In 2002, Johnny Cash made a cover version of the song Personal Jesus (written by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode). He said: “That’s probably the most evangelical gospel song I ever recorded. I don’t know that [Martin Gore] meant it to be that, but that’s what it is. It’s where you find your comfort, your counsel, your shoulder to lean on, your hand to hold on to your Personal Jesus.”
Martin Gore´s intention was maybe not to express his belief in a personal Jesus. He said he was inspired by the book Presley and Me by Priscilla Presley; “It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care.”
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who caresFeeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believerTake second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confessI will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith
I am a believer and I think it is rewarding to explore how artists depict Jesus in their art. For the believers, and also for some non-believers, Jesus Christ is an emotionally charged symbol figure. He is the son of God or a great prophet or a master teacher or a rebel - people are rarely indifferent to Jesus.
Artist: Francisco de Zurbarán, The Crucifixion, 1627. The Art Institute of Chicago. Photo: Erica Stenkrona
Artist: Hans Larsson, 1910-1973
What did Jesus look like? In the preface to his book Le Visage du Christ, French author Francois Mauriac asked this question: Jésus, était-il beau? (Jesus, is he good-looking?) He wrote the following reflections on the scene in Gethsemane:
In the moment when he betrayed Jesus, Judas did not say: “You will recognize him in his stately figure. He is the one who is a head taller than all the other men and whose majestic radiance shines on each of you, it is him that you must seize.” Judas did not say “You will immediately recognize the Leader and the Master”. No, it was necessary to distinguish him with a kiss. Despite the torches, the soldiers could not recognize who was Jesus among the eleven poor Jews that surrounded him.
Isaiah, the 8th-century BC Jewish prophet, put it this way in Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3-5:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.…
Personally I relish art that is not idealized, impersonal and predictable. Here are some images that I came across when I visited the Art Institute of Chicago in May and some images I stumbled upon while rummaging through my own art books and the internet. Among these, can you find a picture that agrees with your notion of a “personal Jesus”?
Click on here to get to my PLAYLIST “PERSONAL JESUS” ON SPOTIFY. I have made a collection of songs that goes well with the pictures.
Artist: Fra (Guido di Pietro) Angelico, ca 1387-1455, Detail of the Christ Child from the Madonna delle Ombre, 1450
Museo di San Marco dell’Angelico, Florence, Italy
Artist: David Popiashvili, Jesus grows up in Nazareth, illustration from the book Stories about Jesus Christ
Artist: Georges Rouault, Head of Christ, 1937
Artist: J. Kirk Richards. Temptation (detail)
Artist: Sadao Watanabe, Japan. Jesus rebuking the Devil.
Artist: William H Johnson 1901–1970. Come Unto Me Little Children, 1943. Oil on compressed cardboard
Artist: Alexander Antonyuk, 1971-
Artist: El Greco, Christ Taking Leave of His Mother, ca 1585. The Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669, Christ (study)
Artist: Frans Schwartz, 1850-1917. Agony In The Garden.
Artist: David Popiashvili, Jesus in Gethsemane, illustration from the book Stories about Jesus Christ
Artist: Sebastiano del Piombo, Christ carrying the cross 1515-1517, oil on panel. The Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Marc Chagall, White Crucifixion, 1938. The Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: William H. Johnson, Lamentation, ca. 1944, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art
Artist: William H. Johnson, Mount Calvary I, ca. 19443 oil on fabric, Smithsonian American Art
Artist: J. Kirk Richards, Why Weepest Thou
Usually I include some of my own art in a blogpost but at this time I don’t have any original work that would fit under the caption Personal Jesus or Images of Jesus. However, I have mentally been exploring what kind of image I would like to produce if the subject matter was to make something along that line. My inspiration comes from two photos of Arne and Marcel taken in Dürres, Albania, 2012 that beautifully epitomize the final words in the song Personal Jesus:
“Reach out and touch faith”
Artist: Erica Stenkrona, Reach out and touch faith, sketch
Artist: Ivar Lindekrantz, 1902- 1981, Jesus and the Children, Gustav Adolf kyrkan, Sundsvall