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COMMENTARY BY THE ARTIST:
When They Crucified Jesus
John 19:23-31a, 38-42
"How could I possibly create an image of Jesus on the cross? I avoided facing this most poignant and painful scene in the Christian story. Finally, I drew the crucifixion from above and behind. From this vantage point, we do see all that is going on below the cross as recorded in John... After cutting the block, I realized that everyone (the soldiers and the disciples) are the same size. Perhaps in God’s eyes, there is incredible love for each one of us in spite of our “rightness or wrongness.” It is not so much who was good and who was bad; even the soldiers probably thought they were doing the right thing under orders. Perhaps we are to find ourselves along this winding path from grief and guilt to resurrection and reconciliation. I believe that Jesus died because he would not compromise who he was. He would not back down from his solidarity with those who had no voice... He would not cooperate with the governing bodies who were wealthy at the expense of the poor. He saw the possibilities for good and God’s infinite blessings, even in those who were seen as wrongdoers. In the face of this painful death, Jesus did not call on armies to protect him...and so, in his self-giving love, he was killed... However, this is not the end of the story." The Rev. Cara B. Hochhalter is a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister. She received her Masters of Divinity from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where she studied the intersections of art, theology and justice. She served the Charlemont Federated Church in Massachusetts for ten years and now lives in Hyde Park, New York.
“Over the last thirty years, through my work as a Christian Educator, a seminary student and UCC minister, I have created images that interpret the powerful stories around the life of Jesus. These stories hold universal truths not limited to Christianity but relevant for all our lives and times. I find that art provides a very special means to break into these texts.”
The images in her book, A Challenging Peace in the Life and Stories of Jesus were created through the simple print-making process of carving out a block, applying ink and pulling a print. Cara says, “The interaction of light and dark is important in each image as we cannot have one without the other. The dark defines the light, and vice versa. I find this to be theological as we look to the whole—the light and the dark, the joy and the despair, the peace and the conflict—all under an umbrella of Divine Love that yearns for wholeness.”
Using her book, Cara also offers three online discussion groups: Jesus and Justice, Parables and Peace-making, and The Paradox of Humility in the Stories of Jesus.
To contact Cara B. Hochhalter for information about her art, to purchase signed prints of the images, or her book, A Challenging Peace in the Life and Stories of Jesus, please email: hochhalter.cara@gmail.com |
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