Art History Lesson

I just can't seem to shake this theme of Christ as both Savior and Judge.  In fact, it has even begun to "haunt" me in my homeschool classroom with the kids!  Let me explain...

Last week, the kids and I were reviewing our world history timeline from the Middle Ages period.  One of our history timeline cards featured this 6th century icon of Jesus at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai:

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

At first glance, it seemed to be a typical iconic image of Jesus, but then again, his face seemed a bit odd to me.  Upon further inspection and reading, I learned that this icon depicts Jesus with two entirely different looks on His face:  one is of a loving teacher (left), the other a fearful judge (right).   (If you cover up each half of his face with your finger, you will really begin to see the differences between these faces pop out at you!)

In fact, here is a photo-shopped composite picture of the left and right sides of his face--they look really different, don't they?!

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

Even his hands are different in the two halves of the picture--the left has his hands up signifying blessing and teaching.  The right side holds a book bearing a cross.  This can be God's Holy Word, the Scriptures, which is also spoken of as a sword (Eph 6).  It also reminds me of the Book of Life, which contains the names of the elect who will be allowed to enter into Heaven.  So it again depicts his role as Judge as he wields his sword and checks his list (Rev 3, 13).

In short, this image masterfully portrays what I have been writing about all week (okay, so I suppose a picture can be worth 1,000 words)!  The biblical truth is that while Christ is our loving and merciful Savior, He is also our fierce and just Judge.  And yet, how often do we as 21st century followers tend to skip over the latter aspect of His nature?  We look to Him to teach us and bless us, and yet, sadly, we do not seek Him out with holy fear to confess our sins in genuine repentance. 

Perhaps it would be supremely beneficial for us to look back into the chronicles of Church history and artistic tradition (especially as we just celebrated Reformation Day a few days ago on Oct 31st!) to get a "new" perspective upon the entire counsel of God, wouldn't you say?