hide something. 

Turning back to The Last Supper, I wonder what the faces of these characters Reveal. 

I came across aStorya bout DaVinci's creative process for painting these thirteen faces. There are a few versions of the legend floating around about the models he chose for his rendering; here's my favorite, taken from the Vatican Radio archives: 

"The story is told that when the painter Leonardo Da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, he had an intense and bitter argument with a fellow painter. Da Vinci began to think of a way to get back at this guy. He came up with a devious plan. He decided to paint the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot so it would be captured for all time, and that is exactly what he did. When people came to look at his work, while it was still in progress, they immediately knew who 'Judas' was. Da Vinci got great joy out of portraying this man as Judas Iscariot. But as he continued his work on the painting of Jesus and his disciples, he finally came to the face he had saved for the very end - the face of Jesus. 

But he drew a mental blank. He had what writers call 'writer's block'. He could not paint a thing. Finally, God convicted him and showed him the trouble was he had painted the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot. He realized that his hatred and bitterness was keeping him from being able to face the face of Christ. So he went back to the image of Judas and painted some nebulous face. He went to his painter enemy, asked forgiveness, and they were reconciled. Then he went back and could clearly paint the face of Christ and finish one of the world's greatest portraits." 

I recently had an experience that turned a fuzzy view of Jesus into a sharp image. Up until this moment, I held tightly to what I might call, 'The Ticket to Heaven' Gospel. That is: In the beginning, (as recorded in Genesis), God created the heavens and the earth (and so on and so forth), and finally - God created Man. Man rebelled against God, and they were separated. God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to assume the punishment for our rebellion, and when we get ready to board the Heaven train, we simply redeem our Jesus Ticket for access back to God. "One ticket to Heaven, please!" 

But wait...who is that in the background, hiding behind James? We seemed to have skipped over him. It's 'Doubting Thomas', of course, holding up the finger that he later claimed he would need for 'proof' before believing that Jesus is alive. Here's the Story: 

"Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, 'Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!" (John 20:24-28, NIV)

Do you See it? Jesus is not only the Way back to God, He is our God! 

Upon this realization, I was taken back to the scene of The Last Supper, after Judas had taken the bread that, in the image above, both him and Jesus were reaching for. When Judas had left the upper room to carry out the task, Jesus said, 

"Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will glorify the Son in Himself, and He will glorify Him at once...

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:31-32, 34-35, NIV) 

Perhaps it's not so much doubt or a lack of understanding (which the disciples often had), but rather hatred and bitterness that blurs our vision of Jesus' face. After all, doubt leads to questions, and questions lead to answers, which have been quite fun, and ultimately healing, for me to seek in God's Word. 

Hatred and bitterness, in my experience, leads only to Hell on Earth. 

To quote from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, "To love another person is to see the face of God." For after all, God is Love. 

As I wrap up this series, I'm taken back to where we started in John, Chapter 1. In the Spirit of our Lord's upside-down Kingdom, let's take another look: 

5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Part I: Consider the Lillies.

4. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Part II: In the Image. 

3. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. Part III: A Mess in the Making. 

2. He was with God in the beginning. Part IV: Divine Choreography.

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Part V: The Face of God.

Beloved, He is so Good, Beautiful, and True; as is each face you might look upon today, including the one in the mirror. View them each through the eyes of Jesus, and you just might catch a glimpse of God.   

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