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.
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Reading this is an interesting way to begin one's week!
Terrell: Glad to see you could connect with the blog! I am afraid that Biblical faith is often strangled by American Civil Religion and its desire to have a pluralistic and post-modern Jesus. That certainly was not John's beginning of the week, Lord's Day, experience of the Messiah.
I have really enjoyed your blog, Dr. Oster, and look forward to future entries. Another possible title suggestion for this article: "Getting to know your apocalyptic Jesus." 🙂
Mark: Several different possible titles went through my mind. The views about Revelation are so far off base in some peoples' thinking that there is lots of room for getting better acquainted with Jesus in Revelation.
Reminds me of that line in Amazing Grace: "T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved." The Jesus of the Bible should both scare the {-} out of us and at the same time give us relief. The theologically liberal and postmodern jesus we read and hear about so often today is nothing but an idol of the mind. Many craft him, burn the scraps left over, and carry him around the room while saying to others "see? this is how he really is!" It's the same mindset that has led to the functional Marcionism so many have while reading (read: excusing) the OT.
Jr., I have often wondered whether all the folks who sing "Amazing Grace" listen to the words. The words "T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved" certainly do not resonate with a lot of Christian piety and belief currently embraced in North America.
Here's a thought and question: This image of Jesus is certainly not the only image of Jesus (though I agree that it seems to be the most ignored) in Revelation nor is it the only image of Jesus in scripture. While it's unfortunate that some images of Jesus are over-emphasized to the neglect of others, how might the context of this passage better inform us as to when it would be homiletically and pastorally necessary to highlight this image of Jesus?
Rex, This particular picture of Jesus is deemed appropriate since it is used at the beginning of most of the 7 letters. For example, John does not use "Lamb of God" imagery in the letters, even though it appears later in the book. Apparently the concerns of the 7 letters, namely, encouragement of saints as well as threatening the saints because of their compromise with the surrounding culture were best addressed by the imagery and its symbolic significance.
You are hitting on some themes that have come to my mind before and have never heard in a class or from the pulpit.