Christ in Art. Ernest Renan

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СКАЧАТЬ identification of the me with the object which it has embraced, carried to its last extent. It is pride to those who see in it only the personal fantasy of the founder; it is the finger of God to those who see the result. The fool here almost touches the inspired man; only the fool never succeeds.

      Jesus undoubtedly did not at once reach this lofty affirmation of himself. But it is probable that from the very beginning he looked to God as a father. This is his great act of originality; in this he is in no way like his species. The God of Jesus is Our Father. “We hear him when we listen to a low whisper within us which says, “Father”. He is the God of humanity. Jesus will not be a patriot like the Maccabees, or a theocrat like Juda the Gaulonite. Rising boldly above the prejudices of his nation, he will establish the universal fatherhood of God. The Gaulonite maintained that men should die rather than give to another than God the name of “master”; Jesus leaves this name to whoever chooses to take it, and reserves for God a gentler title. According to the mighty ones of the earth, to him the representatives of force, a respect full of irony, he founds the supreme consolation, the recourse to the Father which each one has in heaven, the true kingdom of God which each one bears in his heart.

      This name of “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” was Jesus’ favourite expression of revolution. Like nearly all the Messianic terms, it came from the Book of Daniel. According to the author of this extraordinary book, to the four profane empires, destined to be destroyed, will succeed a fifth empire which will be that of the saints and which will endure forever. This reign of God upon the earth naturally received the most diverse interpretations. In Jewish theology, the “kingdom of God” is usually nothing but Judaism itself, the true religion, the monotheistic worship, piety. During the latter portion of his life, Jesus believed that this reign was to be realized materially by a speedy renewal of the world. But this undoubtedly was not his first thought. The admirable moral which he draws from the idea of this father God is not that of enthusiasts who believe the world near its end, and who are preparing by ascetics for a chemical catastrophe. It is that of a world which desires to live and which has lived. “The kingdom of God is within you,” said he to those who subtly asked for external signs. The material conception of the divine advent was only a cloud, a passing error which death consigned to oblivion. The Jesus who founded the real kingdom of God, the kingdom of the meek and lowly, this is the Jesus of the earlier days, chaste days without alloy, when the voice of his Father resounded in his heart with a purer tone. There were then some months, perhaps a year, when God actually lived upon the earth. The voice of the young carpenter suddenly assumed extraordinary sweetness. Infinite charm radiated from his person, and the companions of his youth no longer recognized him. He still had no disciples, and the throng which pressed around him was neither a sect nor a school; but they felt already a common spirit, something gentle and penetrating. His lovely character, and doubtless one of those transporting countenances that, created around him a circle of fascination which hardly any, among this friendly and artless people, could resist.

      Paradise had been, indeed, transported upon earth, had not the ideas of the young master too widely overstepped the level of common goodness, above which the human race has been incapable of being elevated. The brotherhood of men, sons of God, and the moral consequences which result from this, were deduced with an exquisite sentiment. Like all the rabbis of the time, Jesus had given little thought to consecutive reasoning, and instead, compressed his doctrine into aphorisms of a concise and expressive form, sometimes strange and enigmatical. Some of these maxims come from the books of the Old Testament. Others were the thoughts of more modern sages, especially of Antigonus of Soco, Jesus, the son of Sirach, and Hillel, which were known to him, not through learned studies, but as proverbs often repeated. The synagogues were rich in maxims very happily expressed and formed a sort of current proverb literature. Jesus adopted nearly all this oral instruction, infusing into it a higher meaning. Increasing ordinarily upon the duties declared by the Law and the elders, he demanded perfection. All the virtues of humility, of forgiveness, of charity, of abnegation, of severity to self, virtues that are rightly named Christian, if by that is meant that they were really preached by Christ, were in seeds of these first teachings. For justice, he contented himself with repeating the well known axiom, “Do not to others that which ye would not that they should do unto you.” But this ancient wisdom, which was still somewhat selfish, was not enough for him. He went far beyond:

      “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.”

      “If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.”

      “Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, pray for them that persecute you.”

      “Judge not that ye be not judged. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven. Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

      “Whosoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

      Rogier van der Weyden, The Adoration of the Magi, central panel, c. 1455.

      Oil on oak panel, 138 × 153 cm.

      Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

      Gentile da Fabriano, Adoration of the Magi, 1423.

      Tempera on wood panel, 303 × 282 cm.

      Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

      Lorenzo Monaco, Adoration of the Magi, 1421–1422.

      Tempera on panel, 115 × 170 cm.

      Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

      Concerning alms, pity, good works, gentleness, the desire of peace, complete disinterestedness of heart, he had little to add to the doctrines of the synagogue. But he gave to them an accent full of unction, which made new aphorisms uttered long before. Morality is not composed of principles more or less expressed. The poetry of the precept, which makes it lovely, is more than the precept itself, taken as an abstract truth. Now, it cannot be denied that the proverbs borrowed by Jesus from his predecessors, produced, in the gospel, an effect totally different from that in the ancient Law. It is not the ancient Law, it is not the Talmud, which has conquered and changed the world. Little original in itself, if by that is meant that it can be recomposed almost entirely with more ancient maxims, the evangelical morality remains none the less the highest creation which has emanated from the human conscience, the most beautiful code of perfect life that any moralist has traced.

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