The Last Supper

One of the most recognized paintings of all time is Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which he painted from 1495-1498. The Intellectual Devotional describes it as "one of the most famous paintings of a biblical subject in Western history." 

The Last Supper depicts Jesus Christ celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples just before Judas betrayed him. "According to the sixteenth-century author Giorgio Vasari, who wrote biographies of the most famous Italian artists of the Renaissance, da Vinci's fresco was meant to capture the precise moment of Jesus Christ's pronouncement, "One of you is about to betray me" (Matthew 26:21). The apostles are thus shown reacting to His words, each one expressing a different emotion--denial, doubt, rage, disbelief, or love."

Jesus had said, "the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table" (Luke 22:21). The Devotional goes on to say, "In da Vinci's painting, Judas is the only person besides Christ with his hand on the table. His face is in shadow, and his body physically recoils from Jesus. In older depictions of the scene by other artists, Judas had been depicted isolated from the rest of the group, either seated alone on the opposite side of the table or stripped of a halo. Da Vinci distinguished him from the other apostles in a more subtle manner, focusing on his psychological state rather than on external attributes."

There are many reactions to Jesus today, not dissimilar to da Vinci's depiction. Humanity has not changed all that much, has it? It behooves us all to ask how might we have responded were we in the place of these men? More to the point, how ARE we responding today? We each can give an expected answer, but when the pressure is on, when Jesus puts the truth before us, we have to respond honestly. The saddest words ever spoken of anyone were spoken of Judas, "It would have been better for him that he had not been born" (Mark 14:21). Indeed, it may be said of all of us, were it not for redemption in Christ, it would've been better for us never to have existed. Far from betraying Jesus, may there be an increase in numbers of those who bow the knee before the "Holy One" of Israel. There is hope in Him.