While our hearts may have become accustomed to seeing the nails in Jesus’ sinless hands and feet and his body hanging on the cross, it is difficult to remain numb in one’s encounter with [Konstantin Korobov’s painting] Agnus. This painted analogy of the sacrifice of Christ makes palpable the nature of the suffering of Jesus at the hands of his ravenous, scapegoating, violent attackers—his innocent blood offered without a struggle, freely offering his own body and blood as food to those taking it by force. The temptation for the viewer is to look upon the wolves with detached disgust, to cry for the lamb and recoil with horror as the event unfolds. And yet, Korobov’s analogical depiction of the Paschal sacrifice contains a further detail for the viewer’s spiritual contemplation: the golden splendor of the metallic gold halo surrounding the head of the lamb is reflected in the eyes of the wolves.
What could that mean?
The wolves, we sinners who killed the incarnate Lord, see God despite our constant and often violent rejection of him. His divine life is reflected in our eyes, and our violent repudiation of his divinity, our “control” of his humanity, doesn’t remove the spark of his divinity from our own hearts. He has created us, wretched and violent scapegoating sinners that we choose to be, with his very life within us.
And in an ironic twist, our very rejection of him—our teeth in his soft, white wool—is the catalyst for his sacramental gift to us: the free offering of his Body and Blood, not to spite us, but in spite of us. His self-emptying love increases the divine life within us, and our eyes glow magnificently as we consume him, the Lamb. The irony is meant to convert us.
As we encounter the one true love, our lips that were once snarled in vicious rage and intent on destruction are moved to whisper prayers of contrition and thanksgiving. And as our sin is turned on its head, it is destroyed. We have no other choice but to submit to that love, and as we do, that brilliant, golden glow increases in our eyes and in our hearts. The source of our life becomes the summit. The Lamb of God, his limbs still caught in the mouths of wolves, is held high for the salvation of the world, and we fall down to worship.
--Rozann Lee
Quotation and image source: Konstantin Korobov, Agnus, https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/the-blood-of-the-lamb-and-the-light-in-their-eyes/?fbclid=IwAR1CfNprFmq_za2ENYgtXIQ6XyflhfUDsxe3gK0HoL5rcbOpYd2wJCW8dIA_aem_AcvAtVBJIat1tAZHbZXHs199eKks75AWyZJ6npXwflFaypnWtIChPtyPkLbR2RCkqy8TnXHHpFKaB2eh620emA9U
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