Gospel in Art: As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near...

The Four Species of Sukkot (Akin to the High Priest), by Isidor Kaufmann, 1893 © Jewish Museum, London

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 15 March 2024
John 7:1-2,10,25-30

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him.

As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself. Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, 'Isn't this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.'

Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out: 'Yes, you know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him, but I know him because I have come from him and it was he who sent me.'

They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

Reflection on the coloured lithograph

The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot in Hebrew) mentioned in our Gospel reading is celebrated for seven days (eight days outside of Israel) beginning on the 15th day of Tishrei, which falls in late September to late October. Sukkot is among the three major pilgrimage festivals, along with Passover and Shavuot, when the ancient Israelites would travel to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and worship God. The origins of Sukkot are found in the Torah, where it is commanded as a festival to the Lord at the end of the harvest season, and it is also a commemoration of the forty-year period during which the children of Israel wandered in the desert, living in temporary shelters. The festival is prescribed in several books of the Bible, including Leviticus 23:34-43, Numbers 29:12-38, and Deuteronomy 16:13-15. These passages command the Israelites to dwell in booths or sukkahs for seven days, to remember that God made them dwell in booths when he brought them out of Egypt.

Sukkot involves several unique commandments and customs. One of the most recognizable is the building and dwelling in a sukkah, a temporary hut with a roof made of branches, symbolizing the fragile and transient dwellings the Israelites lived in during their desert wanderings. Families eat their meals in the sukkah and some even sleep in it, weather permitting. Another important Sukkot ritual is the taking of the Four Spices (Arba Minim), which are etrog (citron), lulav (palm frond), hadass (myrtle twigs), and aravah (willow twigs). These are bound together and waved in all directions to symbolize God's omnipresence and to pray for rain for the crops.

In our lithograph after the painting by Isidor Kaufman, we see these four spices depicted as held by a young boy wearing a tallit (prayer shawl). Kaufmann was an Austro-Hungarian artist, best known for his portraits and genre paintings of devout Jews in the provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied at the Budapest Drawing School and the Vienna Academy and received honours from Emperor Franz Josef as well as the German emperor and the Russian tsar.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's Reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-7-1-2-10-25-30-2024/
Competition: The Laudamus Award 2024 for Sacred Art - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/49310