The Isenheim altar
This fresh set of Daily Devotions is being provided for our LCA/NZ family, friends and visitors to help us to keep our eyes on Jesus as we face unsettling times. They can be used by families and individuals as part of the LCA/NZ’s Church@Home resources to encourage us and build trust in our Heavenly Father during this season of uncertainty and physical isolation.
by Rachael Stelzer
Click here for your printable verse to carry with you today.
‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin’ (Hebrews 4:15).
The Isenheim altar is the main treasure of a museum in Colmar, in the Alsace region of France. Painted in the early 1500s by Matthias Grünewald, it folds out to reveal a number of scenes from the Bible.
Upon first glance the painting of Jesus’ crucifixion is disturbing, ghastly, even surreal. His body is green, covered in open sores. It seems unnecessarily confronting. With all the indignity and pain that crucifixion involved, why would an artist add these bizarre features to the dying Jesus?
In reading the history and purpose of the altar, all becomes clear. Grünewald painted the altar for the monastery of St Anthony in Isenheim. The monks of this order were well known for treating victims of the plague and skin diseases. These diseases caused sufferers to develop blisters and gangrene, turning their skin green.
The artist’s message? Jesus knows your suffering. Jesus has felt your pain. He has gone through all the frustration, all the grief, all the uncertainty you will ever face. And he’s taken it to the cross for you.
If Jesus were to be represented in artwork today, he might be painted as a strung-out mother with expectations dragging from all sides, or as a dad whose lost his job because of COVID shutdowns, or as a lonely, confused child or teenager trying to make sense of a crazy world – or as someone like you.
Dear Jesus, what a comfort to know that you are not distant, aloof and untouchable, but that you are a friend who’s been through pain, grief, loss, frustration, stress and loneliness – and all for us. Amen.
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