Gospel in Art: Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Tapestry from a set of The Passion, German, Alsace, possibly Strasbourg,1592 © Metropolitan Museum, New York

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 5 June 2022John 14:15-16,23-26 .Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever.

‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.

Those who do not love me do not keep my words.

And my word is not my own: it is the word of the one who sent me. I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.

Reflection on the tapestry

Happy Pentecost Sunday! This is the day that the church was born! We celebrate the person of the Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles, Mary, and the first followers of Jesus, who were gathered together in the Upper Room. The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word for “fiftieth” (pentēcostē), because the feast is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday (and ten days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven).

Today we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. In our tapestry from 1592, we see the Holy Spirit descending as a dove above all present. This panel is part of a group of similar scenes from the New Testament, woven across more than two decades, all closely based upon printed prototypes by Albrecht Dürer and Hans Schäufelein. This small panel 100 by 75cm (39 1/2 x 29 3/4 in.) was made for private individuals as domestic devotional pieces. We see Mary in the very middle holding the Book of the Gospels with one hand and with the other hand gently resting on her chest. The apostles are all depicted with tongues of fire resting above their heads. These flames are reminiscent of the flames of the bush where Moses received his own commission from God. The same flames are now used to send the Apostles on their mission.

These flames, shown in an exteriorised form in our tapestry, are in fact interiorised and become part of who the apostles are. They set the apostles on fire to start their mission to the world.

LINKS

Christian Art: www.christian.artToday’s image: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-14-15-1623-26-2022/