Messiah: Lenten Art Devotions and Art Prints Volume III

Lent is a time of contemplation.

During these 40 days, we contemplate Jesus’s life here on earth. The precious three years of His active ministry in which He gave us His sacred words, His healing, as well as His beautiful example of love. He showed us how to live. We meditate on His life and His sacrifice, and we enter into self-reflection to discover what might be holding us back from living His way.

As with Advent, we already know what is coming. We enter this season, however, not anticipating a birth, but rather waiting for a death. As Jesus did so long ago, we know that this story includes overwhelming grief. And pain. And blood. And as with His birth, His death was unexpected. A shock to those who had followed Him. Our Hallelujahs are silenced. Christ has died.

But though the story includes a death, it does not end there and that is the miracle of Easter. That is the beauty of the Resurrection. Our grief gives way to overwhelming relief. To joy. To thankfulness. The Messiah has come. Christ is risen. Death has been defeated. A new way of living and a new freedom from the slavery of sin is His gift to us.

And though He has ascended into heaven again, we know that He will once again come back to us. That His Resurrection wasn’t His final appearance here. Our Hallelujahs return. Christ will come again.

Art can have a way of allowing us true contemplation. To notice details and immerse ourselves in a story. To let that example soak into our hearts and minds and stay with us. If you choose, from this guide and the accompanying prints, feel free to display an individual print during each week of Lent and present it with the readings provided. Or, feel at liberty to explore other ways to include the art in your Lenten traditions.

May these Lenten art devotions allow you to contemplate the time of Jesus’s ministry here on earth and immerse yourself in the beauty of His love for us.