Rejected by Men

Copyright © Edward Riojas

Sometimes the story behind a piece of art is more significant than the piece itself. Sometimes.

As an artist, it’s hard to be objective about my own work. I tend to be quite hard on the pieces I create, even if it means the criticism stays in my head. I still debate, for example, whether I should have followed more closely the original drawing I did for “Resurrection.” The finished painting omits one major ingredient that exists in the preparatory drawing — Satan under Christ’s foot. I do remember, however, that I was so angry at Satan so as to eliminate any hint of his presence in the glory of the resurrected Christ. So Satan got nixed.

“Resurrection” by Edward Riojas.
1999. (Our Savior Lutheran Church,
Grand Rapids, Mich.)
© Edward Riojas. Use of this image
is strictly forbidden without
consent of the artist.

The painting was not commissioned. As such, it was a bit of an oddity, even for an artist’s residence. It’s not really the type of thing one hangs above a living room sofa, and it was too large for most any other place in the house. So I entered it in a “Spiritual Art Show” at a local church. My entry was rejected. While I understand the fickle nature of the fine arts, I was not a little dumbfounded at having the piece rejected by a church-sponsored art show. I tried to console myself that it was a church and not The Church, and that it was a spirit and not The Spirit.

I later entered the same piece in another church-sponsored art show. It was accepted. It didn’t take any honors, but I was happy as a clam that it was being given exposure. I was happy, that is, until an administrator of the event explained to me that I would have taken top honors if my selling price had been lower. It seems the top honor had always been tied to a purchase award, and they simply could not afford the piece. I don’t know which was more strange — the convoluted prize, or the fact that they actually explained it all to the artist who lost the top prize.

The painting then languished for a while in my home before I donated it to my church, in whose narthex it now hangs.

The story behind this painting of the Resurrection is indeed, odd, but let’s not forget the image itself. Even in the middle of Lent, Christ IS risen. The strange days and decades and centuries that led up to His Resurrection point to the profound sickness of our race and the effects of the fall on all of creation. The God of creation was rejected by men and was hung on a cursed tree to die. It really should be no surprise that a simple image of the Creator be rejected, too. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that folks still have trouble calculating the cost of Salvation.

But, thanks be to God, Christ did rise and IS risen. Satan, the old confounder, was confounded. Death was dealt the death blow. Sin was swallowed up by the Righteous One. When it comes to the stupidity of this world, its imperfections this side of heaven and the mounds of filth we add to it, the Risen Christ always trumps. Always.