Suffering with Christ

The New Lazarus, Philip Evergood, 1927–1954. 58 1/4 × 93 3/8 × 2 5/8 in. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York.

“Na mBeannaíochtaí (The Beatitudes I)” from the Irish film Calvary (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Composed by Patrick Cassidy. Performed by Iarla Ó Lionáird.

Poetry:

“Dedicated to All Human Beings Who Suffer”
by Yang Licai translated by Joshua Edwards and Lynn Xu

1.

No,
Behind the truth are other truths

2.

Rain makes a painting on the earth
In the classical manner
Meticulously depicting what’s hidden from view:
Mountain, forest, valley, gorge
Building, vehicle, person
Beasts, cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl
Gradually expressing the outline
From invisible to visible
From solid state to a state of change

Is this a form of justice?
Rain, and representations of rain
Shrouds, and the shroud’s ability to obscure and to change

This is like one who suffers
Crying
To describe the hunter, the torturer, the thief, the grifter, and the assassin
The one who suffers uses tears and exacting brush strokes
To scrub away the silk threads of pain, endless sorrow, sharp anguish, heartache, bloodletting grief,
pain of breaking bone, pain of a thousand cuts, pain of losing one’s soul . . .

How many tears
Are needed to provoke
Another’s tears of sympathy?

Pain forms the boundary between life and death
Rain is another name for heaven and earth

All in the end is water

SUFFERING WITH CHRIST

Anyone in earshot must have been dismayed when Jesus first spoke the words recorded in Mark 8:34-38. After numerous miracles, there was likely a boost in the number of people following Jesus. In the preceding verses Jesus had predicted his death and rebuked Peter, and now he speaks these words, evoking the manner of his own death and offering a challenging vision for those who would follow Him. As if the image of the cross is not enough, Jesus further confounds his hearers, saying that they must ultimately lose their lives to save them. How discordant a saying this is even now. Despite our full revelation of the death and resurrection of Christ, the invitation to follow Jesus in the path of loss and suffering is unsettling and is not likely to fill empty seats in our congregations. Jesus presses yet further, knowing that the stakes would indeed be highest for his closest followers. For so many of them, not being “ashamed” of Jesus and His words would cost them everything.

Philip Evergood created today’s artwork,The New Lazarus, over a twenty-seven-year period from 1927-1954. This stunning length of time suggests that Evergood wrestled with the painting, returning to it over and over again. For nearly three decades, through the Great Depression, World War II, and more, the painting accumulated its dense imagery.The New Lazarus juxtaposes the resurrection of Lazarus and the crucifixion of Jesus, bringing together moments of triumph and humiliation. Surrounding these two Biblical figures with all of their ancient symbolic power, Evergood places figures representing the social pathologies of his own age. To the left of Jesus, in place of the thief on the cross, is a dark figure suggesting a lynching. At the right of the painting, Roman guards are replaced with ghoulish soldiers from Evergood’s own time. Soldier figures appear on a cross behind Christ, and dead at his feet. The figures at the top right cover eyes and ears and mouth—see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil—a reference to willful ignorance generally, and to the policy of appeasement specifically.

The contemporary (for Evergood) embodiments of racial hatred, war, and deprivation in this painting allow us to consider the meaning of our present sufferings in relation to the Cross of Christ. The ultimate fear, lying underneath so much of human life, is that we suffer without purpose or meaning. The Cross gives ultimate, redemptive meaning to human suffering. And Jesus’ words ring out with an affirmation and an ultimate promise: “but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” The inversions of the beatitudes further Jesus’ (ultimately eschatological) promise of a grand redemption of suffering.

What is more, Evergood’s painting suggests that all of those in his own violent age are accountable to the Crucified Christ, and to His ultimate power over death. The cavalcade of diverse figures at the right of the painting evokes the tradition of Last Judgement imagery, in which we see representations of all humanity raised to judgement. It is this resurrection that the raising of Lazarus prefigures, and which this difficult painting gestures toward. Perpetrator, victim, the willfully ignorant, the dead, the living, all are brought before one who is lifted up as both suffering servant and final judge.

Prayer:
Most Holy Son, who is high and lifted up.
Help us to walk after you,
Following the way of righteous loss.
Reveal your suffering in ours.
Only you fill everything with meaning.
You wield power over death.
We will not be ashamed of you, nor of your gospel.
Amen

Jonathan Puls, M.F.A., M.A.
Chair of the Art Department
Associate Professor of Art History and Painting
Biola University

To receive these devotionals in your email inbox, please subscribe via our website at https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2025. Our website also includes more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for each devotional.