Homunculus

If you were to paint an infant Jesus, how would you depict him?

What skin and hair color would you choose? Would he be fat or skinny?

Would you portray him as cute, average, or ugly? Which aspect of the design is most important to accurately show reverence?

And what features of his appearance would you focus on to effectively communicate your theology?

These are questions that artists have asked themselves for the last two thousand years. Whatever your answers to these questions are, I am sure none look the way medieval Byzantine artists depicted him.

SLIDE 1 —Ugly Jesus

SLIDE 2—ALien jesus

SLIDE 3—Fully Grown jesus

SLIDE 4 -Monk Jesus

Slide 5- Jan Verheyen Holy Family child christ (Buff jesus)

SLIDE 6—Maerten van Heemskerck, detail of St. Luke Painting the Virgin, 1532 (buff jesus)

SLIDE 6 Zoom in

There are reasons for these depictions, such as perceptions of babies, art styles, and sociological context, but we will not touch upon that today. However, I want to focus on one reason why Jesus was depicted in this way.

And that reason is because it is symbolic. It’s tied to the idea of the homunculus, literally “little man.” Matthew Knox Averett, author of the book The Early Modern Child in Art and History, says

Slide “There’s the idea that Jesus was perfectly formed and unchanged… and if you combine that with Byzantine painting, it became a standard way to depict Jesus.”

In other words, one reason baby Jesus was depicted as a fully grown man was that portraying him as a cute child seemed irreverent and disrespectful. This may seem silly to some of us, yet it is common in modern American Christianity.

The difference is that the Byzantine Christians made these assumptions out of reverence. Americans make these assumptions because they have secularized their faith. Western paganism suggests a man’s manliness lies in his muscles, stoicism, meat consumption, or whether he drives a gasoline car. A few years ago it was if a man smoked cigarettes.

These are merely myths propagated by insecure men in the West, and Christians accept them because… well… American Christians often want a Christianity that is more American than Christian. A faith that looks more like Babylon or Rome than Jesus. A faith that has the appearance of a lamb but speaks and behaves like a dragon. If Americans idolize anything, it is strength and dominance. Therefore, Jesus must be secularized to make him attractive to Americans.

One of the most tremendous casualties of this secularization is the inability to see Jesus for how the Scriptures describe Him: as weak.

This has profound effects on our discipleship. It affects our compassion, empathy, and gentleness towards others. And it significantly impairs our ability to glory in our weakness as the source of our power.

However, the Biblical writers have no shame about the weakness of Jesus; in fact, it is what they find attractive about him. Yes, Jesus reigns in power, but only because he was first weak. And that weakness is not something the Biblical writers lament as a tragedy, but rather what gives him authority and makes his strength possible.

There is an interesting passage in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where, in context, Paul is answering critics and heretics.

SLIDE: 3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

One of the main issues with interpreting 2 Corinthians 13:4a is how to translate and understand “in weakness.” The ESV, NRSV, CSB, and KJV all translate it as “in weakness.” While this may seem insignificant, something that we should know as Adventists is that small things can imply big changes.

Translators translate ἐξ ἀσθενείας as “in weakness” to imply that Jesus voluntarily suffered. That is to say, Jesus was actually strong; he could have made it all stop himself, like Hercules, if he really wanted to. But he chose not too.

But that is not the case; even in Matthew 26:53, Jesus does not say he could fight everyone off himself but that he could call upon his Father to send more than twelve legions of angels. He is weak, but God and his army are strong.

Anyone who has ever taken a month of introduction to Greek class would immediately recognize the preposition and know that this does not say “in weakness.” If Paul wanted to say that Jesus suffered and was crucified in weakness, he would have used the preposition en instead of ex: en astheneia.

The primary meaning of the preposition ek means “from, by, by means of, or by reason of.” In fact, almost all Spanish translations translate it correctly because this weakness point tends not be a problem in Latin American liberation theologies.

It is better translated “from weakness” (weakness being the source of his crucifixion) or as “by weakness” (weakness being the cause of his crucifixion). That is to say, Jesus was utterly powerless. Though Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, he is still a human being who is vulnerable to violence.

Slide In his book Messiah in Weakness, Yung Suk Kim asserts:

“Paul seems to recognize the fact that Jesus could not prevent his crucifixion by strength. Roman power was too strong to be defeated by Jesus’ teaching or deeds. He could not defeat violent authorities because he was weak.

Actually, Jesus’ plan is not to topple the regime by military might or violence. His teaching and deeds about God could not win over the people and powers because they did not like them. The fact that he could not defeat the evil powers and he was crucified is because he was weak.

Apparently, he failed in his mission…But on the other hand, Paul says that it is God who makes the crucified Jesus alive. This means that God acknowledges Jesus’ work and vindicates him. Even though Jesus was defeated by weakness and evil powers and people, God says that Jesus did not fail because his legacy of faithful obedience to God could continue with generations to come.”

An essential part of reading this passage is seeing Christ not just willingly becoming weak but utterly weak. In facing the Romans, choice was taken away. That is the sacrifice.

Slide 4 For he was crucified [out of] weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him [out of] the power of God.

Slide Because Christ died as a weak man.

In our weakness, we live in the power of God.

This is why Paul says in the previous chapter in 2 Corinthians 12:9- 10 that his glory is his weakness.

Christ died in weakness that by our weakness we might live by the power of God.

This bread and wine do not symbolize Christ’s power but rather his weakness: a broken body and spilled blood. It serves as a reminder of the Christians’ call to love ruthlessly and indiscriminately. It reminds us that love is not strong enough to topple Rome. It highlights that those who choose to love are often killed. Yet, those who live and die for the love of God also live and are resurrected by the power of God.

What is your weakness that you must glory in? What weakness do you have in which the power of God is revealed gloriously? Maybe it is a disability, a limp, a disease, a wheelchair, a walker, or a physical pain. American Christianity would tell you that this is your weakness. The Gospel says this is your power. This pain point is where God can use you if you don’t lament it.

Hebrews 4:15 says,

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus knows what it feels like to be absolutely powerless before death and sin. Therefore, he sympathizes deeply with us as our high priest.

This table is where our weakness meets his, and he gives us the power of God to live a life of peace in our weakness and confidence in our love.