Today's Gospel in Art - Jesus had cast out a devil

Untitled, self portrait as the devil (detail), by Jean-Michel Basquiat 1982 © Christie's New York,

Gospel of 11th October 2019 - Luke 11: 15-26

When Jesus had cast out a devil, some of the people said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.' Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? - since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.

'He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.

'When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, "I will go back to the home I came from." But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.'

Reflection on the Painting

In today's reading the words 'devil' and 'Satan' get mentioned nine times. All throughout art history, artists have depicted the devil as horned demon ranging from a monstrous appearance to a red creature with a triangular ending tail, or even as a tailor in Nazi uniform. What is interesting though is that in the earlier depictions of Satan, say in the 15th century, his image is one of a bestial, inhuman demon. But as the centuries go on, artists started rendering the personification of evil as, well, one of us, in human form. How did Satan's image evolve from that of a goat-like demon to one who looks completely human....

To read on see: www.christianart.today/daily-gospel-reading/199