Friday, March 30, 2018

440: FACES OF CHRIST

This is an important, historic weekend as it aligns the Jewish Faith, all Christian Religions and the Mormons with the sacred days of Passover, Easter and LDS General Conference respectively ( and not to mention maybe the Pagans with their April Fools Day.)

Today is Good Friday. A Somber Day to think of all the events that occured today. My family plan to go see the latest movie, Paul, Apostle of Christ. As most  know,  Paul went from being the most infamous persecutor of Christians to Jesus Christ's most influential apostle.

Also,Tonight at sundown begins the Jewish Holiday of Passover.

Christians believe that the resurrection took place on a Sunday. After the First Council of Nicaea in 325, it was determined that Easter should always fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. The Full Moon is on Saturday and it will also be a Blue Moon. The moon rises about 7:09 PM tonight and will set at 7:37 AM tomorrow morning.. and then rise tomorrow night at 8:16 PM.  I hope to take a photo of it and post it later but wanted to post this beforehand.

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SIDENOTE:
For millennia now, believers and nonbelievers have wondered what Jesus may have looked like and grasped at any and all evidence in their search. In 2011, a 2,000-year-old, credit-card-sized, lead booklet was found in a cave overlooking the Sea of Galilee bearing what looks to be the oldest portrait of Jesus Christ, perhaps made during the lifetime of those who knew what he looked like and, perhaps, the “true” face of Jesus.

From the earliest days of Christianity up until Rembrandt’s 17th century, the idea of portraying Jesus as anything other than a supernatural Divine being was considered blasphemy. 

Rembrandt shifted away from Jesus as the heroic superbeing of antiquity towards a more human,  and painted a more accessible to believers, and, perhaps, truer face of Christ.

He used as his model a young Sephardic Jew from the neighborhood in which he lived and worked. He painted portraits of Jesus Christ from various angles and shown in various states of mind and mood. Below are a few of these paintings that have been preserved.. some of which are believed to have been painted by his students.  There is only one that is believed to have been painted by the master's hand.





Rembrandt loved the story of Jesus at Emmaus for its depiction of Christ as teacher, opening the eyes of His disciples to the truth of his being and his continued connection to them. Rembrandt reconnected in a deeply personal way with Jesus by choosing a Jewish model—an outcast, like the outcasts with whom Christ (and Rembrandt himself) chose to keep company.

These faces were used as inspiration for the cover on the newly published scriptures. The beholder of the books will see a faint resemblance of some of the."Faces of Christ" which Rembrandt painted. It is only through reading the scriptures will we ever be able to see Christ and know His True Identity.


In the final version, the image of Christ's Face is almost undetectable to the viewer.. but only a fingerprint like image to allow the reader to come to know Christ themselves. 


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