Da Vinci’s Models

I recently read about the process Leonardo da Vinci undertook when he was painting The Last Supper. It was a twenty-five year project that involved the artist bringing in models one at a time while they were painted. Da Vinci spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect models to sit for the characters in the painting, but he spent the most time trying to find the ones to portray Jesus and Judas Iscariot. He began with Jesus, and a quarter century later, he found the man to sit for the betrayer. 

The man da Vinci found captured what he imagined in his mind’s eye. His shoulders were slumped, he looked like he had a cold heart, and he had evil in his face. He agreed to sit while he was painted, and upon entering the room he remarked to da Vinci, “I was here twenty-five years ago. I sat for Jesus.” 

How had this same man once had the look of Jesus? What happened to him over those years to change him into the villain? How did he go from protagonist to antagonist? We do not know, and if da Vinci asked, it isn’t recorded. That sad transformation reminds me of the one Israel undertook over a longer period of time. At Sinai they willingly entered into a covenant with God, stating, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do (Exodus 19:8).” By the time of the prophetic letters, Israel was a million miles from that promise. 

They agreed to have no other gods besides Yahweh, and yet they were worshipping the Baals and Asherah, and engaged in all the fornication that went with it. They agreed to observe sabbatical years and years of Jubilee, but they were oppressing the poor so that the rich could richer. They were supposed to look like Jesus, but instead they looked like Judas. They looked like Judas because they lived like Judas. 

The way we live has a similar impact on us. When we live the way we are supposed to —in accordance with God’s Word—we have joy in our face that the world sees. If da Vinci saw us, he might ask us to sit for Jesus. When we choose to live opposed to God’s Word, we forfeit our our joy and end up looking like Judas. When we live God’s way we have an extra bounce in our step, but when we live like the world we find ourselves with slumped shoulders, a cold heart, and evil on our face. 

Do you look more like Jesus, or more like Judas?