Good Friday 2005

Shortly after Good Friday services yesterday, I walked over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Randomly walking around, I was struck by a painting titled "The Entombment," painted in 1554 by Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino).

It is the perfect Good Friday paining. There is pain, darkness, and defeat. There is no hint of the victory over death that is to come -- for on that day those who loved him and who saw the sight of Jesus dying felt none.

In Latin below is inscribed the words "Obedient until death," and along with the pale, lifeless body of Christ shows the real human sacrifice he made.

St. John, on the bottom left, seems stunned. All of his hopes and dreams of a Messiah are dashed, while Mary Magdalene on the lower right seems both angry and depressed. Both cling to Jesus, wishing for some miracle to come.

The anguish on Mary, the mother of Jesus is clear as she holds his son tightly. This was not what she had in mind for him, or for us.

With the three crosses in the distance, it is dark, gloomy, and hopeless.

It would have hardly been called a Good Friday then.

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