“Lamb Chop ” 血浴– 127x97cm- Oil on Canvas, 2010

A.k.a. “Criobolium” – a poor man’s taurobolium; involves the slaughter of a sacred animal, and the ritual bathing in its blood. The death of the animal was supposed to take away sins – it died in the place of a human in order to satiate the bloodthirsty gods. The blood of the animal was used to wash away remaining sins. These practices were common in the Roman empire; Criobolium in particular was used in the worship of Attis and the Great Mother.

The ancient ritual continues, albeit in symbolic form, in modern Christianity. In this painting, Jesus has torn apart Lamb Chop and is shaking drops of blood on a bunch of Asian females. This sacred and powerful ceremony is belittled by the uninterested revelers, who are characteristically involved in playfully posing for the camera. Jesus is exasperated or resigned; he’s acting out of habit and duty, but has lost confidence in making real spiritual progress.

Interpretations: Jesus is the ‘tree of life’ – however he’s standing on the trunk of a much bigger and older tradition. The Jesus in this painting is really only a boy (young and short). The Taiwanese/Chinese, whose own spiritual traditions (mostly offshoots of Buddhism) predate Christianity, coddle and humor him in his bizarre and gruesome attempt to use ancient magical blood rituals to save their eternal souls.
Likewise, missionaries in Asia are often very earnestly trying to do what they consider is right; however their beliefs are often cut off from the vast and complicated history of Christianity and offer instead a rough, well-meant but ineffectual (and culturally inappropriate) form of indoctrination.

血浴－一個可憐男人的祭典，宰殺神聖的動物，然後泡在動物血裡當做一種儀式。動物的死亡理應帶走罪過，在凡間殺死動物是為了滿足嗜血的眾神。動物的血是用來洗去殘餘的罪過。這些儀式在羅馬帝國時期相當常見，尤其血浴是用來尊崇阿提斯和巨母神。
該儀式仍存在於今日的基督教儀式中，但僅僅以象徵性的形式表現。這幅畫中，耶穌把羊撕裂開，然後把血灑在一群亞洲女孩身上。一群對此不感興趣的人不重視這個神聖且強大的儀式，他們就只是為了照相而擺出一些玩樂的姿勢。
耶穌感到惱怒卻也逆來順受。他在實行他的權責，但已失去了可以昇華人們內心精神層面的信心。

該幅畫之詮釋：儘管耶穌站在更大、更老舊的傳統支幹之中，他仍是一顆「生命之樹」。畫中的耶穌是唯一的男生，年輕、不高。台灣人或中國人一些精神上的傳統儀式（大多與佛教有關）都早於基督教，畫中這個受嬌慣的人，企圖採用古老的神奇血浴來拯救那些女孩永恆的靈魂，非常古怪又令人感到可怕。
同樣地，亞洲的傳教士也努力做一些他們認為對的事情，可是基督教廣泛又複雜的歷史斬斷了他們這樣做的想法，反而帶來籠統、出於善意卻又達不到目的一種教化形式。

Oil on Canvas Surrealism Oil Painting by Derek Murphy www.derekmurphyart.com