Carrie Montalto | "Jesus Dies on the Cross"
Reflection by Carrie Montalto
A few years ago, I created this picture for Good Friday when my church was staging the Stations of the Cross. This was Station #13, “Jesus Dies on the Cross” and is made with paper, ink, paint and twine. “Jesus Dies on the Cross” is based on Hymns on Paradise, a fourth century work by St. Ephrem the Syrian. In Hymns, St. Ephrem describes four trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the thorn tree and the fig tree. St. Ephrem argues that the cross reverses the fall demonstrated through each tree.
For instance, in Genesis, the fig tree was the first element Adam and Eve used to separate themselves from God after the fall, using the fig leaves to cover their nakedness. But in Matthew 18, Jesus cursed the fig tree. Under the kingdom of heaven, there would be no need for barriers between man and God. The fig tree is represented at the bottom of the work, outside the Garden.
The thorns in Genesis represent the obstacles that mankind would experience working the ground after the fall. In the Gospels, those burdens were literally placed on Jesus’ head for all to see. "Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." (John 1:29). In this work, thorns are not only placed at the bottom, outside the walls of paradise, but also on Jesus’ head. Jesus brings the hardships existing on the margins to his center.
Thirdly, by eating the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve knew good and evil. In Hymns, St. Ephrem argued that the horizontal plank of the cross represented this tree. Indeed, the Gospels emphasize that Jesus was crucified between two thieves, one who was repentant, and one unrepentant. In this work, two prophecies are written on each side of Jesus: the dark from Genesis 3:22, and the promise of salvation from Isaiah 25:8. Jesus’ sacrifice and kingship takes up both and therefore are contained by the circular proclamation from Isaiah 9:6-7.
Finally, the vertical plank of the cross represents the final and highest tree, the tree of life, which in Gen 3 enables mankind to live forever. Here, the tree of life grows out of the top of the cross. The cross is the way to everlasting life (John 3:16) and the tree of life will forever grow in the center of new heavens and new earth (Rev. 22:2).