“Portraits of the Passion: Pieta”
John 19:17-42

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Lent Service V—March 25, 2020

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today is actually a major traditional holy day in the Christian church year.  Because, if you count back nine months from December 25th, when we celebrate the birth of Christ, you come to today, March 25th, when the church traditionally observes The Annunciation of Our Lord, the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and announcing, “You will be with child and give birth to a Son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.”

Though it is an important Christian holy day, The Annunciation is not widely observed because it almost always falls during Lent.  So, this evening for our Lenten sermon series “Portraits of the Passion” we consider an extremely popular genre in Christian art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, featuring Christ and his mother Mary, the image called the “Pieta.”

“Pieta”
Anonymous – Flemish – 1400’s – Carved Oak

The word “Pieta” comes from the Latin word for “pity.”  The Pieta shows Jesus’ mother Mary “pitying,” mourning her dead son, cradling his lifeless body in her arms.  The Pieta portrays the fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy to Mary some 33 years earlier, when he was but a baby she held in her arms: “And a sword will pierce your own soul also.”  The most famous Pieta is a life-size marble sculpture by Michelangelo.  This Flemish Pieta from the 1400’s on display at the Spencer Museum of Art is also very large and impressive, several feet high and beautifully carved out of oak.

“Descent from the Cross”
Workshop of the Master of Frankfurt – 1500’s – Oil on Oak Panels

The Pieta had its origin in another favorite genre from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, “The Descent from the Cross.”  As seen in this center panel from a German altar triptych from the 1500’s, “The Descent from the Cross” shows the scene at Mt. Calvary after Christ’s death, as his body is lowered for entombment.  As part of this genre, it was customary to show Christ’s lifeless body being lovingly held by his mourning mother at the base of the cross.  Eventually, this scene from “The Descent from the Cross” developed into a favorite artwork in its own right, and the Pieta was created.

“Tympanum with the Lamentation”
Simon and Franciso de Colonia – Spanish – 1500 – Stone

The dramatic and moving Pieta became so popular that the Spencer Museum in Lawrence has all sorts of examples in different sizes and media.  This enormous example is above the main entrance to the museum in the central court.  Mounted as it would have been originally, this impressive carved stone Pieta from the 1500’s is an architectural element called a tympanum, designed to be above a door, and was originally part of a Spanish monastery.

“Pieta”
Egid Quirin Asam – German – 1725 – Terra Cotta

In contrast, this delicate German terracotta Pieta from the 1700’s is just about eight inches tall.

“Pieta”
Egid Quirin Asam – German – 1725 – Terra Cotta

In another view of the same work, you can see one reason why the Pieta was favored by Renaissance artists.  At a time when art was starting to become more realistic, like the studies of human models done by art students today, the Pieta gave artists an opportunity, sanctioned and supported by the Church, to artistically explore the intricacies of human anatomy, and realistically portray a human figure, in the person of Jesus Christ.

“The Lamentation”
Augsburg Germany – 1625 – Silver Repoussé

This German silver plaque from the 1600’s is made by a process called repoussé, hammering in the image from the back.  It shows the Pieta beautifully portrayed in yet another medium.

What is the theological significance of the Pieta?  The Pieta dramatically stresses through art a very important Biblical doctrine, the true humanity and real physical suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  As St. Paul says in 1st Timothy, “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body.”

St. John’s Gospel says, of the divine Son of God before he became a man, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and then it continues, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus Christ did not merely have the appearance of a human, and he did not merely pretend to die.  Scripture teaches that he truly was both God and man, and that on Good Friday GOD shed his blood and GOD died upon the cross as payment for our sins.  As St. Paul says in Colossians, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. . .  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things . . . by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

In the Pieta we have a powerful testimony to this Scriptural truth, the true humanity, and real physical suffering and death, of Jesus Christ.  As Hebrews says, “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”