28. St. Peter and Paul Church, East Harling, East window, Lamentation, 1480. The Virgin Mary, accepting of the destiny divinely planned for her son, cannot help but be overcome by the emptiness experienced by any mother who loses a child.  Weeping over his body (the upper part of which is of modern glass) for the last time, Mary is not portrayed as the saintly figure of immaculate conception through which the Messiah came into the world.  She is a mother agonizing over the death of her son, crying tears of an emotion that is human, not divine.  The figures standing in the background, Mary Magdalene on the left and John on the right, comfort the grieving mother.  Both are connected to Jesus in special ways.  John, who calls himself,  “the disciple whom [Christ] loved” was given charge of the Virgin while they stood at the foot of the cross, Christ saying: “Woman behold they son,” and to John “behold thy mother” (John 19: 26-27).  Mary is identified as the woman who washed Christ feet with her tears and anointed  his head with precious oil,  (Luke 7:36-49) preparing him for death.  This human “trinity” convene to witness Jesus’ death.  They bridge the distance between the worshipper and the divine by first inviting the viewer to empathizing with their human sorrow.

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