Christ in the Wilderness by Stephen Cottrell

Author:Stephen Cottrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SPCK

3

The Scorpion

Christ in the Wilderness: The Scorpion (1939)

State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. © The Estate of Stanley Spencer 2012. All rights reserved DACS.

At first sight this picture could not present a greater contrast to Consider the Lilies. A mournful, wretched and weary-looking Jesus squats in the desolate wastelands of a desert that is once again a place of stark emptiness. Nothing grows. The sky is as bleak and colourless as the landscape. In his hands Jesus cradles a scorpion. Another one scuttles at his feet.

Although the venom of most scorpions is not dangerous to human beings, some species are deadly, and this is an animal we rightly fear. In all countries where scorpions are found they are treated with respect and suspicion. They are to be either avoided or eliminated. In her prose poem ‘Scorpion’, Jo Shapcott writes about this primeval fear of scorpions – and much else besides. Finding a scorpion in the room, the protagonist of the poem beats it to a pulp with her shoe. Each line of the poem begins with the words, ‘I kill it’.1

In the picture the feared scorpion shares centre stage with Christ. As with some of the other paintings in this series, it is not immediately clear which Scriptures Spencer is drawing on. However, a little investigation reaps a shocking reward, and the fear of the scorpion is at the heart of it. Scorpions are mentioned twice in the Gospels, both times in Luke.

Jesus says, ‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?’ (Luke 11.11–12). This is Luke’s version of the more well-known saying in Matthew: ‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?’ (Matthew 7.9). Again we find Spencer subverting a familiar text: the bewildering implication of this picture is that it is God the Father who will give such a thing to his Son. It is Jesus who holds the scorpion in his hands.

While none of Spencer’s pictures draws precisely on the actual stories of Jesus in the desert, this one comes closest. Each of the synoptic Gospels describes the desert as a place of temptation. Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts include details of the temptations themselves. Jesus fasts for 40 days. He is famished. Then the devil comes to try and ensnare him. First, Jesus is invited to turn stones into bread; then to launch himself from the pinnacle of the Temple and have the angels save him; finally, to receive all the kingdoms of the world if he will but bow down before the devil. Jesus responds: life is more than bread, we also feed on every word that comes from God; this God must not be put to the test; we must worship God alone (see Matthew 4.1–11; Luke 4.1–12).

Jesus holding the scorpion is also a temptation. It is not what he has asked for.

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