I came across a story on the web about the burial of Jesus and was most struck by one of the images accompanying the article that was new to me. It was of Jesus and His faithful companions from the Cross, who were watching the silent scene of the wrapping of the Body in a shroud.

Mr. Thomas McDonald in his article points to the sadness surrounding the entombment of Jesus. Instead of being entombed with His ancestors, He was in a new tomb provided by Joseph of Arimathea. “He was alone in a strange place disconnected from His people: it’s a very forlorn image of despair even in death.” It makes you want to weep with Mary even today.

But, “the man Joseph laid in that new tomb would be the first born among all the dead. Death itself was, finally, conquered.”

The image on the left I found out is by the Danish artist Carl Bloch, one of my favorite artists. He painted some amazing scenes from the New Testament, my favorite being the Annunciation. His pictures depicting the life of Christ can be seen in the chapel at Frederiksborg Palace in Denmark. This monumental effort took him 14 years. According to his official website, “more than a hundred years after Carl Bloch’s death, young artists from all over the world, attempting to illustrate the life and death of Christ, make pilgrimage to Frederiksborg Castle to study the great Master.”

Mr. Bloch grieved over the death of his wife who left him with eight children. After his own death in 1890, an art critic said, “If there is an Elysium, where the giant, rich, warm and noble artist souls meet, there Carl Bloch will sit among the noblest of them all!”