Agony

Two of my favorite paintings are of the same subject but by different artists: Carl Bloch’s “Christ in Gethsemane” and Frans Schwartz’s “Agony in the Garden.”

Christ in Gethsemane

Carl Bloch

I seem to be drawn to the heaviness of the horror. The Christ is feeling the immensity of what is about to befall him. He is to be executed. He is to be killed for his politics. He is to be destroyed because of his direct challenging of systems and institutions of power. He is to be crushed by the hypocrisy he pointed out.

I seem to be drawn to the light. And the light, in this moment, is not on The Christ.

The Christ is not the Christ. He is in the depth of despair. This is his humanness in display. Not God. Not divine. Full of fear. Scared. Just human.

He, the human, too, needs comfort.

Agony in the Garden

Frans Schwartz

Interestingly, this scene is depicted in an original wood carving by a former Japanese-American internee who returned to our Edgewater Beach community after Word War II. It is at the pulpit of Edgewater Presbyterian Church, where I worship.

I’ve stared at it countless times: imagining the agony. And that even The Christ could feel so alone and so fearful.