Gospel in Art: You are only a man and you claim to be God

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano © National Gallery, London

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 31 March 2023
John 10:31-42

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?" The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy: 'you are only a man and you claim to be God.'

Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If those to whom the word of God came were called 'gods' - and the scripture cannot be annulled - can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, 'I am God's Son'? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, "John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." And many believed in him there.

Reflection on the altar painting

A few days ago we read that some Jews wanted to stone a woman accused of adultery. In today's reading we hear how some Jews now wanted to stone Jesus. To be fair, the hostility of the religious leaders towards Jesus is in many ways very understandable. The way they saw Jesus was as a man committing blasphemy: 'You are only a man and you claim to be God'. There is something scandalous about a human being claiming to be God.

Yet, we know that the observation which so scandalised the religious leaders at the time is indeed true: he was man, but also God. John the evangelist whose Gospel we have been reading these last few days closes his Gospel with the confession of Thomas before the risen Lord. Thomas says: 'My Lord and my God'. Jesus, fully human, fully divine.

Our early 16th-century large panel by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, shows the moment that the Saint Thomas placed his fingers in Christ's wound, checking that Christ had indeed risen from the dead. He is about to proclaim the words 'My Lord and my God'. The painting was commissioned by a confraternity dedicated to Saint Thomas for their altar in the church of San Francesco at Portogruaro, on the Venetian mainland, on 28 May 1497. Initial payments to Cima da Conegliano are recorded from 1502. In 1504 the altarpiece was reported as nearly ready but deliberately left unfinished by the artist as he had not been paid. It was completed and installed later that year, although Cima was still owed more than half his fee. He eventually resorted to legal action and wasn't paid in full until 1509.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-10-31-42-2023/