♪ (ethereal music) (sirens faintly wailing) ♪ (church bells tolling) ♪ (church bells tolling) ♪ (church bells tolling) ♪ (church bells tolling) ♪ (church bells tolling) (congregation sings in foreign language) ♪ (priest intones in foreign language) (priest and co-celebrant speak) (congregation responds) (call-and-response prayer pattern continues) (singing in foreign language) ♪ (church bell tolls once) (ethereal ambient music) ♪ (Rachel) At the core of the Crucifixion is Christ's body, naked, i.e., the human body.

There is no painter who aspired to paint the body, which was the benchmark of all talent, who would not have been tempted to take on the Crucifixion.

♪ You see this amazingly in someone like Rubens, that great painter of flesh.

He brings all his ebullient talent to his scenes from the Passion.

Christ is not a broken figure.

This is human anatomy raised to a completely celestial level.

It is the corporal made divine.

♪ That goes back to our deep idea that we are made in the image of Christ.

♪ Matthias Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece is one of the most extraordinary paintings in the whole of art history.

It was painted for a plague hospital, and Grünewald paints the goriest, most horrible, most contorted Christ that there can possibly be.

This is a painter asking people to look to the Christian story, to take consolation from the suffering that Christ undertook on their behalf.

(somber music) ♪ (David) The Small Crucifixion by Matthias Grünewald is in fact a painting that relates to the much larger and perhaps more famous Isenheim Altarpiece in that it shows us a very different interpretation of the Crucifixion that is distinctly Northern European, and, I might even say, distinctly German.

♪ When one compares Grünewald's interpretation of the Crucifixion, say, to Pietro Perugino, or to a 15th- or 16th-century Italian painter, you notice that in the Grünewald, it is the horror, the anguish, the pain, the suffering of Jesus that is most on display, and that pain and suffering is then replicated in the figures of John and Mary, his mother, and Mary Magdalene.

Their own poses are contorted.

Their hands are in these expressive gestures.

♪ When the German Expressionist painter Emil Nolde came to interpret his Crucifixion for the great polyptych on the life of Christ from 1912, clearly, the painting that was first and foremost in his mind was the Isenheim Altarpiece, and, by extension, The Small Crucifixion by Grünewald as well.

In fact, every young German Expressionist artist in the early 20th century made a pilgrimage to see the Isenheim Altarpiece.

♪ (male narrator) "And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments among them by casting lots.

Then they sat down and kept watch over Him there.

And over His head, they put the charge against Him, which read, 'This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.'"

(mournful music) ♪ "And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, 'He saved others.

Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, His chosen One.'"

♪ "Those who passed by derided Him, wagging their heads and saying, 'If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.'

So, also, the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked Him, saying, 'He saved others.

He cannot save Himself.

Here's the King of Israel.

Let Him come down from the cross and we will believe in Him.'"

♪ "One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, 'Are You not the Christ?

Save Yourself and us!'

But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.

But this man has done nothing wrong.'

And he said, 'Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.'

And He said to him, 'Truly, I say to you, today, you will be with Me in Paradise.'"

♪ "Now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land, until the ninth hour.

At about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?'

That is, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?'"

(pensive music) ♪ "And some of the bystanders hearing it said, 'This man is calling Elijah.'

And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to Him to drink.

But the others said, 'Wait.

Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.'"

♪ "And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit."

♪ "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised."

♪ (Rachel) Artists are always responding to their times as much as they're responding to the story that they tell.

There was a huge movement by the Church in the Baroque era to bring yourself into an imaginative entunement with the narrative that you're looking at.

Not to look at it as a distant, didactic thing, but to place yourself as part of the scene.

♪ This participatory process reaches an apogee in a way with Rembrandt, for example, in his Descent from the Cross, a truly astonishing painting, wonderfully three-dimensional with a huge, swooping movement of this body falling from the cross.

If you look at this picture, it is as if you are standing before it.

You are next in line to pick up and bear the weight of that dead body.

And I can't help feeling also that Rembrandt himself must have taken part profoundly in that story, because his life story also reflects it.

He must have understood it as a Christian man, because in later life, he went through a passion of his own.

This great artist who had run one of the great studios and had commanded worldwide patronage and fame ended up a broken old bankrupt, an outcast.

So he too must have associated with the Christ story in a profound way, which may be part of the reason he painted it in such a profoundly human way.

♪ (male narrator) "When the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, 'Truly, this was the Son of God.'"

♪ "There were also many women there looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him."

♪ "And when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation-- that is, the day before the Sabbath-- Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

And Pilate wondered if He were already dead, and, summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He was already dead."

♪ "And when he learned from the centurion that He was dead, he granted the body to Joseph."

♪ (Jennifer) It's perhaps surprising that some of the most represented subjects in the history of Christian art are actually episodes or moments that are not explicitly narrated in any of the Gospels.

♪ The subject of the dead body of Christ was a subject that Michelangelo revisited throughout his career, something he's very famous for in his series of Pietá, or "Lamentation."

It's a subject that he felt particularly associated with, one of his earliest, most famous commissions being the Vatican Pietá.

But I'm thinking also of the final Pietá he'd made, now known as the Rondanini Pietá, that he intended for his own funerary monument, and that in carving your own tomb monument must be a very personal and emotional experience, and the idea that he wanted to be remembered and most closely associated with that particular iconography I think is a very powerful one.

♪ The Germans have a wonderful word for the Pietá.

It's called an Andachtsbild, which means it is a scene that occurs out of time.

So it's not a particular narrative moment.

It occurs out of time and for all time.

♪ Surprisingly, we have less images of the resurrection of Jesus than so many other images-- for example, the Crucifixion or the Last Supper.

But I see in many of those images some suggestions or associations with the resurrection of Christ.

