Water from the Rock and Christ’s side
The leftmost pair of panels in the bottom row – Panels 9 and 10 – show Moses striking the rock to release water to quench the thirst of the children of Israel during the Exodus and a soldier piercing Jesus’ side with a spear, to show he is, indeed dead, causing water and blood to flow out.
In the Old Testament, Exodus 17: 3-7 tells how, during their wanderings after escaping Egypt, the Israelites complained to Moses they and their livestock were dying of thirst.
God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff and, when he did, water flowed out of it, allowing the Israelites to drink their fill.
Meanwhile, the Gospel of John 19: 31-37, in the New Testament tells how, after Jesus Christ had died on the cross, a soldier “pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.”
Blood and water provide a direct link to two Sacraments – the Eucharist and Baptism.
St Paul will provide a further link explored in these panels in his First Letter to the Corinthians when he writes in verse 4: “And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.”
Exodus 17: 3-7
But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’
So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’
Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
John 19: 31-37
Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed.
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘None of his bones shall be broken.’ And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’
Jonah prefigures Christ’s Resurrection
Arguably one of the most evocative and powerful pairings can be found in the third and fourth panels of the bottom row.
The leftmost panel (Panel 11 in our diagram) is taken from the Book of Jonah – one of the Old Testament prophets.
God told Jonah to go to the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh (close to Mosul in modern-day Iraq) to warn the citizens of impending destruction because of their wickedness.
Jonah tried to escape his God-given mission by sea.
When God buffeted Jonah’s ship with a storm, the prophet told his shipmates to throw him overboard as a sacrifice to calm God’s anger.
Instead of drowning, Jonah was swallowed by a ‘great fish’ – commonly interpreted to be a whale or sea monster – and, after three days in the creature’s stomach, was spat out onto dry land to finish his mission.
The typological interpretation of the story of Jonah is that it is a ‘model’ for – or pre-figures – Christ’s burial and his resurrection – the image we see in the right hand panel, Panel 12.
The belly of the fish represents Christ’s tomb and Jonah’s deliverance after three days represents Christ’s resurrection from the dead after three days.
The analogy is given further weight by three passages from two of the New Testament Gospels. (Luke 11: 29-32, Matthew 12:38-42 and Matthew 16:1-4).
Luke quotes Christ telling the crowds: “Just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man [a reference to himself] will be to this generation.”
Meanwhile, Matthew quotes Christ telling the Scribes and Pharisees: ”Just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.”
The Gospel returns to the same theme in Matthew 16:1-4, quoting Christ as telling the Pharisees and Sadducees:
“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”
Jonah 1:17 & 2: 1-20
But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
‘I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?”
The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God. As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’
Luke 11: 29-30
This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation.”
Matthew 12:39-41
An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!”
Matthew 16:3-4
You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
