Are you familiar with artist Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion?  I thought about it anew a few weeks ago as I was reading a book about modern Jewish art.  It is indeed a sharp contrast to Chagall's massive stained glass work of the Chicago skyline and a far cry from the nondescript tomb in which his body now lies in southern France.  It is a work that explodes with poignancy and longing.

     Considering that Chagall was Jewish, White Crucifixion remains one of his most intriguing works.  It seems to capture Jesus' patent Jewishness.  Weaving in themes like Jacob's Ladder, the patriarch's vision of heaven and its possibilities; the menorah and its historically conditioned promise of hope; the Ark and its reflections of loss and renewal; the refugee-driven character of much of Jewish history, biblical and beyond; Moses' burning bush; and, perhaps most significantly, Jesus' loincloth not being a conventional loincloth but a ceremonial Jewish garment.  It is as if Chagall is superimposing upon Jesus the weight of Jewish history and theology while seeming to, in the shaft of light that illuminates the painting's center, point beyond it, as if whatever else we might imagine Jesus to be, in him is a path, a means, a way to heaven, the hesed and hod of Kabbalah, the splendor of the name (Shem).
     And maybe, as we look ever closer to Easter and the divine pain that preceded it, we may find this a good way to look at Jesus.  He presented himself as God, but not all of us want to see him as divine.  He also presented himself as Messiah, the one who would enable humanity to reconnect with God.  Not all of us would wish to believe this, either. One aspect of Jesus on which I think we all can agree is that his was a person and life unlike any other, a person whose existence has spawned countless historical interludes and spiritual vignettes, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and more, for one simple reason.  He made all of us think more carefully and thoughtfully about that most difficult and complex yet exceedingly straightforward of words:  God.  Speaking not just of a God of power and omnipotence but one of everlasting and nourishing love as well, Jesus presented to us a picture of and direction for how life could best be:  forgiveness and eternal peace with God.
     As I will be traveling for a week or so, I will not be posting for a few days.  I hope to reconnect with readers on Good Friday, one week from today.  Enjoy Holy Week!