A Gentile perspective – New Covenant Forum - Encouraging Conversation About Jesus the Jewish Messiah

The Genius Artist From Vitebsk

April 20th, 2010

The art world of Marc Chagall is unique. Just as most people would immediately recognize the paintings of Norman Rockwell, the paintings of Marc Chagall are also distinct and recognizable once you acquaint yourself with them. His many works abound in Jewish symbolism, Biblical stories, and his beloved childhood town of Vitebsk in Belarus. Chagall painted fanciful visions depicting floating, dream-like images as well as sinuous figures of people and animals that are most times out of proportion in size. A goat or a fish may appear much larger than a man. His inexhaustible palette of vibrant and rich colours are his trademark and his distinct and whimsical images have set him apart as one of the world’s greatest Jewish artists.

Marc Chagall was born in 1887, eldest of nine children into the home of a poor Hasidic family. Chagall told his mother that he wanted to be a painter but she could never comprehend why he would set his heart on such an impractical vocation. Nonetheless, in 1906 at age sixteen, Chagall began to study at the art school of Yehuda Pen in his hometown. A year later he left for St. Petersburg to further his studies under various known artists, eventually going to Paris in 1910. He returned to Vitebsk in 1914 to marry his fiancé, Bella Rosenfed. World War I broke out while he was home and Chagall became a participant in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Bella and Marc moved to Paris in 1923 where he later became a French citizen. The Nazi occupation of France during World War II led Chagall and his wife to flee Paris. American journalist, Varian Fry assisted their escape from France through Spain and Portugal and in 1941 they settled in the United States. Unfortunately, his beloved Bella died in 1944. Chagall returned to Paris where he began to work in ceramics, sculptures and stained glass windows. The synagogue of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem boasts one of Chagall’s greatest achievements, twelve stained-glass windows each depicting one of the tribes of Jacob.

Perhaps the most remarkable painting Chagall ever painted was in 1938 entitled ‘White Crucifixion’, the first of his many paintings of the crucifixion. For 1900 years no well-known Jewish artist dared to paint the figure of Jesus on the cross and yet Chagall did; he painted Jesus as a suffering Jewish Saviour. Amid much symbolism of Jewish persecution, the painting portrays Jesus nailed to the cross with a lighted menorah at his feet. His loins are covered with a Jewish prayer shawl and over his head written in Hebrew, ‘Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews’.

Chagall painted yet another picture that has been declared by some to be the most unusual self-portrait in the history of art, ‘Self-Portrait with a Clock’. Chagall has painted himself standing with brushes and palette in front of a picture of the crucifixion which he has just painted. His demeanor in the picture is melancholy as he contemplates the cross while his head is bowed over a sad-eyed donkey. A clock rests above Chagall’s head and interestingly, the time is set at three o’clock and above the head of Jesus is a rooster. Why a rooster? One can only speculate but perhaps there is an answer to the question. A custom that has been observed for centuries by Eastern European Jews is called kapparah from the Hebrew root ‘to cover.’ It is a traditional right that is supposed to be atoning as a substitute for the temple sacrifice. The male of the household takes a rooster on Yom Kippur and swinging it over his head three times will declare: ‘This is my substitute, my atonement, it shall meet death but I shall find long life’ and then the rooster is slaughtered.

Was Chagall bowing to his kapparah? We will never know but this we do know, Marc Chagall painted a Jewish Jesus for the world to see, and he painted him as a suffering Savior. Chagall died in 1985 at the age of 97 leaving behind his legacy and art works worldwide. Today a museum sits at 29 Pokrovskaia Street in his home town of Vitebsk, a tribute to ‘the genius artist of Viebsk.’

Contributed by Marilyn Duguid, Secretary/Treasurer on the Board of Directors of New Covenant Forum.

Posted in A Gentile perspective, Atonement, Personal Stories, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

April 23rd, 2009

A few months ago, publishers of SEVEN magazine asked me to write a cover article entitled ”Easter: Is it for Real?” for their March 1, 2009 issue. You can read the full article, and the whole issue, online. Scroll down the page for the appropriate PDF of the magazine. Below is a brief overview of the article.

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“Could you come over and explain the real meaning of Easter to our boys? I don’t want them to think that Easter is only about the Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs.” Though expressing no open commitment to the Christian faith, this young couple instinctively knew that the story of Jesus dying and rising again was at the heart of Easter, that it was something important for their young boys to know.

Christians, at least in the evangelical branch in which I was raised, tend to make a great deal of fuss over Christmas, while observing the surrounding events of Jesus’ death and resurrection with relatively little fanfare. And yet, Easter presents a great opportunity to talk about the heart of Christianity – that Jesus lived, died and rose again to make atonement for our sins.

A couple of years ago, while discussing Judaism and Christianity with an orthodox rabbi, he challenged me: “Prior to his crucifixion and alleged resurrection, why would a first century Jew have believed that Jesus was the Messiah?” In calling the resurrection “alleged,” my rabbi friend was stating he did not believe it to be true. However, though I doubt he meant to do so, his comment underscored the importance of the resurrection as the crucial, watershed issue in establishing the credibility of Christianity.

Given its vital importance, are there reasonable evidences for believing Jesus actually rose from the dead? There are four common lines of evidence for the physical resurrection of Messiah Jesus.

Aside from the factual evidence above, the circumstantial evidence for Messiah’s resurrection is simply too great to ignore. As Christians we are committed to the truthfulness of Scripture – both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament scriptures. It is God’s Word – we believe what it says. But not everyone shares our commitment to the veracity of Scripture. So is there anything else to which we can appeal? There are several matters demanding plausible alternative explanations, if we are to deny the resurrection of Jesus. Here are just a few.

However, as valuable as apologetics is, I believe one of the best defenses for the reality of the resurrection is the testimony of a transformed life. The New Testament says “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Just as Jerusalem’s citizens marveled at the bold witness of the early Christians, our culture also takes note of those who live authentic lives. When Christian faith truly informs a believer’s life – in marriage and family relationships, in one’s work ethic, in one’s interests and ambitions – the surrounding community takes note that something powerful is at work in that life.

This was surely true in ancient Thessalonica, for Paul wrote to them: “…your faith in God has become known everywhere…we do not need to say anything about it … they tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:8-10).

As important as it is to be informed about the reasons for believing in the resurrection, Christians must also be transformed by that resurrection power residing in them through God’s Holy Spirit. It is that empowering presence of God’s Spirit in one’s life that compels the Christian to share the great news that Jesus really did rise from the dead.

Please read the full article . And as always, I welcome your comments and questions.

Contributed by David Daniels, former General Director of New Covenant Forum and Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Richmond Hill.

Posted in A Gentile perspective, Atonement, Goyim for God, Resurrection | No Comments »

The Genius Artist From Vitebsk

Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

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