Christian Art · Renaissance · The Cross & Resurrection
The Pietà
“And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.” — John 19:38 (KJV)
About
Michelangelo carved the Pietà at twenty-four (1498–1499): Mary, impossibly young and serene, holds the body of her thirty-three-year-old Son across her lap as if he weighed nothing, her free hand open in quiet acceptance. It is the only work he ever signed — across the sash on her breast.
The Meaning
The proportions are the theology: Mary is larger than Christ, her lap a throne, so the sculpture reads not as a corpse on a girl but as the King returned to the lap from which He came — and her youth says she is untouched by the death she holds.
For Us Today
Say Mary's word in your own losses: be it unto me according to thy word — and be still. The hand she opens is the hand that lets go without letting go of God (Psalm 46:10).
Image: CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons — the file’s page. Tap the picture to open the full-size original there.