Advent Reflections
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2022
Birth of Christ, Donald Jackson, Copyright 2002. The Saint John's Bible, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today’s reflection is a text illumination from the Saint John’s Bible. The Saint John’s Bible, Gospel and Acts, was on loan to Saint Anselm College in 2016. This incredible work of art depicts Scripture using medieval techniques but modern theology and influences. In the opening pages of the book of Matthew, which are today’s Gospel reading, we find the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew begins his entire Gospel by placing Jesus within a particular tradition, which this illumination brings to light in a way that we often miss when reading the long genealogical list.
We invite you to join us in engaging this passage and artwork (below) through this reflection found in The Art of The Saint John’s Bible by Susan Sink:
There is much here we’ve seen before. For one thing, there is the presence of women in this genealogy, and these are not women with good credentials. Rahab is the harlot who saved Joshua and his men in Jericho (Joshua 2:1-7) and Ruth was not a Jew but a Moabite, a despised people. Tamar (Genesis 38) and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11 and 12), also included in Matthew’s genealogy, are more infamous than famous from their stories in the Old Testament.
In the illumination, two more names are added to the base of the menorah, which acts here as a family tree. At the base is Abraham with Sarah on one side and Hagar on the other. Hagar is the mother of Abraham’s son Ishmael, a branch of this tree pointing to Islam. Sarah’s name is written in Hebrew and Hagar’s written in both Hebrew and Arabic, further connecting the three monotheistic traditions. The illumination adds another name, not even a name but a descriptor, “Pharaoh’s Daughter,” to the list. This acknowledges Egypt’s role in getting us to
this place, when Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses from the rushes. Egypt has also been an important part of this story, one that Jesus and all the Jews bring with them still into Christianity.
Reflection Image (Above): Genealogy of Jesus, Donald Jackson, Copyright 2002, The Saint John's Bible, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The menorah works wonderfully here as a device for giving the genealogy. Matthew was writing to a Jewish community, who would have found it natural to begin the story of Jesus with his pedigree. Tracing his lineage to King David and Abraham would be important for establishing his divinity. This back and forth between women and kings, good kings and bad kings, and, in fact, Gentiles as well as Jews, mirrors the accounts we’ve been reading so far. Through the prophets we saw Jesus as suffering servant and as king of kings. Here at the beginning of the New Testament we get a vision of the messiah that will cross boundaries and be both humble and in the lineage of kings.
[In the creation of this illumination,] Donald Jackson [the artist] said his ultimate aim was to suggest “the connectedness of all seekers of enlightenment.” He did this by including symbols from several traditions. The image also draws us to reflect on life, creation, history, redemption, and identity.
The gilded stamps used in the center of the illustration come from illuminations of the Koran. A mandala is incorporated into the base of the menorah, again a sign of cosmic unity and wholeness found in many religious traditions. The illumination is not just linear, rising vertically in a straight line to Jesus. Behind the menorah/tree are swirling bands of color over turbulent, churning water. Again creation is with us, as God brings order from the chaos of the human and natural world.
Even more striking than these abstract elements are the stamps of a double helix. With its spiral shape, it is reminiscent of many things, perhaps even Jacob’s ladder from Genesis. The contemporary symbol of identity fixed by DNA ties the Bible to the twenty-first century reader and emphasizes the incarnation, the humanity of Jesus.