Pope Francis' Favorite Painting

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GOOD FRIDAY
Friday, April 18, 2014


     White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall  

I recently read that his painting by Jewish artist Marc Chagall is Pope Francis’ favorite.   Chagall was inspired to paint this after Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) in 1938 Nazi Germany, that infamous night when evil and hatred, institutionalized in Nazi Germany’s leaders, played itself out in destroying Jewish businesses.   On the left you see the communists burning a village.  On the right you see Nazi’s burning a synagogue.   In the foreground is a man fleeing with a placard on which is written “ich bin Jude” (I am a Jew).  Covering Jesus is a prayer shawl.    There is much more that cannot be seen in this picture, but I think it’s worth taking a moment to contemplate what today, GOOD FRIDAY, commemorates.  It is the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the final day of God personally experiencing the worst of what it means to be human.  

Yet before he dies and while still on the cross, Jesus speaks these words,  

        
           “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing”    Luke 23:34  

Even though Chagall’s faith was Judaism, he wrote that the purpose of White Crucifixion was for it to serve as an invitation for viewers to reflect on the meaning of the cross.   I encourage you to take a few moments to do exactly that.   Perhaps each of us can find ourselves somewhere in Chagall’s painting.  

“Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you for your victory over all evil and over the evil one on the cross.   You exhausted his power and trumped the worst that he can do to us.  You have done so by taking onto yourself the worst that evil can deliver and trump it by rising from the dead. The worst that can happen is never, never, never the last thing that will happen.  Thank you Lord, that in Jesus, the worst that can happen is always, always, always followed by resurrection, renewal and restoration.  Amen"

PS   Today would be the perfect day to re-read Isaiah 53.    Perhaps Chagall made the connection.

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