{"id":2300,"date":"2013-09-29T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/?p=2300"},"modified":"2015-12-07T12:04:07","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T19:04:07","slug":"when-jesus-looked-down-on-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/29\/when-jesus-looked-down-on-us\/","title":{"rendered":"When Jesus Looked Down On Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

9-30-13<\/p>\n

Jesus on the cross surely is one of the most depicted moments of humankind\u2019s history. Think of icons, crucifixes, paintings, stained glass windows, mosaics, tapestries, statues, murals, tableaux, movies, and even Sunday-School lesson illustrations. I cannot think of any that do not depict this tender and powerful scene either straight-on or, occasionally, from some upward angle, the perspective of those at the foot of the cross.<\/p>\n

Actually, I can think of one exception \u2013 the famous \u201cChrist of St-John of the Cross,\u201d the realistic\/mystical painting by the master Salvador Dali. In this famous canvas, Dali painted Jesus from above, but front-on, hanging near the cross, without nails, or crown of thorns or scourges or blood. Beneath Him are not the gathered Mother and guards and random curiosity-seekers, but open water. At the extreme bottom, from a different perspective, the surrealist painted a shoreline of fishing boats. It is arresting, and thought-provoking.<\/p>\n

Dali based his painting on a sketch by St John of Avila, a 16th-century monk, that came to both artists in dreams. <\/p>\n

Yet I don\u2019t think I have ever seen a depiction of the Crucifixion from the actual viewpoint of Jesus\u2026 as if through His eyes. Such a painting would not only suggest Christ\u2019s perspective to us \u2013 literally and metaphorically \u2013 but Father God\u2019s perspective too. <\/p>\n

Jesus looked down, through encrusted, swollen, eyes, at His dripping blood and bruised body. He saw the splintery wood of the rough-hewn cross. On the ground He saw people looking upward \u2013 a collection of grief-filled, angry, regretful, indifferent, and hateful people. Looking toward the horizon, He saw the environs of Jerusalem, God\u2019s Holy City, the scene of biblical history of the past, and of the future.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s perspective, as if to look down over the shoulders of Jesus? To think upon it is to come closer to understanding the mysterious separation yet unity of Father and Son, especially to meditate on the Incarnation: why God poured Himself out to become human flesh at this fulcrum-point in mankind\u2019s history. Such an image would be to reassure a lost humankind, as if we need one more narrative \u2013 but we always do \u2013 that God sees us through the eyes, and the pain, of Jesus, who gave Himself so as to fulfill God\u2019s provision, in turn, and so on! The Godhead identifies with our failings, our confusion, our need of salvation, our pain, our hopes.<\/p>\n

It would be wonderful to see such a painting, or to paint such a perspective in our minds.<\/p>\n

I have one more thought about that setting, seen through the eyes of Jesus lifted up on the cross. It is another example of what I call \u201cvirtual theology\u201d \u2013 not in scripture, but not at all anti-biblical. In fact I think it might distill the sweeping message of the Bible\u2019s entire narrative.<\/p>\n

Jesus died for all. God\u2019s plan, once mankind understood, or could be shown, that the Law was insufficient to lead people to right standing with a Holy God, was to cancel the blood-sacrifice of sheep and rams, and offer Himself as a sacrifice. This was according to prophecy. His children no longer would invent works or propose offerings to try to please an angry God. He would ask them only to BELIEVE in Him through the substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah, thereby please a loving God.<\/p>\n

Humankind. Here is my virtual theology: When Jesus looked down at the assembled few at the foot of the cross, I believe that He looked also into history past and history to come, and see the entirety of humankind. As God-in-flesh, He had managed more extravagant miracles. <\/p>\n

Further, I believe that He was able, and did, look down, past the faces of Mary and the centurions, past the shades of millions of souls, into your face and mine, eye to eye, individually. After all, He came for us, and loves us, individually.<\/p>\n

Still further, my theological understanding proposes this: that if every other person in history were perfect and sinless; that is, everybody except you or me out of billions of people, He still would have gone to the cross. <\/p>\n

Willingly He would have gone. Eagerly. In fact, since He could have avoided the cross or miraculously changed those circumstances at Golgotha\u2019s hill, the truth is that He virtually scrambled up the cross\u2026 answered the question \u201cHow much do you love?\u201d by spreading His arms wide\u2026 and invited the nails.<\/p>\n

He would have done that for you or me. In fact, that is NOT virtual truth: He DID do that for you and me.<\/p>\n

+ + +<\/p>\n

A great gospel song that parallels and illustrates the theme of this message was written around 1985 and has become a standard in hymnbooks and on concert stages and Christian radio. It was written by Ronny Hinson and Mike Payne. Here performed at the Family Worship Center, Baton Rouge. <\/p>\n

Click: When He Was On the Cross, I Was On His Mind<\/a> <\/p>\n

+ + + <\/p>\n

\n\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9-30-13 Jesus on the cross surely is one of the most depicted moments of humankind\u2019s history. Think of icons, crucifixes, paintings, stained glass windows, mosaics, tapestries, statues, murals, tableaux, movies, and even Sunday-School lesson illustrations. I cannot think of any that do not depict this tender and powerful scene either straight-on or, occasionally, from some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,53,7],"tags":[1242,1239,1243,1237,1238,1240,1241],"class_list":["post-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-faith","category-jesus","tag-christ-of-st-john-of-the-cross","tag-jason-crabb","tag-kelvingrove-art-gallery-and-museum-glasgow","tag-mike-payne","tag-ronny-hinson","tag-salvador-dali","tag-st-john-of-avila"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bRYz-B6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2300"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3338,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions\/3338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}