Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Holman Hunt–The Scapegoat

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Inscribed on the frame:

‘Surely he hath borne our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows/Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of GOD, and afflicted.’ (Isaiah LIII, 4)
‘And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited.’ (Leviticus XVI, 22)

Subject

This was the first major painting Hunt made during his first stay in the Holy Land. He had the idea for the picture while studying the Talmud (the collection of ancient Rabbinic writings that forms the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism) for information on Jewish ritual for his painting ‘The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple’ (now in Sudley House). Hunt’s researches disclosed that on the Festival of the Day of Atonement, a goat was ejected from the temple with a scarlet piece of woolen cloth on its head. It was goaded and driven, either to death or into the wilderness, carrying with it the sins of the congregation. It was believed that if these sins were forgiven the scarlet cloth would turn white. Hunt regarded the Old Testament scapegoat as a prefigurement of the New Testament Christ whose suffering and death similarly expunged man’s sins.
In the Book of Leviticus (which is quoted on the frame) the goat is said to bear the iniquities into a land that was not inhabited. Hunt chose to set his goat in a landscape of quite hideous desolation – it is the shore of the Dead Sea at Osdoom with the mountains of Edom in the distance. In his diary Hunt described this setting as ‘a scene of beautifully arranged horrible wilderness’ and he saw the Dead Sea as a ‘horrible figure of sin’, believing as did many at this time that it was the original site of the city of Sodom.
Initially, Hunt considered that the subject might be suitable for the animal painter Landseer, who, in the 1840s, had taken to producing threatening symbolic lochside scenes with deer. However, in March 1855, Hunt wrote to Rossetti saying that it was seeing for the first time the extraordinary sight of the Dead Sea that decided him to tackle the subject himself. Hunt returned to the edge of the sea with guides and spent about two weeks painting in the landscape and making sketches and notes. He took a white goat with him but he left blank that part of the picture that the animal occupies and did not paint the beast until he returned to his Jerusalem studio. Whilst at Osdoom, Hunt’s life was at risk from hostile tribesmen. The insistence of his guides that they get away from this dangerous spot led to his leaving earlier than he wished. He took back samples of mud and salt to help him finish the foreground. In Jerusalem Hunt also bought or borrowed sheep and goat skulls and a full camel skeleton.
Hunt sold the picture for 450 guineas. A smaller version with a black goat and a rainbow symbolising hope and forgiveness of sins, is in Manchester Art Gallery. View Manchester Art Gallery’s version of ‘The Scapegoat’ here.
Lever bought the picture in 1923 for £4950. It was exhibited at theWalker Art Gallery in the 1923 Autumn Exhibition and was then transferred to the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

 

Elsewhere on the web

In 2009, the BBC television drama ‘Desperate Romantics’ – about the Pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Millais – featured ‘The Scapegoat’ in episode four of the series. See a zoomable version of the painting with expert commentary on the BBC website.

The Azazel goat (pronounced in Hebrew as aw-zah-zale), translated as scapegoat in the King James Version, was one of two goats chosen for a ceremony on The Day Of Atonement. The first goat was sacrificed, while the scapegoat was taken out into the wilderness and released.

Goat“Then he shall take the two goats, and set them before The Lord at the door of the tent of meeting; and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for The Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for The Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before The Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.” (Leviticus 16:7-10 RSV)
“And when he has made an end of atoning for The Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat; and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities upon him to a solitary land; and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.” (Leviticus 16:20-22 RSV)

Granada, Spain where the hours are longer and sweeter

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 Granada, Spain where the hours are longer and sweeter
Frederico Garcia Lorca on Granada, “The hours are longer and sweeter here than in any other Spanish town. Granada has any amount of good ideas. Only in such a town with its inertia and tranquillity can there exist those exquisite contemplators of water and sunsets.”
Sounds like my sort of place! We are spending a week in Granada next month, visiting Seville and Cordoba too. And the sun!!

 

A question to ask when faced with a dilemma: Which will prove to be a greater blessing?

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In those Should-I/Should-I-Not dilemmas of life, a question I would often ask myself was, “Well, what will I gain–or not gain from this?”

