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Pictures of Jesus from the Jewish Scriptures
As the followers of Christ evolved from a group that was largely Jewish in the first decades to a movement that was largely Gentile, numerous changes occurred. Some of these changes were necessary and healthy, while others brought with them catastrophic consequences. Seismic theological consequences took place as the increasingly Gentile church abandoned both its historical understanding of and theological roots in the Jewish Scriptures.
By the phrase “theological roots in the Jewish Scriptures” I am NOT referring to the frequent Christian practice of cherry picking the Old Testament. This classic Christian cherry picking includes finding the Old Testament useful to argue for capital punishment, certain views of creation, dieting, lyrics for Christian hymns, Vacation Bible School stories, and predictions of Jesus. The early church’s appreciation for the Jewish Scriptures was far more profound than mere cherry picking; there is not a chapter in Revelation that does not rely upon imagery and themes from the Jewish Scriptures.
Scholars have at times questioned whether early congregations of believers knew the sayings of Jesus and the narrative materials that would eventually be used to write the four canonical Gospels. Whatever one thinks about that issue, that question cannot really be a valid concern for John and his congregations in Roman Asia. It is very clear from contemporary Christian writings such as the Didache and 1 Clement, not too mention the book of Revelation itself, that the words and deeds of Jesus were known by congregations by the end of the 1st century AD.
One of the many, many examples of the influence of Old Testament imagery and theology in Revelation is seen in the Christophany of Revelation 1 when “one like a son of man” is revealed to John (Rev. 1:12-16). The fact that this scene resonates so clearly with images from Daniel is all the more significant since the Christophany might have consisted of images of Jesus from the Gospels. Why not reveal Jesus in terms of the imagery in the Synoptic Gospels or the Fourth Gospel, like modern Gentile Christianity typically does?
John and those in his congregations lived in a spiritual climate where often their first thoughts about God and his work in this world through Jesus the Messiah were formulated in terms of vibrant Old Testament imagery and theology. John’s writing makes it abundantly clear that he would have rejected, in fact he did reject, any notion of congregations of Christ that understood God, God’s Anointed One, and God’s people in this world apart from a robust reliance upon and continuation of major themes from the Old Testament. Admittedly this is an oversimplification (and subject to misunderstanding as all oversimplifications are), but it seems to me that John would have chosen to be a “Biblical Christian” rather than a cherry picking “New Testament Christian.” In this regard John would have been out of step with most forms of modern Christianity, East or West, Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox.
I cannot know for sure whether John had ever read 2 Timothy, but the book of Revelation, including the Christophany of 1:12-16, surely demonstrates what it can look like when a Christian leader uses “the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” and employs them “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:15-17).
A REALLY UGLY JESUS
Whether you look at Albrecht Dürer’s (1471-1528) famous woodcut of Jesus Christ which he based upon the picture given in Rev. 1:12-16 or at other less famous attempts to capture John’s iconography, it is clear that John had no interest in making Jesus aesthetically competitive with the other gods and goddesses of the Graeco-Roman world. There is a grotesque nature to John’s portrait, which in turn reflects upon the way that the Alpha and Omega desired to be revealed. Since John mentions that he receives this revelation on the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10) it is not even hard to hear liturgical overtones in the context of this appearance of Christ. Our liturgies, our Bibles, our Christian artwork all resonate with images of Jesus, but I don’t ever remember seeing any picture of Jesus being as deformed looking as this one that John experiences during his period of worshipping on the Lord’s Day.
To make this Revelation of Christ (Christophany) appear even more shocking aesthetically, it should be remembered that John and his readers lived and worked in cities and regions renowned for beautiful religious art work and sculpture. Beauty and aesthetic excellence were to be seen everywhere in the monuments, temples, and altars of a metropolis like Pergamum. The temple to the Ephesian Artemis was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, in part because of its sheer beauty and magnificence.
It is noteworthy that Jesus has to resuscitate the prophet John from death or perhaps a near death experience (Rev. 1:17), apparently because his own image was too scary and frightful for John to tolerate. We all know that real art expresses truths that words can hardly grasp. John’s picture is of a frightful Jesus that the modern American church is hardly able to grasp, much less depict. There is a dullness and monotony about many of the modern visual depictions of Jesus; these Jesus icons barely challenge believers spiritually and so prosaic they often leave the outsider experiencing no qualms about Christ, this messenger of God.
Although it shines a very disturbing light on the American churches, John’s “ugly Jesus” and “scary Jesus” contain a truth that totally subverts the dominant Christologies and feel good religious impulses that generally characterize current Christianity. It should not be overlooked that John does not reserve this frightful picture of Christ for a scene when Jesus conquers the beast and false prophet or for Revelation 20 when God’s eschatological judgement of the world is seen. Rather, this grotesque Christ is revealed by God for the churches of John’s own day. John is not primarily warning the churches that they will meet this Christ on Judgment Day if they misbehave in the present. Rather, he tells them that this is the Christ with whom they must deal in the present, and, furthermore, he is the one that will be dealing with them in the present. Since some of these early Christians were probably in denial about having to deal with this ugly Jesus in the present, just like the modern church often is, John begins almost every one of the 7 letters with a direct reference back to the Christ of Rev. 1:12-16. John did not want the churches to focus on any other picture of Jesus than the one that caused John to drop dead from fear.
If you think this Jesus seems pretty ugly on paper, just wait until you see what he does to congregations that “refuse to repent” or “to wake up spiritually” or choose to stay “lukewarm.” It is an ugly sight.
