The Portrait of Christ With Shut Eyes

There is a strange portrait of the face of Christ, painted by Gabriel Max in 1840. It shows the thorn-crowned head, but the eyes are closed.

Underneath the face it is written: “If you watch the eyes which are shut, you will see them suddenly open.” That is it; if you look upon Christ, He will look upon you. You may see the picture in a shop window, as I did in a shop in the Strand. But the people who looked into the window were for the most part concerned with the landscapes and the daughters of Eve; and the Christ remained blind.

But when one man looked, then one man saw, and the eyes were opened, and for a moment the eyes looked out upon him. And so it is with the Gospels. Whether you see Him or not depends much upon the heart you bring. You must come with an open child-like heart ready to believe in the immensity of goodness He is able to reveal.

You must bring your imagination and your lively fancy whereby you can get back to the days of His flesh. You must come, as Dr. Glover sought to make plain to us, with the earnest endeavour to see Him as His contemporaries saw Him; and as you thus read the records there will be moments which glow with the presence divine.