4  Blessing the Children

“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”  (Luke 18:16)   This is a cheerful scene with Jesus and the children and their mothers.  It’s sunny, almost a picnic feeling.  I’m sure it was spring.

Above and below there are flowers.  The flower at the top is a lotus for purity.  The lilies below are said to represent innocence.  However, the Easter lilies (three) we obviously associate with Easter.  We also think of  “Consider the lilies of the field…”  (Matthew 6:28)

Jesus and Nicodemus

Nicodemus, “a ruler of the Jews,” went to Jesus by night, evidently to ask how he might be saved.  That was when Jesus replied, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” (John 3:3) leaving poor Nicodemus completely baffled.  But he also reassured Nicodemus with the now-familiar words of John 3:16 and 17, “For God so loved the world…”

Below there is a crown representing the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Christ  (“My kingship is not of this world.” John 18:36)  The picture above is a pomegranate which, with all its seeds, is a symbol of new life, or the hope of immortality.  Here it is still closed.  It is sometimes said to be a symbol of royalty, because one end of the fruit looks like a small crown.  We’ll see it again on the other side, burst open.  At the top is the flaming heart of the true believer.  The flaming heart seems to date from the late middle ages.

Let’s pause for a moment to compare the windows on the two sides of the nave before continuing.  The windows on the first (south) side are all cheerful windows.  They show happy events including the birth of Jesus, the wedding at Cana, his teaching, Jesus with the children.  The sky has gently undulating lines. 

But here the plot thickens.  The first pair of windows concludes Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry, and matches the style of the previous windows.  However, they also anticipate what is to come. On this side of the church the sky is shown broken, chopped into bits.

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