In a forthcoming book, (get a free chapter from it) I describe how Anthony Sweat and I surveyed more than 800 adult members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and asked them the following questions:
If you had to choose one of the following six paintings to hang in your home, which would you choose? Why did you choose the painting you did?
Note that there are three images of Gethsemane and three images of Calvary. We also matched artists (Carl Bloch painted 1 and 3, Harry Anderson painting 2 and 4, and J. Kirk Richards painted 5 and 6). So what did people want to hang in their homes?
Ninety-seven percent–that’s 97%–of Latter-day Saints chose an image of Gethsemane. Looking at the reasons why people chose the image they did, it was clear that some individuals have an aversion to crucifixion images. Maybe these results don’t surprise you—after all, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we focus on the living Christ. At the same time, we also believe in the loving Christ.
Jesus Christ personally defined his greatest act of love as his Crucifixion. He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Apostle Paul wrote, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Given that Christ on the cross is a manifestation of his love, why do some people shy away from Crucifixion images?
Many Church members have told me something like this: “I don’t like thinking about Jesus on the cross because it makes me sad.” Does that statement resonate with you?
Although some Latter-day Saints avoid thinking about Christ’s death, ancient prophets and the Savior himself have commanded us to contemplate it. Mormon wrote to his son Moroni, “May Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death . . . rest in your mind forever” (Moro. 9:25).
Similarly, Jacob wrote, “We would to God that we could persuade all men [to] . . . believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross” (Jacob 1:8). Do we follow Mormon and let Christ’s death rest in our minds? Do we listen to Jacob and view his death?
These words from Book of Mormon prophets become even more impactful when we consider what Jesus Christ has directly revealed in our day. In Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 the Savior says, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” This is a frequently quoted passage. But do we notice the very next verse? Immediately after telling us to look unto him, Jesus states, “Behold [meaning “fix your eyes upon”], the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet” (D&C 6:37). In our day, the living Christ has personally invited us to fix our eyes on the wounds in his side, hands, and feet.
This does not mean we need to constantly stare at pictures of Christ’s Crucifixion, but perhaps we don’t need to be so reticent about looking at Crucifixion images. Some of us could benefit from spending more focused time pondering the death of Christ. Such a meditation might entail picturing the Savior before Pilate, envisioning a crown of thorns placed on his head, or visualizing him on the cross. We might imagine how we would have felt if we were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, or a Roman soldier present that afternoon. If you’re interested in learning more about how Crucifixion images can connect us with Christ, follow @TheLovingChrist on Instagram.
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