Filling in the Gaps

Abstract

Of the many visual manifestations of Christ's divinity in the Gospels, the one directly following his death is particularly forceful. Christ's earlier transformation of water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana, for example, was a relatively restrained affair. Although Jesus's first miracle can be imagined as straightforward to film, with a cinematic cut from a clear liquid glistening in the sun to a deep red wine pouring thickly from serving jugs, the Gospels refrain from such realistic detailing. Their focus is not precisely on representing the event as it actually was, but rather on the miracle being performed at all, and what this tells us about the generous wedding guest. Colour, texture, the direction and gradation of natural or artificial lighting, the placement of a few shocked onlookers to reinforce the miracle's visual power could have filled out the picture, but instead the Word gets rather quickly to the point, to move swiftly on.