It’s not a stupid, or even a selfish question, necessarily. We are responsible for the stewardship of our lives.

I often add an additional question now. If I have a choice between two activities, I ask, which will be a greater blessing to myself and others?

For instance, I blogged yesterday about feeling over-extended and burnt out. I have two choices for this evening. I have been invited to a large literary party at which a group of writers I have known and enjoyed for six years will be at. I know I will have a good time, laugh, learn, come back buzzy.

Or I could stay home, go to the gym, play a family game, watch a documentary on DVD, write, read, blog. Might this be a greater blessing to my family, my body (writers’ gatherings are winey!!) and myself?

Balancing extroversion and introversion, one’s need for healing silences and other people’s companionship: one of life’s great arts!!

 

The Comfort of Good Men (and Women!)

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The Comfort of Good Men (and Women!)


“It is true, indeed, that good men are seen to be the sources of no small comfort to others in this world. For if we be harassed by poverty, or saddened by bereavement, or disquieted by bodily pain, or pining in exile, or vexed by any kind of calamity, let good men visit us, men who can not only rejoice with them that rejoice, but also weep with them that weep, and who know how to give profitable counsel, and win us to express our feelings in conversation: the effect is, that rough things become smooth, heavy burdens are lightened, and difficulties vanquished most wonderfully. But this is done in and through them by Him who has made them good by His Spirit.” Letter 130 to Proba (St. Augustine of Hippo) 

Woe to you when all men praise you: The Upside of Disapproval

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Woe to you when All Men Praise you: The Upside of Disapproval


Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. Whoa! Unintentional homonymic pun!


This is one of Jesus’s harder saying because we humans are social animals, we are gregarious, we instinctively like other people (which is one explanation for the success of Facebook, for instance).  We need approval.  And so much of human endeavour is motivated by the desire for approval.  People at the receiving end of the Amish practice of “shunning” developed depression, mental illness, and died before their time.


The moon has its dark side, and so do most things on earth. People’s approval, for instance. I led women’s groups over a period of seven years. This blog would never have been successful if I had still been leading them. (Is it successful? Well, it’s in the top 25 religion blogs according to Wikio’s rankings released yesterday and it is not yet 7 months old.)


The blog might not have been particularly unique or interesting if I had still been teaching women’s groups. Now I am just a voice crying in the wilderness (sometimes, literally, on both counts!) Some groups I taught had 25 women.  If I were still teaching, I would have been afraid to share my struggles and doubts and sadnesses and failures openly for fear that it may not have been inspiring or edifying, that it may have been discouraging, that it may lead to second-guessing me when I did teach, and so what I taught might have been less effective.


Since churches are lead by human beings (i.e. by sinners), no church gets everything right. I would not have been able to point out where I thought we were deviating from the plumbline if I felt I was leading something and was under authority. There is one issue on which I deviate from orthodox Christian doctrine. I would not have been able to blog about that issue. (And I still haven’t–coward!!–but soon will. I think.)


When everyone approves of you–and I have noticed this in other people as well as in myself–to some extent, you lose yourself. You pretend to be nicer, sweeter, smilier than you really are. My own danger signal that I am acting nicer and sweeter than I really am is when my cheek muscles start hurting. I am smiling so much in a not entirely natural way!


And when I sense disapproval? Well, I return to the healing fountain, to the one who knows the worst and still accepts me. I allow him to cleanse me and fill me. I say, “Well, this is what they 
think of me.  There may well be some truth in it. But what do you think of me? And thank you for loving me, whatever you think of me. Fill me again with your spirit, to overflowing. Help me to follow you.” 

"I care very little if I am judged; indeed, I do not even judge myself"

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“I care very little if I am judged; indeed, I do not even judge myself”


 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. I Cor 4


We are listening to the New Living Bible in the car. This passage stood out from 1 Cor.4.


It would be wonderful to truly reach this spiritual level– I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.


