ICON 1 – Entry into Jerusalem

While the icon is faithful to the narrative as presented in all four Gospels, there are many additional aspects which bring out deeper meaning. The disciples and the crowd are welded into unified groups, with Christ in between, framed by a mountain and a tree. The crowd and the disciples, like the walls of Jerusalem are upright, but the tree, the mountain and the Christ figure make three parallel lines on the diagonal. If the mountain is Sinai, the old covenant, and the tree is Calvary, (as well as the tree of life in the garden of Eden and the tree in Revelation that heals the nations) then Christ is part to the Biblical message that differs from human culture, then and now. In the crowd a man points to his eyes, which Jesus healed. If it is Lazarus next to him then we have signs of the kingdom, where the blind see and the dead are raised. The turrets and pinnacles of the city are highly coloured, representing the heavenly Jerusalem, while the windows and doorways below are black, indicating the evil Jesus must endure on the way to glory. Note also that the words “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” have been included in the liturgy of the Eucharist at least since the Didache was written in 100 AD.

This icon is modelled on a Russian icon from the 16^th century

 

ICON 2 – The Annunciation

March 25, is 9 months before 25^th December. Since the date of the birth of Jesus was settled, about 330 AD, the date of his conception has been back dated from that. Since the Council of Chalcedon, 451 AD, the Church has affirmed that Jesus was both divine and human from conception. This countered views such as his birth was normal and he became divine when the Holy Spirit descended on him at his baptism, or that he wasn’t really human at all, he only seemed to be. That the Annunciation should fall in Lent links the coming of Jesus to his departure. He was born that the glory of God might be seen.

The original of this icon is a contemporary Coptic one, actually photographed in the new Cathedral in Aswan where Egyptian iconographer, Ashraf Gerges, was working before the Cathedral was open to the public.

PRAYER:

Today, Lord Jesus, we honour your entry into the city and your entry into the world.

We welcome you into our city. Give us a vison of the heavenly Jerusalem in our broad, brown land.

 We welcome you into our world. Come, renew the whole creation.

Blessed are you, Holy One, you come in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Amen

The Old Testament reading today is from Jeremiah, the covenant of the heart. The Gospel speaks again of Jesus being lifted up on the cross. The icon today depicts the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple at the cross. (John 19: 26-7) Jesus bids them each to care for the other. He thus establishes a new covenant of the heart, a covenant of mutual submission. (Note the inclination of the heads.) Formed at the foot of the cross, this new relationship is to be lived out in the spirit of the one who gives his life for others. It is a moment of transference. This new community is now to carry on the mission of Jesus, which, in his last words, is finished. Jesus lets go and trusts others – something we find difficult to do!

Some commentators pick up on the fact that the two people are not named, and so can be seem as representative figures. The mother of Jesus can be seen as all that gave Jesus birth, the whole tradition of Israel, the old covenant. The beloved disciple may represent all disciples, all who see Jesus lifted up and believe. We can see in this the relationship between the old covenant (mother) and the new covenant (the beloved).

For john, the church is a gathering of people where each cares and is cared for, where each washes the feet of the other, where worship is in spirit and in truth, where Jesus is lifted up, where the body of Christ is the new temple.

The story of the original version of this icon can be traced in detail. It was sent to the monastery of Poganovo in Bulgaria from the Empress Helen in Constantinople following the death of her father in 1395. There is a continuous record of the icon until it was removed from the monastery of Poganovo after World War 1, when the region was annexed by Yugoslavia (1919) . It has been kept in very good condition, and was cleaned and conserved in 1959. It now resides in the Institute of Archaeology within the Museum at the Bulgrarian Academy of Science in Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, you call us to be a community where each cares for the other,

a living temple where we are embodied through word and sacrament in your body.

In this scene at the cross we see the model for the new covenant.

Forgive us, Lord, if we think of church as a club where we can meet our friends,

a performance to keep us entertained,

a service group justifying ourselves through good works.

Lord have mercy.

We, your covenant people, offer our hearts.

we see you lifted up and believe,

we respond to your new commandment and submit,

we accept our part in your ongoing mission, and care,

May our worship be in spirit and in truth.

Make us all one, as you are in the Father and the Father in you,

so may we be in you, and you in us,

that the world may believe. Amen

 

LENT 4 CRUCIFIXION

The icon of the crucifixion has been chosen today because Jesus speaks of being lifted up on the cross. (John 3:14, cf. 12:32) “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

The crucifixion icon is different from a crucifix. The emphasis of a crucifix is on the suffering of Christ. Generally he has eyes open, indicating he is still alive, suffering, paying the price, building the treasury of merit. The Reformers rejected this, and instead emphasised that Christ is risen by displaying an empty cross, as at Mark the Evangelist. The Eastern Church, some 500 years before the Reformation, reacted differently. Rather than simplifying the symbol, the East added features. Christ is dead, eyes closed, body slumped, blood and water flowing. Christ’s life giving (sacramental) blood drips down on to the skull of Adam, revealed in a cave beneath the cross. (The Resurrection icon will show the risen Christ raising Adam and Eve from their graves.) While grounded on Calvary, the cross reaches into the sky, a bridge between earth and heaven. The walls of Jerusalem appear in the background, indicating that the place of crucifixion is outside the city, and therefore of a different order from that which goes on inside the walls. Mary and John are present, and a new community of mutual caring is created by the words, “Woman behold your son, son behold your mother”. (John 19:26) In John’s Gospel the crucifixion is a demonstration of the extent to which God’s love will go for our sakes. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (John 3:16) The new, caring community is to carry on this mission of Christ so that those who see Christ lifted up may be drawn to him and have eternal life. This done, Jesus says, “It is finished” (John 19: 30)

Today’s particular icon of the crucifixion is Byzantine in style, but with some Australia touches, most notably symbols of Melbourne and Sydney have replaced the walls of Jerusalem, for the death of Christ ushers in a community and a culture that is different from contemporary culture and fashion.

PRAYER

Father God, you so love the world that you gave your only Son.

We look not on the horror of this scene, but on the love exemplified, and in that we find glory;

Love amazing and divine,

Love that counts not the cost, and creates new community,

Love that offers eternal life, and draws all people.

Love in which we participate as we receive the bread and the wine, the body and the blood.

Blessed Son of God, live in us, and we in you,

Through your being lifted up, raise us from earth to heaven,

From bondage to liberation,

From despair to hope,

From death to eternal life. Amen.