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Christmas in Art 

   Written by on December 15, 2016 at 11:20 am

logo-crotts-stephenThe first painting considered modern art is Goya’s The Executions of May 3, 1814.  It depicts Napoleon’s troops sweeping into Madrid and placing the last resistance fighters before a firing squad.  The French soldiers are seen from their backs, muskets in hand, readying to unleash a volley into the captured soldiers. Bodies are stacking up, blood is pooling, and the next to die is a peasant in a white burial shroud-like shirt. He holds his hands out as if he is being crucified, and his face registers sheer terror.

In the background is the city. There is a cathedral there, but no lights on, and the door is closed fast. Above, the sky is dark.  The painting is a study of man’s inhumanity to man. And there is no one to save us.

Contrast Goya’s painting with former medieval art. You’ll see a stark difference. Sure, you may find a saint being martyred, but the heavens are open. God is on the throne. Angels are ascending and descending to help.

For the last 200 years it seems artists, “the first to see,” as some claim, have tried to tell us God is not there. Man is alone. And pain and death have no meaning.

Ah, but Scripture begs to differ. It tells us in the Christmas story that God became a man. He shares our sufferings. He died for our sins. But in his resurrection he proves his power over death.  “Immanuel,” the prophet Isaiah called Jesus— “God with us.”

Such does not make pain any less. But it gives us hope. It adds meaning. And I’ve personally lived on that my whole life.

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

About Stephen Crotts

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

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