Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Jesus and Judas at the Last Supper



Jesus answered "The one who has dipped his [bread with his] hand into the bowl with me will betray me" (Matt 26:23). I learned today that Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper with the hands of Jesus and Judas simultaneously reaching for bread. I've indicated the simultaneous motion in the image above (click to enlarge). Judas, being distracted by the conversation between John and Peter, is not aware that he is marking himself as the one to betray Jesus by his grasping for the bread. He is not privy to Jesus' statement, which is directed off to the right of the painting (to Thomas and James, to Jesus' left). The Gospel story is thus made realistic/plausible. It is also made miraculous--a "coincidence" that cannot be mere chance. Is the simultaneity between Jesus and Judas also indicative of spiritual mystery? Is God working all things together for good to bring about a wondrous redemption out of what the human being intends as evil? Do the folded, peaceful hands of John represent a sort of "hyphen" between Jesus and Judas, uniting their acts into one great saving mystery?

7 Comments:

Blogger Pmbryder said...

Just one ting that really doesnt make sense is when did Peter have a sex change??? The person sitting next to Jesus is definitely female!!

Sun Sep 30, 12:47:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger Pmbryder said...

Oops looks like John had the sex change...!

Sun Sep 30, 12:52:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger Unknown said...

Isn't it a fact that the person sitting next to Jesus is Mary Magdalene?!

Mon Dec 03, 10:14:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger S and C said...

Have you all been reading too much of the Divinci Code!!! :-)

Mon Dec 03, 11:48:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Unknown said...

i beleive women would have wore vales at the time

Thu May 09, 05:29:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks as if woman and if so looks like she pregnant also looks tired 😴

Sat Jul 02, 03:26:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is only a painting, yes Mary was one of his apostles but that does not mean she was there for the last super. She is only biblically mentioned as one of the 3 that were there when Jesus died and that he appeared to her first after he had risen. The DaVinci code does give you a different perspective makes your mind wander that's for sure.

Sun Mar 17, 01:50:00 PM GMT-5  

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