Linus (1884)

Linus was the child of Psamathe, who abandoned him by exposing him on a hillside until he was found by shepherds, who duly raised him. Upon reaching adulthood, he was tragically killed by the shepherd's dogs. His mother was afterwards condemned to death, and the god Apollo, Linus’ father, plagued the city for its cruelty, killing many more. Little wonder than the name Linus has become associated with grief, pain, dirges and lamentations.

Edward Onslow Ford’s 1884 sculpture Linus shows him grieving, yet it was his very own life and death which caused such acute feelings of pain and loss among others. Fallen human life is characterised by grief and the causing of grief; pain and the inflicting of pain on others. Isaiah the prophet says of the Lord Jesus in Isaiah 53:3-5:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Thank God, he goes on to provide the reasons for this divine tragedy:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Christ the joy of heaven became a grief-stricken victim, that the grieving, heartbroken sons and daughters of Adam might re-enter the wondrous joy of His heaven.