A relief print following the narrative of Matthew 26:6-16, and the personal value placed on Jesus.
This relief print is a visual contrast of the story that happens in Matthew 26:6-16. These two stories show the value that two very different people placed on Jesus. Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, places so much value on Jesus that she is willing to pour her most valuable possession, a flask of perfume, on Jesus to honor and anoint him. Following this narrative, one corner of this composition displays the hand of Mary emptying her alabaster jar. Immediately following, in verses 14-16, is the description of Judas’ decision to betray Jesus for a small portion of thirty silver pieces, displayed visually in this composition by Judas’ hand in the midst of reaching for the money. These two stories written back to back in the gospel of Matthew display the full scale of the value people place on the presence of Christ and pose an excellent question to the reader that I intend to echo with this print: What is Jesus worth to you?
Matthew 26:6-13 “Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Matthew 26:14-16 “Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