And when, on occasion, I do reach it, it is a place of freedom and joy. Few people are subtle enough that what they feel or think about another is entirely hidden. We generally instinctively know who likes or respects us–and who does not (though there are always awful revelations–when one suddenly loses power, position, money, one’s faculties etc.).


Being judged by another is painful–because you have been judged in a court of no appeal, and for a crime you do not know. It’s Kafkaesque territory.


What should one do when one senses the weight of not entirely favourable judgement? 


What one should always do: return to the fountain of mercy and acceptance. Cleave to him whether everyone praises you–or no one does.


And what of the painful times when our hearts condemn us (which, interestingly, does not always coincide with external praise or blame).


 19 This is how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
 1 John 4


We are not our own, we belong to Christ. So we throw ourselves on his mercy, whether we stand or fall, and whether everyone else believes we have stood–or fallen! 

Alice Munro–Consummate Short Story Writer

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Alice Munro

 

My favourite short story writer, hands down, is Alice Munro. I love her jewelly miniaturist’s art, her contorted sentences, the elegaic tone which pervades her work, her sharp eye, her sense of hard-won wisdom, the sadness and beauty which breathes through her work.

Her work is restful, rejuvenating, a tonic for me. I love it!

 

Keith Wheeler–Carying his Cross through the Nations of the World

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Keith Wheeler–Carrying his Cross through the Nations of the World

At an Oxford dinner party recently, I heard this odd story from a French woman and her British husband. They were travelling and Greenland, and came across a man carrying an enormous 12 foot wooden cross–which was the length of the cross Jesus was crucified on, historians say. That’s how he could be visible to everyone in the crowd.

He stopped to talk to them, as he had to thousands. His name was Keith Wheeler, an American, who since 1985 has been carrying this massive cross, through the world– 19,500 miles, through more than 185 countries on all seven continents.Here is some information from Keith website

In 1982, Keith Wheeler committed his life to follow Jesus. In 1985, on Good Friday, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, he began carrying a 12-foot, wooden cross. He has now walked with the cross over 19,500 miles, through more than 185 countries on all seven continents.
In 1985, as Keith was praying one night, he felt that God spoke to his heart, “I want you to make a cross and begin carrying it through the streets of Tulsa on Good Friday.” He thought this surely couldn’t be God, but felt these words burning in his heart, “Anyone can carry a cross–think about Simon of Cyrene; he carried Jesus’ cross. Anyone can die on a cross–think about the two thieves on either side of Jesus. Only One, however, could die for the sins of the world … and that was because of love. I want you to take the cross and identify that message of love along the roadsides of this world.”


Later, Keith felt God’s call, “For you, the cross is never to be a symbol of protest, but a symbol of reconciliation; I want you to be a ‘pilgrim of peace’ and a messenger of My love.”
Keith says, “This walk has not been a walk of faith … but God’s grace, in spite of my weaknesses, fears, and inabilities. I don’t have a ministry! Jesus does! I only want to be the kind of vessel that He can use to reach a lost and hurting world. It’s His ministry in our lives and through our lives touching this world. I’m not an evangelist or missionary — I’m simply a pilgrim. I only want to follow Jesus. I love God and I love the people of the world. To me, ministry is simply the overflow of a life lived in love with Jesus. I feel that Jesus has many servants but very few friends. It’s one thing to be called a friend; it’s another to actually be a friend. I want to be His friend. I believe that His heart breaks for the lost and hurting of this world. I know that one day He’ll wipe away every tear from our eyes, but we have an opportunity to wipe away the tears from His eyes by loving others and reaching out to them. I want to put a smile on His face!”
Keith has carried the cross through places such as Tibet, Iran, Iraq, China and even, Antarctica. He has walked through the Middle East, North Africa, and many former Iron Curtain countries before the political changes. Keith has carried the cross through many nations at war such as Bosnia, Rwanda, the Chechen region and Bethlehem during the standoff at the Church of the Nativity. During this time, he has been arrested many times (none for crimes) and even jailed. Once, Keith was even taken before a firing squad to be shot; and yet another time he was beaten and left for dead.

And this is Keith’s website. http://www.kw.org/

Travel with a difference, huh?