The (Second) Betrayal of Christ

When I was fourteen, my family spent a week in Dublin. There, Igot to see ‘The Taking of Christ’ by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. At the time, I didn’t know anything about Caravaggio or visual art in general for that matter. I still don’t know much really. I remember first being struck with the specificity of the faces.Jesus, here without a halo, looks so hurt and dejected. Both godly foreknowledge and human surprise live in his eyes. The resignation in the way he crosses his hands is something I could feel in my body. Juda’s kiss carried so much weight. You can feel the nastiness of it, the sorrow and suppression. I think seeing that painting was the moment I realized I wanted tobecome a writer, when I grew up.