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New Testament

The Death of Jesus

“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’

Brian Kershisnik (American, 1962–), Descent From the Cross, 2023, oil on canvas.

“They labored over his lifeless body with no notion at all that this was going to work out well.  Their hopes were dashed and there was nothing for it but to provide as appropriate a burial as could be arranged.  There was sad work to be done and endured.  This moment in the narrative is important because of the time we ourselves spend on the “Friday” of our experience with no notion of how the “Sunday” ever can break through it.” Brian Kershisnik

Bible Passage: Luke 23:26-56

My Big Story Bible: Pages 214-218

Garden of Gethsemane

“And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?”

 

Nicholas Mynheer (British, 1958–), The Sarum Cycle: The Cup of Suffering, 2007, oil on canvas.

 

Bible Passage: Matthew 26:36-27:26

My Big Story Bible: Pages 208-212

The Last Supper

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. …

He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ …

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Hubert van Eyck (Belgium 1385 – 1426) and Jan van Eyck (Belgium 1390 - 1441), Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, 1426–32, oil on panel. Detail of the Lamb on the lower central interior panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium.

A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

David LaChapelle (America, b. 1963), Jesus is My Homeboy: Last Supper, 2003, photograph.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’

Luke Allsbrook (America, b. 1972), Jesus Washes the Disciples, 2017, oil on canvas.

Bible Passage: Luke 22:7-34 & John 13-14

My Big Story Bible: Pages 204 - 206

Jesus is Anointed

“As he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. …

‘She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’”

Rose Datoc Dall (Filipina-American b.1968), Anointing for Burial, 1926, Oil on panel.

Bible Passage: Mark 14:1-11

My Big Story Bible: Pages 194

In Memory of Her

For every week of this year round project I have found a video from the team at the Bible Project that helps illuminate the passage or themes that emerge in the text. For every passage, except this week’s. This is sadly unsurprising: in the words of feminist theologian, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,

 

“In the passion account of Mark’s Gospel three disciples figure prominently: on the one hand, two of the twelve- Judas who betrays Jesus and Peter who denies him- and on the other, the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus. But while the stories of Judas and Peter are engraved in the memory of Christians, the story of the woman is virtually forgotten.  Although Jesus pronounces in Mark: “And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (14:9) the woman’s prophetic sign-action did not become a part of the gospel knowledge of Christians. Even her name is lost to us. Wherever the gospel is proclaimed and the eucharist celebrated another story is told:  the story of the apostle who betrayed Jesus. The name of the betrayer is remember, but the name of the faithful disciple is forgotten because she was a woman.” 1

 

And so, in place of a video, I will include another paragraph Schüssler Fiorenza’s work, where she highlights the prophetic nature of this anointing, as one that declared Jesus’ status as messiah and suffering servant.

 

“Since the prophet in the Old Testament anointed the head of the Jewish king, the anointing of Jesus’ head must have been understood immediately as the prophetic recognition of Jesus, the Anointed, the Messiah, the Christ. … according to Mark the leading male disciples do not understand this suffering messiahship of Jesus, reject it and finally abandon him, the women disciples who have followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem suddenly emerge as the true disciples in the passion narrative. They are Jesus’ true followers who have understood that his ministry was not rule and kingly glory but diakonia, “service” (Mark 15:41). … While Peter had confessed, without truly understanding it, “you are the anointed one,” the woman anointing Jesus recognizes clearly that Jesus’ messiahship means suffering and death.” 2

 

1 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, (Crossroad, 1983), xiii.

2 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, (Crossroad, 1983), xiv.

How to Live in Exile

“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Claude Buck (American 1890 - 1974), The Things That Are Caesar's, 1943, oil on fiberboard and oil on wood of integral frame.

“Here, Buck painted objects that evoke war, including a gun, artillery shell, helmet, and knife. He was disgusted by the events of World War II and painted this image to show that conflict and human cruelty are the responsibility of the "Caesars" of the modern world.” Smithsonian American Art Museum

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:15-22

My Big Story Bible: Pages 202

Entrance of the King

“Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey…

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”

 

Phyllis Stephens (African-American, b. 1955), High and Lifted Up, 2020, quilted using cotton fabrics.

 

Bible Passage: Matthew 21:1-11

My Big Story Bible: Pages 196

Who Do You Think I Am?

“‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. …

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”

 

Soichi Watanabe (Japanese, 1949–), You Shall Laugh, 2011, oil on canvas. Kwansei Gakuin University Chapel, Kobe, Japan.

 

Bible Passage: Matthew 16:13 - 17:13

My Big Story Bible: Pages 174 - 176

Feeding a Crowd of Thousands

 “‘Send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.’ But [Jesus] answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ … And all ate and were filled…”

Paul Cox (1974) & Micha Bradshaw (1989) founders of Nottz Garden Project, Gamble Street Corner, 2023.

“Pointing towards a stretch of grassy land beside a busy road in Nottingham, Paul Cox says ‘We want to bring forgotten green spaces like these back to life.’

‘We took over Gamble Street as it was near the food bank and was left in a state - full of rubbish and syringes. These areas of the city are often overlooked - but we saw this as potential to grow produce on and host gardening workshops for people.’

They now grow fruits and vegetables on the land all year round, including non-native vegetables like callaloo, for both the food bank and community to use for free.” Miya Chahal, BBC News, Nottingham

Bible Passage: Mark 6:30-44

My Big Story Bible: Pages 170

 

Momma used to say

That when Jesus turned the

Loaves and fish

Into a picnic

For those hungry folks

In the wilderness

The God blessed victuals

Tasted like mouth watering

Mississippi catfish

Deep fried in the best store bought meal

Served with a healthy side helping

Of iron skillet cornbread—

Bread so fine that

No one asked for butter or honey

And nary a crumb hit the ground.

She grew up an orphan

In the Great Depression,

Where low cotton prices

And bad weather

Killed farms and families—

Times, she remembered, so hard

That sometimes even dinner

Was a miracle

And prayers offered

At the evening meal

Wafted in the air

Thick as coal oil smoke

In the fragrance of gratefulness.

This poem by Tom Darin Liskey was originally published June 16, 2019, on Kelly Belmonte’s All Nine blog.

Calming the Sea

“A gale swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Lord, Lord, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.”

Ivan Aivazovsky (Russian, 1817 - 1900), The Wrath of the Seas, 1886, oil on canvas.

Bible Passage: Luke 8:22-25

My Big Story Bible: Pages 172

The Samaritan Woman at the Well

“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’”

Neil Thorogood (British b. 1960s Australia), Jesus and the Woman at the Well (In the Heat of the Day), 2008, oil on canvas.

Bible Passage: John 4:3-42

My Big Story Bible: Pages 168