This is a wonderful painting (which Polenov seems to have painted twice in as many years). There is no gospel page that tells us the young Jesus went to school with the Jewish elders, but maybe Polenov is imagining the verses which end the account of the twelve year old Jesus being found in the temple: "And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them...and Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man." Luke 2:51,52.
Notice way over on the left we see just the edge of an archway where one might enter this little courtyard. That space is dark and filled with clay jars. The corner looks stained and lifeless. But then, just right of the center of the scene there is a staircase. As the steps ascend, the light increases, until it is a kind of dazzling, white light. There is the play of colored light on the stone wall and in the air, and the sky is cloud-filled and lovely.
Perhaps this is what wisdom does — it takes us up into light. Wisdom is one of those religious words that can leave us feeling empty — "What does this have to do with me and the practical things of my life?"
Wisdom is not being able to give sage advice. May I suggest wisdom is plainly, God's thoughts. A Christian gets insight into those thoughts by listening to Jesus Christ. And Jesus said,
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." John 13:34,35
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you...This I command you, to love one another." John 15:12,17
The Russian painter, Ivan Kramskoi, a contemporary of Vasily Polenov, and whose portrait of Vasily's grandmother we saw here on February 23, said, "Christianity has never been organically assimilated into humanity, nor has it ever been properly understood."
Perhaps that is so because we tend to complicate things. One priest wrote "You cannot understand Christianity unless you understand metaphysics." What a bizarre statement. Maybe we are tempted to complicate the wisdom of Jesus, because to live it may horrify us. We may very well have to change our minds. And if we really explored this (the changing of our minds) on Sunday morning, honestly and deeply, some people would walk out. Some clergy worry too much about that.
A professor of American history said in a recent interview, "When the Civil War ended, it was the military part that ended, but minds didn't change. There are some Americans who think only they are the real Americans — white and Christian. They see that America is becoming less white and less Christian, and they are angry about that. Those others are not real Americans — and they are afraid of losing power to them."
Well, there it is — what's being called our "original sin." I remember (for real) the 6th grade boy asking the nun, "Sister, what would happen if a black woman wanted to join your order?" Sister answered, "We'd send her to the Sisters of Providence — they wear almost the same habit and do the same work. She'd be more comfortable there." YIKES! The Oblate Sisters of Providence are a religious order of black women founded in the 19th century by Mary Lange, essentially because it was a widely held belief that black women were incapable of leading virtuous lives.
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Prayer Before Polenov's Painting "Was Filled With Wisdom"
Young Jesus, your white-capped mind, filled with divine thoughts — the nation of e pluribus unum needs forgiveness for our lineal sin — the sin of our founding, of our expansion, our enslavements, our theft, our before and after civil war sin, our 1950's and 60's sin, our supremacist-ego-nationalist-twisted-patriot sin, our January 6, 2021 sin. Shine the revealing light we need to understand well your wisdom-call of love, not to tease out comforting exceptions — and then the courage and strength to live it. Amen.
