The Weimar Altarpiece - Lent and Easter 2016

Throughout the season of Lent and Easter in 2016, I conducted a preaching series that combined the lectionary readings and used the images from the Weimar Altarpiece (1555) by Lucas Cranach the Younger. The painting is a reworking of Lucas Cranach the Elder's Law and Gospel paintings. At a later time, I hope to present this series as a devotional. In terms of a very brief introduction to the painting I will give the following: The central image of this painting to which almost everything formally, figuratively, and literally points is Christ on the cross. When we follow Christ's eye line and the stream of blood, we see Lucas Cranach the Younger's father, Lucas Cranach the Elder who, in turn, looks at the viewer. Beside him John the Baptist is directing him to look at Christ on the cross and the Lamb of God (John 1:29 is inscribed on the transparent banner that the lamb holds). On the right side of Cranach stands Martin Luther who looks to Christ on the cross with his finger pointing to an open bible that has three passages in it. The first verse is: “The blood of Christ purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:8). This passage helps set the context for seeing the blood of Christ that pours upon Cranach’s head as a purifying blood that brings forgiveness. Christ’s blood purifies you of all your sins. Christ went to the cross where He shed His blood for you to cleanse you of all of your sins and to make you pure and holy before God. The next verse is from Hebrews 4:16, “Therefore, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace so that we might receive mercy in Him and find grace in the time when we are in need of help.” And lastly, the book contains the passage John 3:14 and part of 15, “Just like Moses had lifted a snake in the wilderness, therefore also must the Son of Man be lifted up so that all who believe in him may have eternal life.” Our eyes are directed to see that the serpent lifted in the wilderness in Numbers 21, painted just above Luther and Cranach, was a foreshadowing of Christ upon the cross. God grants healing and life to everyone who looks to Jesus in faith. In the background, one sees the hope that is coming into the world as the angel announces the birth of Christ to shepherds. In the center of the background, Moses, with the prophets, points to tablets of the law as he looks at a man who is running from a beastly devil and the skeleton of death who holds a spear (this alludes to the sting/spear of death in 1 Cor. 15, which is written on the other Law and Gospel paintings). The man is running toward the flames of hell because he has not kept the law. However, when one follows his eyes, he is looking up to Christ on the cross pleading for mercy, for He is the One who has fulfilled the law and died for the sins of the world in order to forgive and redeem. So also the viewer is drawn in to this image. Christ on the cross stands between the condemnation that the law reveals and the viewer. So the viewer is shown that redemption is found in Christ. In the left foreground, then, Christ resurrected, stands victorious before an empty tomb and an open sarcophagus. With his standard of victory and his crushing feet, He defeats death and the devil, the figures chasing the man in the background (though the devil has taken on a different form something more akin to the apocalyptic beast). All the while the Risen Christ looks intently upon the viewer as to say, "This victory is for you."