“He was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are
healed.” Isaiah 53:5
You may think it odd to begin a
presentation about a famous set of prayers by a Swedish nun by spending time
with a German painting. But this
painting was directly inspired by the devotional writings of Bridget of Sweden,
especially her Revelations, a book of
visions of the crucified Christ. Bridget
never saw this painting, as it was completed 130 years after her death. But had she been able to paint, I believe she
would have created something just like this.
This is the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted
by Matthaeus Gruenewald in 1515 for the hospital chapel at Monastery of St.
Anthony in a village near Colmar in Alsace, now a part of France. One of the masters of the Mannerist style,
this is Gruenewald’s greatest work. A
similar “Small Crucifixion” is in the National Gallery.
The monks who served at the monastery of
St. Anthony were a community dedicated to treating those who suffered from the
plague and ergotism. There was no
remedy, and the monks’ mission was to provide physical care and spiritual
consolation. The painting appropriately
reveals Jesus who suffered as we suffer and who shows the extent of God’s love
through offering Himself to destruction.
Jesus is present in our pains and reveals His mercy as we face the
certain prospect of death.
