“Triumphant
Entry into Jerusalem” by He Qi* depicts the events of Palm
Sunday that marked the fulfillment of the prophecy made in the Old Testament:
Zechariah 9:9-10 (NIV)
9
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout,
Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous
and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.
10
I will take away the chariots from
Ephraim
and
the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and
the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His
rule will extend from sea to sea
and
from the River[a] to the ends of the earth.
The entry of Christ
into Jerusalem is
found in all the Gospels - Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12.
Each reports in some
fashion Jesus instructing his disciples to find the donkey and bring it for him
to ride and thereby fulfilling the prophecy.
Mark 11 (NIV)
1
As
they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of
Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village
ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which
no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why
are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here
shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a
doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you
doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the
people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their
cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead
and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our
father David!”
“Hosanna
in the highest heaven!”
At the conclusion of
Luke’s account, we see the beginning of the seeds of the Pharisees’
dissatisfaction with the praise given Jesus and his rebuke of them.
Luke 19 (NIV)
37
When he came near the place where the road goes down
the Mount of Olives,
the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for
all the miracles they had seen:
38
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]
“Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest!”
39
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said
to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 41 As
he approached
Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42
and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you
peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when
your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you
in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children
within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not
recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
John reports the lack
of awareness on the part of the disciples of what was going to transpire. (John
12:16).
John 12 (NIV)
16
. . . his disciples did not understand
all this.
Only after Jesus was glorified did they
realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had
been done to him.
The entry into
Jerusalem set in motion the events of Holy Week. Palm Sunday (identified by the branches the
people waved and place before Jesus on his entry) marks the beginning of our
celebration of Holy Week and the events that led to the crucifixion and
resurrection.
“Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem”
painted by He Qi captures the moment
in a style that is in contrast to traditional Western depictions of this
moment. Jesus and the crowd are
presented in vibrant colors with the strong reds and blues being the primary
colors- in stark contrast to what is found in many Western paintings. In addition, the individuals (and even the
donkey) seem to have an Asian appearance.
The sign on the wall identifies the location as “Jerusalem” in Chinese
characters.
He Qi (pronounced “Huh
Chee”) is a Chinese Christian artist who originally came to Christ and began to
develop his unique artistic style in the midst of Mao ZeDong’s Cultural
Revolution. He and his family were sent
into the fields as part of the “reeducation process of Chinese
intellectuals. As a young man, he
escaped hard labor by painting pictures of chairman Mao. At the time of the
Cultural Revolution the atmosphere was one of struggle, of hatred, of
criticism. All around you could only see images of struggle and criticism. It
was hard to find any images of peace.
One day he happened to
come across a very old copy of a magazine which contained a picture of the
painting "Madonna and Child" by Raphael. Qi was extremely moved by
this painting with the Madonna smiling and the little baby Jesus also smiling
and felt a great sense of peace. After this, Qi began to paint portraits of
Chairman Mao by day and then, late at night, completed copies of the
"Madonna and Child," both sketches and oil paintings.
The art of He Qi is
best understood when it is seen as a reinterpretation of sacred art within an
ancient Chinese art idiom. Chinese religious art, being an expression of
Buddhism, was historically typified as a tranquil and utopian portrayal of
nature, often painted with black ink and water. He Qi is especially influenced
by the simple and beautiful artwork of the people in rural China. Within that
framework, he seeks to redefine the relationship between people and
spirituality with bold colors, embellished shapes and thick strokes. His work
is a blend of Chinese folk art and traditional painting technique with the
iconography of the Western Middle Ages and Modern Art.
His work initially met resistance within the
Chinese Christian Community. Traditional
pastors had been shaped by Western missionaries and felt depictions of Biblical
scenes should reflect a Western vision of the events. Qi, in contrast saw the need to help Chinese
identify with Christianity by capturing the scenes from a Chinese perspective.
After the Cultural
Revolution He Qi went on to obtain a doctorate in Religious Art and received a
award for outstanding achievements in religious art from Cambridge.
He has taught at Nanking University and is currently a resident of
Minnesota and is a guest professor at Drew University. *This picture was
reprinted with permission from the artist.
Reflection
– if Jesus were to return today in a form not as traditional as we expect,
would we greet him with celebration and recognize the fulfillment of the
Scriptures? Or would we be like the
Pharisees and express dissatisfaction and disbelief?
During Holy Week let
us remember the Good News is to be shared with all God’s people.
-
Paul Cropley
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