The Design of a Diptych

Paradise and Hell, Hieronymus Bosch

Matthew 15:21-28

They say that there are always two sides to every story. I guess that is why they (whoever "they" are) invented the diptych. What is a diptych? I'm glad that you asked theoretical blog reader! Too put it simply a Diptych as a narrative tool used to show two parts. Mostly diptychs are used as an artistic narrative tool. In the above posted panel painting, Paradise and Hell by the Dutch oddball Hieronymus Bosch, the diptych is used to show the polar difference of the paradise of the Garden of Eden and torment of Hell: an illustration of communion with God and eternal separation from Him. This image is drastic yet effective. It is also part of a historically evolving tradition in presenting images and ideas through the structure of the diptych. Like Bosch's panels the Diptych has also been used as a theological narrative tool. Most times this has been done without the aid of painted illustration. Scripture is full of diptych ideas where reality is depicted as two options: sheep and goats, wide and narrow roads, elect and heathen, Heaven and Hell and Jews and Gentiles. Matthew 15:21-28 is the narrative of one such diptych. One that starts off as odd as Hieronymus Bosch's name or one of his paintings. The diptych in this story is not just to be appreciated at cursory glance, for it is in analyzing the two that one finds the full truth and beauty of the Creator's masterpiece. Just like Bosch's painting it discusses those who share community with God and those who suffer separation from Him.


One of the consular diptychs of Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”But He answered her not a word.

As creative as Hieronymus Bosch may have been he was still not responsible for the creation of the diptych. It's history predates him by at least a thousand year, although in another form. The diptych started off as a rather ornate carrying case for government documents... a book cover of sorts, or if you rather an elaborate Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. The two sides of the diptych were a front and back cover in which the official seal of the Roman consul would be enclosed. The ornamentation of the ivory case was to mirror the importance of the consul's authority. Even though the Canaanite woman in today's verse lived in an earlier period of the Roman Empire than this particular use of diptychs, she still lived in a time under the same power of the Roman Consul. In this she understood authority. She even understood where true authority lay in the Roman province if Judea, the land of the Jews. Even as a Gentile, she recognized Jesus' authority over her life and all of life. She may not have been a Jew but she still understood the concept of authority in its larger context. A consul was the highest elected office that one could hold in the Roman empire, second only to the emperor, all that lived under his jurisdiction would bow to his power. Likewise, the Emperor of the Universe (God) had given Jesus power over all things in His rule. Scripture tells us "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth."
If this was the case then sure demons would submit to his authority, as they had done so many times before. That is exactly what she needed at that moment as a mother. She needed someone that could free her precious daughter from spiritual torment. It is with that need that she called out to Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David. And Jesus was silent. Jesus didn't move his lips to speak nor his will to act. If you are like me then your soul just exclaimed "He did what? Not my Jesus!" Because this depiction seems far from other depictions of the caring Savior that we have entrusted our life to. So either we can doubt the authenticity of the text or read on and entrusting that it will reveal something deeper about God. Maybe it will answer why God sometimes been silent to some.


Milan Diptych

And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The earlier Christian (and contemporary Eastern Orthodox) uses of the diptych were similar to the Roman consular use. They were the outer casing, like the Milan Diptych above, that were decorated with painted icons or ivory reliefs of the scenes from biblical narratives or the lives of the saints. Within the over was housed a document. It was not the regular paper or cloth scroll document that we are familiar with being housed in a codex. No this document was written in wax, so that it could be constantly revised. The document was a two sided list used for the preparation of the Eucharist (communion). Why would Communion need a list (besides a grocery list as a reminder to buy bread and wine)? Well because these particular Christians celebrated what we call a "closed communion." This means that access to partaking in the wine and the bread is not universal but rather restricted to those of the same belief and in good standing (this is where the idea of churches "being in communion" with each other comes from). So on one side of the document were those who were acceptable to receive the bread and wine and on the other side were the names of those who were forbidden from receiving communion. This is a very serious matter if you are of the thinking that the sacraments are "signs of grace, instituted by Christ...by which divine life is dispensed to us." If you are of that theological persuasion (as these believers were) then to be refused communion is tantamount to being outside of the community of God. The same place that the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 found herself. Jesus explained his silence (and his disciples' aversion) to the woman by sharing that he came to save and shepherd the House of Israel. In other words his ministry was a Jewish thing. Oftentimes theologically traditional Christians are criticized for being exclusive in their theological perception of the identity if God's people. Or to put it in a shorter way, "Who is saved." Well the notion the spiritual elect wasn't recently invented by a band of close minded Texas fundamentalist. Christians inherited it from our Jewish forefathers. The Old Testament concept carries over to the New Testament. So you may know that to be Gentile means to be "non-Jewish." But what does it mean to be Jewish? Jews are a multicultural, multinational group with a myriad of different theological conclusions. Since Jewishness is also an ethnicity their are also people who are fully Jewish and non-religious. As a fellow minority I would never disrespect the worldwide Jewish community by acting as if I, as an outsider, have the knowledge or expertise to define them in totality. Every people have the right to self definition. However like the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 I do know some things about the history of the Jewish people. The one thing that this diverse group shares universally amongst all if it's members is a connection to Abraham. Abraham was the Old Testament character who is called by God into friendship. Genesis records how he follows God's guidance and God promises His fidelity and blessing to Abraham's offspring. As Scripture goes on over several books we come to realize that Abraham's family are the Jewish people, the House of Israel. So over the Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures) God continues his friendship to Abraham through his children, grandchildren and so on until they are a nation. Throughout Scripture God's struggle with Israel and His call for them to live in holiness must be understood as one friend reminding the other to act in a way that testifies to their friendship: love. Yet in this epic depiction of the tumultuous yet passionate love between God and Israel, one can get the false impression that God isn't interested in befriending the whole world. But the Hebrew Scriptures themselves tell us that before Abraham was God's friend, Adam was God's sin... and Eve was God's daughter... and the People of the World are the Children of God that He longs to have custody of again. Communion with God is not closed for He longs to share His love with everyone


