The Left and the Right of Jesus
In the famous Pantokrator Icon of Christ we see an image which troubles our senses. His face is not symmetrical. Not that all faces are supposed to be. But the particular differences in his signify something about the Popular and Unpopular attributes of the would-be Messiah. I am going to refer to the left and the right view of his face from our perspective, not His as He would touch that part of His body.
On the left side of Jesus’s face we see the following: Open-ness, Tenderness, Sorrow, Compassion, Readiness to look upon us. For a lot of us, those are the attributes of His which make us feel safe, feel drawn to Him. These are His most Popular characteristics.
On the right side of his face we behold other things: A Father’s stern-ness, A Judge’s Command, A Person to not be trifled with, the Watchful Gaze of a Precise Avenger, the Unflinching poise of a Leader of Armies. For many of us these are the attributes we’d rather look away from; these are the traits we would wish or pretend out of existence.
There are outliers in terms of the way people value or remember or serve Him today. Some actually find the left half of his face overly kind and overly patient with just the sort of “waif” and “vermin” who chaff and offend their own sensibilities. And similarly there are considerers of the would-be Savior of the World who like that He will come and put to painful and final rest all those “zombies” and “hypocrites” who rebel and live in neglect of Righteousness. But for the most part, we all favor the left of His unforgettable face.
With the Left of His Persona, Christ stooped down to the adulteress to say that He did not condemn her. With the Left of His Anima he allowed the Disciples to lean on His breast, to hear His own heart beating while He ate with them and spoke of the Future fixings to Earth. With His left He stopped to heal the blind man who hollered and hollered for his illness to be dismissed. With His left He visited a tax thief for supper. With His left He replaced severed ears, purified rotting skin, made lame people walk and leap and jump. We absolutely love the left side of the Nazarene’s bearded face.
But like Solomon’s Babe whom you lose if you cut it apart, we must deal with the Right side of Jesus’s countenance also. With His right face we know he created a cord of ropes to beat those who did cheap and cheating business in the House which was meant to honor His Father. He hit them with rope and spilt their counted coins until they would leave and never come back in that manner again. With the Right side of His mouth The Galilean lit into the religious leaders of that time, calling them Venomous Snakes, Rotting Bones and Children of Satan. With His right Jesus told the wealthy to dispense of their prized savings. With His right He chastised even His closest friends for inadvertently listening to and disseminating the thoughts of Beelzebub. With His right face He disapproved of men’s fears, their strongest longings, their loyalties to even family above God in Heaven. But most of what we know of Christ’s Right-sided face is how He is shown conducting Himself, conducting affairs, in the future. The future and coming Christ, the one often referred to as “Judge” is one most symbolized by “Captain of War” and “Lion”. With His Right face He returns to Earth once more with White Hot words swording forth from His mouth, leading an army to final vanquish of the Serpent of Old, along with all who refuse to be disenchanted of Satan’s lures.
But even the future does not keep us from the Left side of Jesus’s face. He is yet shown to have a throne which bleeds the most beautiful and healing water ever, refreshing and re-mending the divisions and pains of Terra. Even in the future, the gentle Shepherd He is known to be continues. The image of the Lamb who allowed Himself slain flashes simultaneously with the mane of an Unshakable Lion. Note that world, “simultaneous”, for I believe it is very important.
The reason I so like the Pantokrator is it speaks to the truth in me. The world is not merely gentle and safe, playful and loving. Neither is it only harsh and tragically unpredictable. Life has shown us all it’s remedial Angels and its hot-hearted Demons. Our souls have spoken to us each, I think, about something inside so greatly matched for Saving, that beauty in us which kind of deserves to be preserved. And our spirits have testified as well that there are great and frightening monsters within. Christ’s two-sided face addresses both. It says “Rebel Spirit, be vanquished.” And it says “Broken-Legged lamb come here to be suckled and re-set.”
Now just because there is that Right side to Messiah’s face which terrifies us, we should not confuse that with the Demonic Horror of the age which frightens us. One of the things the Nazarene said, before laying down His body to be lifted up on a horrible cross, was “Now comes the dark ruler of this age {Satan}, and he has nothing in Me.” It was a distinction of great importance Jesus was making, to separate Himself from all the other people and things the humans listening had ever known. Jesus implied that “Everyone else you’ve ever met was tainted, lassoed and steered by the darkest, demented Cowboy this world has ever known.” Jesus was saying, “I am the one who has neither given or lost a speck of his soul to that one.” It was one of His pleas for those He cared for to trust Him completely.
Why I highlighted the word “simultaneous” earlier, is that we don’t really have to, or get to, choose between the Left and Right of Jesus’s ways of being. For He inhabits both of those vectors at the same time. He is the Just and the Justifier. He is the Redeemer and the Punishing Judge. He wears title to both “Rescuer” and “Consumer of Nations”. The Pantokrator puts both right in front of us, visually. And like great icons it does so, without biasing, flavoring or favoring either side. The Right side of the Lord’s countenance is Rugged, Handsome, Strong and Deadly. We need that in a warrior and faithful judge. His left side is Considerate, Longing, Inviting, Hopeful, Wooing. We need that in a lover and friend.
And that I think is the point of the Pantakrator. Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, Son of God, Son of Man, He is both Friend of Sinner and Destroyer of Sin. He is both Lifter of Head and Crusher of the Proud. He stands to keep lit a barely smoldering flame, and He floods the earth with Holy water when men raise strange fire against Him.