So even if it's not being represented, it seems to be alluded to.

One work where I see that operating rather wonderfully is in Michelangelo's unfinished altarpiece, a work he began when he was quite young, in about 1500, and it represents the entombment of Christ, or perhaps more accurately, the carrying of his body to the tomb.

And so, it represents the dead body of Christ, but it does so in a particularly innovative and striking way.

Historically, the carrying of the body for the burial of the body was represented with the body of Christ represented horizontally to the picture plane.

And what Michelangelo does is he has the sacred figures holding the body upright for the viewer, presenting the dead body to the viewer.

They don't really seem to strain under his weight, and in fact, even though they're supporting him, he seems to kind of float, kind of flamelike, in the foreground.

And the way I see that particularly convincingly is when you look very closely at his feet, which are portrayed side to side, and the little baby toe of one of them is just touching the ground, so he almost seems to be floating up.

And there's something about that that implies that it's a dead body, but it's a body that is about to be resurrected.

It's difficult to tell whether Michelangelo intended to paint the wounds of Christ.

The way it was left unfinished, there are no wounds, and this is a perfected, immaculate body in the very Michelangelo sense, this very muscular, perfect body.

And there's something about that perfection that implies a resurrected, fully intact body.

(passionate music) ♪ (male narrator) "Joseph bought a linen shroud, and, taking Him down, wrapped Him in the linen shroud and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb."

♪ "The women who had come with Him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how His body was laid.

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.

On the Sabbath, they rested, according to the commandment."

♪ "Next day, that is, after the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, 'Sir, we remember how that impostor said while He was still alive, "After three days, I will rise again."

Therefore, order the sepulcher to be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples go and steal Him away and tell the people, "He has risen from the dead," and the last fraud will be worst than the first.'

Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard of soldiers.

Go make it as secure as you can.'

So they went and made the sepulcher secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard."

♪ "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they might go and anoint Him.

And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb when the sun was risen.

They saw the stone was rolled back."

♪ (ethereal music) ♪ "An angel of the Lord had descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat upon it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment, white as snow.

And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men."

♪ "But the angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who was crucified.

He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.

Come.

See the place where He lay.

Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee.

There you will see Him; lo, I have told you.'"

♪ (Rachel) The Christian religion undoubtedly offered many generations of people a great amount of consolation and hope.

But there's without a doubt a sense in which the Christian story was told, as all religion is, to keep people in control in some way.

It was a very safe way to keep people happy.

You know, "Your reward will be in heaven."

But the Roman Catholic Church had an awful lot of work to do to keep its domination of Western Christendom, and the more it could propagate its message through the greatest artists, the more powerful its message would be.

The other thing to remember about these works is, the Christian story is told by people who yearned to glorify God.

It is often told by an artist who wants to offer their greatest talent to the greatest glorification of the greatest power they knew.

♪ (male narrator) "Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.

And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?'

She said to them, 'Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.'

Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing.

But she did not know that it was Jesus."

♪ "Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, 'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away.'

Jesus said to her, 'Mary.'

She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, 'Rabboni,' which means 'teacher.'"

♪ "Jesus said to her, 'Do not hold Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

But go to My brethren and say to them I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.'"

♪ "Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord,' and she told them that He had said these things to her."

♪ "Now, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him.

But some doubted, and Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.'"

♪ "That very day, two followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him, and He said to them, 'What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?'

And they stood still, looking sad.

'Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?'

And He said to them, 'What things?'

And they said to Him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people."

♪ "So they drew near to the village to which they were going.

He appeared to be going further, but they constrained Him, saying, 'Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.'"

♪ "So, He went in to stay with them.

When He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He vanished out of their sight.

They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?'"

♪ "And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them.

Then they told what had happened on the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread."

♪ "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.

Then, the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord."

♪ "Now, Thomas, one of the twelve called 'the Twin,' was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.'

But he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.'"

♪ "Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.

The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.'

Then He said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see My hands, and put out your hand and place it in My side.

Do not be faithless but believing.'

Thomas answered Him, 'My Lord and my God.'

Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen Me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.'"

♪ "Then, He said to them, 'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you.

But everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.'"

♪ "Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.'"

♪ (Rachel) What the story of the Passion has, what religious art has, is a fundamental human yearning to find the truth.

And the story of Christ is an embodiment of that search.

You don't need to believe it, but you cannot but see it as a philosophical quest.

Art is there to tell us our human story.

Christianity is at the very core of our Western human story, and therefore, it resonates incredibly deeply.

Believe it or don't believe it, it's still telling a story of what it means to be human, what it means to suffer, what it means to die.

(David) Some people may feel somewhat estranged from this imagery.

Maybe it doesn't represent their faith tradition.

Maybe they have no faith tradition.

And so, from the point of view of even the atheist or the agnostic up to the most fervent believer, these stories have a significance that should not be overlooked.

They should not be simply dismissed.

I think anyone who chooses not to look at religious artworks, whether they feel that it's inappropriate for them because they're not believers or they don't know the stories, are still missing a great deal.

They're missing a huge amount about their own cultural inheritance.

They are missing out on the history of art that helps inform so much of contemporary art, and they're missing out on key historical moments that are reflected even today in every part of society.

I don't see it as distinct from the importance of knowing any other history.

We have so much to learn from it.

We need to understand where we've been in order to understand where we're going.

(ethereal music) ♪ (male narrator) "'And behold.

I send the promise of My Father upon you but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.'

Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He blessed them."

♪ "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved.

But he who does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs will accompany those who believe.

In My name, they will cast out demons.

They will speak in new tongues.

They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them.

They will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.'"

♪ "So, then, the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

And the disciples went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.

Amen."

(rhythmic ethereal music) ♪ (call-and-response prayer of priest and congregation) ♪ (bright music)