Jan van Eyck, Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych

Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Hieronymus Bosch was not the only, nor the most famous, Dutch painter to approach the use of the diptych. By the time Jan van Eyck painted his famous Crucifixion and Last Judgement the structure of the diptych had both been fully adopted for religious imagery and fully divorced from its book binding function. The narrative purpose of the diptych was now completely operating on the exterior of the panels. Yet the two panels were still connected by a central hinge (which you can see between the two frames on the above posted Jan Van Eyck image). The artist not only shows a connection between Christ's sacrificial death and impending role as universal judge by placing the images near each other, rather he has bound them together with a clasp to show that they are theologically inseparable. The retort of the Canaanite woman highlights that their may just be a hinge between both Jews and Gentiles: a devise that attaches both people to God. When Jesus shares a metaphor with her explaining that He (the Bread of Life) had come to be given to the Children of Israel, she fires back her own metaphor. The Canaanite woman says that even dogs eat the scraps that fall from their Master's table. She declares that even though she is a Gentile she recognizes the God of Israel as her Master. You see the hinge that Jews and Gentiles share is the same thing that children and dogs share: they both rely on the mercy and provision of the One whose house the abide in. This acknowledgement of her reliance on God's mercy and willingness to be His servant is what Jesus admonishes as great faith! It is the same faith that the Gentile, Roman Centurion exhibited earlier in the gospel of Matthew. It is the persistent faith of another Gentile in the book of Genesis named Abram. Abram was a fellow from the modern day country of Iraq, that showed fidelity in his submission to God's will. The book of James says that he "'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' And he was called the friend of God." Just like Canaanite woman, the Roman Centurion and other Gentiles, his faith is why God communed with him in friendship. If Abram the Gentile sounds a lot like Abraham the Jew it is because they are the same person. St. Paul argues that it was not Abraham's Jewishness that justified him before God (because "Jewishness" didn't exist yet), nor his family lineage (because he started the family that God would love) but it was his faith that made God accept Him...befriend him...love him. Faith is the hinge that connects either side of the diptych to God. Faith is what makes a Jew or a Gentile the spiritual offspring of Abraham. Faith is also what attaches us all to each other as the offspring of God. Though we are different, we are brothers and sisters.      

And then, and then and then and then and then, Takashi Murakami

The contemporary manifestation of the diptych is very different. But that's the beauty of an artistic idea isn't it? The thing that essentially started off as a book cover became a way to address two separate ideas in one image and then someone brought it back to its roots in expressing one idea. That is where the contemporary Japanese Pop Artist Takashi Murakami comes into play. His painting isn't one image repeated on two panels but rather one image that takes two panels to express itself one time. He takes his trademark anime spin on a Mickey Mouse-type character and reinterprets an American import as a Japanese export. Pop culture is an amazing exchange of ideas exported universally that return to us with each quadrant of the universe's reshaping of pop culture: America and British Pop lead to J-Pop, K-Pop, Bollywood and Nollywood. That's also what God's grace does. It is a beautiful and expansive thing that takes two peoples and covers them with the image of God to make them one expression of God's love. All throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God called out for Gentile believers. This week I did not post images for the Old Testament reading of Isaiah 56:1-7, the Psalms reading of Psalm 67 and the New Testament (Epistle) reading of Romans 11:13-32 because I wanted to share them all here. I place them here because they all share one common theme: God's persistent love for all people (Jews and Gentiles) throughout history. Sometimes we fail to see the whole picture in the old testament. God may have recognized a diptych in the Old Testament but that was more operational than theological. The showing of His might with Israel was always intended to be seen by the nations around them. God's calling of Israel to holiness was always a work of mission to make visible His grace to the nations. When Jesus commissioned disciples after his resurrection, he commanded the Apostles to make disciples of ALL nations. If we only see God's love in a diptych then we are missing the whole picture. In actuality Hieronymus Bosch's Paradise and Hell is not properly a diptych. The two sides are just the wings to a triptych entitled "The Haywain Triptych." He and Jan van Eyck and all the great Dutch painters probably made mare biblical narrative paintings on triptychs and five and six panel altarpieces than they did diptychs... because God's story of love cannot be contained to just one or two groups. In the blood of Christ God has painted every nation, tribe, people group and any other segment of humanity that you can account for with the beauty of His Grace. Jesus saw the whole picture. 

The Haywain Triptych, Hieronymus Bosch,