Dinner at Bethany (M 055)

Hosting a dinner for a religious celebration? An after-Ordination party? A nun’s Jubilee? A pastor’s retirement? The Dinner at Bethany invitation from Saints_Aplenty on Zazzle sets just the right tone! + The invite features the central panel of a triptych from the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche) at Oberwesel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Painted in 1503 by an anonymous Middle Rhenish artist, the panel depicts the dinner mentioned in John 12:1-3 that took place in Bethany after the raising of Lazarus and just before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As such, the mood is celebratory--merrier and less somber than that of the Last Supper that took place the following Thursday (Maundy Thursday). + Here, Jesus and His Twelve Apostles are seated at a round table, presumably one of several in the room since the Gospel alludes to the presence of more attendees including Lazarus. The table is viewed atilt, the better to see the tableware and foodstuffs. The Apostles converse among themselves. One (St. Bartholomew?) slices bread. In the center foreground, St. Martha, wearing an apron and carrying a platter of fish, serves (as St. John so succinctly puts it). Meanwhile, St. Mary, erroneously identified at the time the altarpiece was painted with the penitent Magdalene and a nameless sinful woman, kneels opposite. Both women wear gowns of sumptuous materials. Between them kneels the donor, Canon Peter Luteran, who is represented on a greatly reduced scale. The crowded scene brims with energy and the implied noise of animated conversations and rattling crockery. + To enhance your dinner party’s theme, mix and match with St. Martha items—aprons, oven mitts, potholders, and serving trays--from our Apron Saints series (q.v.)! + Image Credit (M 055): Photo by Rolf Kranz of a public domain painting that is well over 100 years old from WikiMedia Commons (By Rolf Kranz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106002864). The photo has been tightly cropped to a borderless rectangle.