Progression | Christ in Gethsemane | Christian Wall Art by Mark Mabry
Progression | Christ in Gethsemane | Christian Wall Art by Mark Mabry
About Progression
A note from Mark Mabry
We shot Gethsemane in a desert near Mexico. Robert, the man playing Jesus, and I sat on a hill before the shoot and tried to talk about what we were about to portray. We mostly did not. It was one of the few times I have ever had to shoot through tears.
The sky did the rest. The clouds came in over the open field while the camera was rolling. No, those are not Photoshop clouds.
Matthew 26 says Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him into the garden to pray, left them with the instruction to watch, and went a little further. He fell on His face. "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). Luke 22 records what He prayed after the request. "Nevertheless, not my will."
NEVERTHELESS, NOT MY WILL.
The composition skips the olive press and the kneeling figure under the gnarled trees that most Gethsemane paintings reach for. Jesus stands in an open field, head tilted back at a stormy sky, golden grass at His feet. The garden is internal here. The weather is the prayer.
The image spells out none of the rest. What you bring to it is what you get from it. Some days I feel nothing in front of this piece. Other days I feel everything.
For the other moment of solitary struggle, when Jesus stood forty days in the wilderness, see The Wilderness. For the morning that this prayer led to, see Resurrection.
He prayed in the field, and when the cup did not pass, He drank it anyway.
Common questions
What scene does Progression depict?
Gethsemane. The moments inside Jesus's prayer in the garden, recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. The piece holds the agony of the prayer rather than the visual setting.
Is Progression a painting or a photograph?
A photograph. The open field and the storm above it are real. The clouds were not added in post.
Why does Progression not look like a traditional Gethsemane?
The image externalizes what Jesus felt in the garden, not where He physically stood. Most Gethsemane art reaches for olive trees and a kneeling figure. This one reaches for the storm.
Where does Progression look best in a home?
Living rooms, studies, and prayer corners. Anywhere the scale of the sky has room to breathe. The piece reads as devotional and is heavy enough to anchor a wall on its own.
Who is Progression for?
For the collector who wants Gethsemane on the wall without the standard visual shortcuts. For the buyer who has felt their own version of "let this cup pass from me" and wants the image of that prayer in the house.