The Compassionate Savior
by Bill Powers
Perhaps, while sitting in the pews in a moment of distraction or meditation, you’ve glanced upward toward the altar, there seeing a statue of Jesus, His eyes looking down upon us all. This statue is a copy of a statue now sitting in Vor Frue Kirke (Church of our Lady, and now known as Copenhagen Cathedral) in Copenhagen. It has a rich and interesting history.
In 1807, under British bombardment, the church was seriously damaged. It was during its reconstruction that the famous Danish sculptor Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen was commissioned to create a colossal series of statues of Christ and the twelve Apostles. Given that it was the church itself that was being raised from the ashes, how appropriate that amongst those creations was his statue of the Resurrected Christ, commonly referred to as Christus. How more appropriate is the story told of its creation in a 1961 edition of Guideposts.
Having worked for weeks on the massive statue, Thorvaldsen finally stood back, surveyed the results of his hard work, satisfied at last. At this point in the process, the statue was modeled in clay. Yet still it was impressive, just as he had imagined it: Christ with strong arms outstretched, raised (Yes, I did say raised) high in a gesturing command, the fine-shaped head thrown back in triumph.
“This is He,” Thorvaldsen said, “the powerful, majestic Christ.” Then he closed the door to his studio for several days, waiting for the clay to set. However, when he returned and opened the door, he stared up at the statue in horror. His work was ruined.
During his absence there had been a storm, causing the room to become overly damp and damaging the statue. No longer were the arms outstretched, now they fell low. The moisture had caused the once proud head to bend. Gone was the triumph of Christ’s resurrection. The body was drooped, looking more defeated than proud.
In despair, he grabbed a hammer, raised it above his head, determined to strike it down, but he could not. With pain still in his heart, he turned and fled the room, his majestic work destroyed.
Time passed, but still Thorvaldsen had no heart for his work. Finally he resolved to put an end to it. With a friend he went back for the first time to the studio with the intention of destroying the statue, removing its remains, and starting all over again.
Entering the studio, they suddenly stopped and gazed with awe upon the broken work they had intended to scrap. Bathed in light, the lowered arms no longer depicted defeat. Instead, they revealed the depth of God’s Compassion, His Sympathetic Arms encircling the sorrowing and needy. The head was now bowed low with contrite countenance as if to say, “I understand your trials and your sorrows.”
Instead of the majestic and triumphant Christ of the Resurrection, a greater Power had breathed into Thorvaldsen’s discarded work, not a defeated Christ, but the Compassionate Savior.
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