What do you think the artist was trying to show his audience in each person’s direction of attention?
This painting, Gentile Da Fabriano’s Nativity from 1423, and the art study question are included in my updated and expanded Advent devotional, Beyond the Nativity. In it, each of the four weeks leading up to Christmas has five devotionals with corresponding scripture, master artist paintings, art study questions, journal prompts, and song suggestions.
Would you like to know my answer to the above question?
I believe each person’s attention toward the Christ child in this painting is representative of the various ways all respond to Him. What do you think? Do we all respond to Jesus in one of these ways? Which person do you identify with?
How are you currently responding to Jesus, the One who came, died, rose, and now reigns? He reigns whether we embrace or reject His rule.
Are you slightly interested but haven’t drawn near, or have you turned completely away and rejected Him? Perhaps you have drawn near, but have fallen asleep and forgotten His beauty. Or are you fixing your eyes on Him, entrusting yourself to Him even in the confusion and darkness of life?
Wherever you are with Him, I don’t believe it’s possible to study the incarnation, Jesus coming in the flesh, without having a change in one’s attention toward or understanding of Him. Would you join me as I seek to fix my eyes on Him by deeply studying the reasons and benefits for Him coming to us in the flesh? You can get this devotional free right now by signing up for my monthly newsletter here:
The fact that Jesus came in the flesh to live among us and rescue us enables us to see clearly who He is, His purposes fulfilled, His character, and the importance and rewards for His people. Would you join me as I guide us through a viewing of this beautiful and eternal gift of the incarnation each week of Advent? Each week, in addition to the nativity art, art study questions, song suggestions, and journal prompts, I’ll also provide scripture and devotion on a different aspect of the incarnation:
Week 1: The Description – How does God’s Word describe and show Jesus in the flesh to us? What do these descriptions tell us about who He was?
Week 2: The Purpose – His coming in the flesh enables us to see His purpose fulfilled.
Week 3: The Manifestation – How he appears to us tells us about Him.
Week 4: The Importance and Rewards – It was important for Christ to come to us in the flesh, it brought great reward to His people.
Below is a devotion from the second week that I’d like to share with you. I pray you are blessed as you deeply study Jesus’s coming in the flesh this Advent season.
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:17-21
Can you imagine being there when the long-awaited Messiah came and announced this scripture fulfilled as He read it from the scroll? This scripture is one I find to be both exciting and comforting. I wish I could have been there when He said it with His own lips! But if we read further here, we find that right after this announcement, Jesus reminded the people that when people reject God’s prophets, God sends them elsewhere. Surprisingly, the people actually became angry and desired to throw Jesus down a cliff. This is not the way I would like to imagine the beginning of ministry to play out for Jesus!
I’m so thankful that we are blessed to be at the point in history where we can see clearly what God has done. We have more scripture and we know more fully what Jesus was announcing here. Not only that but, if we are in Christ, we’ve experienced what He was announcing!
We’ve heard the good news and believe it.
We were once held captive to our sins but now we have been forgiven of all of them.
We were once spiritually blind but He has given us eyes to see spiritually.
We have been freed from the oppression of sin and Satan and are now free to live for Christ.
We have been blessed with the merits of Christ making us fully accepted and loved.
These gifts will never fade or be taken away. They are never disappointing and are always useful. These are the gifts we receive from Christ, the gift of Christmas!
Do the gifts of Jesus move your heart to respond to Him in new ways today?
To do right now: Meditate on the above verse. Thank Him for fulfilling scripture and for the gifts of Christmas mentioned above. Write a prayer or journal your thoughts. Listen to or read the lyrics to the song Sing We the Song of Emmanuel by Matt Papa, Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, and Stuart Townend.
Again, you can get this devotional plus extra freebies free right now by signing up for my monthly newsletter here:
Fascinating painting. What a powerful way to challenge us.
This has been a most meaningful Advent as the wonder and amazement of Christ’s birth grows more precious to me each year. May our souls be awakened anew to the gift we have been given through Christ. Amy, may you and yours have a blessed Christmas!