Today's Gospel in Art - If your right eye should cause you to sin

Susannah accused of adultery, by Antoine Coypel 1695, © Prado Museum, Madrid

Gospel of 12th June 2020 - Matthew 5:27-32

Jesus said to his disciples: 'You have learnt how it was said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.

'It has also been said: Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you: everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.'

Reflection on today's painting

In today's reading, Jesus is asserting His teaching authority in this fifth chapter of Matthew, part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus knows that He is setting the bar high and calling the audience sitting there in front of Him, to move beyond where they are… and why? Because Christ wants what is best for us… These passages in Scripture where words may sound harsh and difficult, all come from a place of love.

The reading today about adultery made me think of the story of Susannah and the Elders (Book of Daniel 13)… and in our painting by Coypel from 1695, we can see the story beautifully depicted. As Susannah bathed in her garden (hence the quickly thrown-on clothes), having sent her attendants away, two lustful elders (at the centre of the painting) secretly observe the beautiful Susannah. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, threatening to claim that she was meeting a young man in the garden unless she agrees to have sexual relations with them. She refuses to be blackmailed. She gets arrested and is about to be put to death for promiscuity when the young Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent. After the two elders are separated, they get questioned separately and give different answers about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. The elders are then unmasked as being false accusers and are put to death… virtue triumphs… the virtue Christ is calling us to in today's reading.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christianart.today/reading.php?id=450

Christian Art Today - www.christian.art