Christ poster-v,3

Christ Crucified by Diego Velazquez is at the very center of the collage because that historical event is the very center of the Gospel, the Bible and Christian doctrine, the reason for our forgiveness and therefore, of our hope for salvation. As The Crucified One, Christ is both the Great High Priest who presents Himself as the perfect sacrifice, as we sing in Lutheran Service Book hymn 637, verse 1. (The titulus over Christ’s head has “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” in Hebrew, Greek and Latin). To the immediate right of Christ Crucified is Christ the Prophet (teacher), an image from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai. Below the Crucifixion image is Christ the King. These three are the Lord’s offices: Prophet, Priest and King. Above the Crucifixion is Christ the Judge, Siegfried Gerhard Reinhardt’s mosaic at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. To the immediate left of the Crucifixion is Piero della Francesca’s 15th century painting of the Resurrection. (The artist portrayed himself as the sleeping soldier on the left.)

In the four corners immediately around the Crucifixion, beginning at the 10:00 position are the intertwined Alpha and Omega, Christ’s assertion about Himself (Revelation 1:8, 21:6, 22:13); at 2:00, IHC, Greek letters for the Latin “Iesus Hominum Salvator” (Jesus, Savior of men); at 4:00, the “chi-rho” the first two Greek letters for “Christ,” and at 8:00, IC (Jesus) XC (Christ) and NIKA (Victor), the Byzantine Greek original of the Latin Christus Victor.

Arranged vertically on the outside columns are the animals that symbolize Christ or His attributes. To the left from the top, the phoenix, that Christendom unashamedly appropriated from Greek pagan mythology, symbolizing the Resurrection, as does the butterfly. According to legend, in times of famine the mother pelican will feed her chicks with her own life blood as Christ did by His bleeding death. See Lutheran Service Book hymn 640, verse 3. I added the Luther Rose as the nimbus (halo). At the top of the far right column is the Agnus Dei (Christ, the Lamb of God) whose blood feeds us in the Sacrament of the Altar. He stands upon the Book of Life with its seven seals. I added Book of Life in Hebrew to the cover and again the nimbus is the Luther Rose. The vixellum (banner) bears the Apha-Omega and IC XC NIKA symbols. Below that image is the Ariel, “Lion of God,” crowned with thorns and bleeding, because Jesus was is the Lion of Judah. Below that is the brazen serpent, the one Moses set in the Israelite camp in the desert (Numbers 21) that Christ said symbolized His atoning death (John 3:14-15), as St. Paul explained it (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This is the second modification of my very amateurish collage of images stolen from various Internet sites. Because I stole from others, you are free to steal from me so long as you teach the Church and glorify Christ with it.