Church Tour: Quiapo Church, Manila Phiippines

Since we started off this week with an image of the Black Nazarene sculpture, today we will take a further look at the church that it is housed in and the festival that surrounds it.

 

 

New Testament Word & Image: Hebrews 2:14-18

Forgiven, by Thomas Blackshear.

Hebrews 2:14-18

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,  and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Psalms Word & Image: Psalms 24

Imecsfalvi carved gate, in the Transylvania region of Romania

Psalm 24

A Psalm of David.

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face. Selah

Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah

 

Old Testament Word & Image: Malachi 3:1-4

Black Nazarene, in Manila Philippines

Malachi 3:1-4

 

“Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

“But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the Lord,
As in the days of old,
As in former years.

Sea Life

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by Katsushika Hokusai

Matthew 4:12-23

 

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee... 

 

Besides Britain there are two considerably small nations that exert much attention from the world irrespective of their size. They are Israel and Japan. The interest that they receive seems to be categorized in different areas. You don't usually equate Jerusalem with Tokyo, Kosher with Sushi, Shintoism with Judaism or the ancient Ninjas with the ancient Zealots... but there are similarities in some things. As different as they may seem there are many comparisons to be made between 1st century Palestine and 18th/19th century Japan. They main point of comparison is hinged upon their proximity to great bodies of water. Israel's bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Japan being enclosed by three seas and the Pacific Ocean shaped it's livelihood, culture and history. Both were either coastal or island people resisting the influences of the Western Imperial forces of their time: Judea had Rome and Japan had Europe and later the U.S.. The waves brought in the blessings of food and trade but the curses of storms and invaders. This relationship with water shaped both people's imagination and view of life: having periods of calm but too often filled with turbulence. It inspired the woodblock images of Katsushika Hokusai in his series of prints 36 Views of Mount Fuji and it shaped Jesus' recruitment of his 12 Disciples. God uses those who have struggled with waves in their lifetime.

Whalling off the Goto Islands (Goto kujira tsuki). by Katsushika Hokusai

...And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”...

The Seacoast

Living on the seacoast may provide for beautiful beach views but it also provides for the dangers of what the sea may bring in. Katsushika Hokusai was born in Edo, Japan (the old name for Tokyo) during the years of the Tokugawa shogunate. It was during this period that Japan, concerned by the Western powers colonization in Asia, closed its borders to outsiders. yet there was still some local trade with outsiders through Edo. Through one of these small trade connection with the Dutch Japanese prints were spread to the world and prints of the European Master painters were spread amongst Japanese artists. Hokusai introduced some of the concepts and methods of European art to Japanese printmaking. His famous "Great Wave" gained its popularity by advertising its use of the newly available "Prussian Blue" color. Galilee in the time of Jesus seems to have been similar. It was not the center of national government or culture like Edo: that was Jerusalem. But Galilee was looked upon as the place where outsider influences (Gentiles) were felt the most. As far back as the Old Testament book of Isaiah it was commonly referred to as "Galilee of the Gentiles." This wasn't a good thing. Even though the Jews were under Roman rule, association with Non-Jews was still kept to a minimum. Just like the Japanese viewed the Europeans as Barbarians, the Jews viewed any Gentile as impure. Now all of Palestine (the Roman name of the region that included the Roman province of Judea and the remnants of ancient Israel) is on the Seacoast of the Mediterranean, but Galilee is on the coast of a different kind of sea... and when I say "different kind of sea" I mean "a lake." Yes, the Sea of Galilee is actually a lake. A really, really big lake. A lake that everyone from the area calls a sea, but none the less a landlocked body of fresh water... so yeah, a lake. I am not sure why the locals have always called it a sea but the locals there were kind of different. To the elite city folks in Jerusalem they would have been religiously "suspect" due to their association with Gentiles, but they also would have just viewed them as country bumpkins. They had discernible accents and most carried rural, manual labor jobs like shepherds and fisherman. They were not especially learned men.. which may be why they called a lake a sea. So this is not only the region that God chose to birth His Son into, but also the region that His Son chose several of his notable disciples from. After Jesus learned of John the Baptist's arrest he didn't go to preach and chose disciples amongst the great rabbis of the holy city Jerusalem but rather amongst the outsiders of Capernaum. Characteristic of the rest of his ministry Jesus chose the outsiders, the non-accepted and the humble to lead his kingdom. Just as James 4:6 rephrases Proverbs 3:34 “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” It is only these desperate souls who may be courageous enough to go out and fight the waves to live.

Self-Portrait as a Fisherman, by Katsushika Hokusai

...And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him...

The Sea Men

In the above posted print we see Katsushika Hokusai depiction of an old fisherman. Clever art historians have discovered that this image is actually Hokusai himself in costume. Hokusai, like many other artists, would insert himself into some of his scenes and characters. Maybe he knew several fisherman and related to them. Maybe he saw a correlation between the life of the printmaking artist and the fisherman: both providing staples of the Japanese palate. Dealing with the consumer's "taste" they also could feel the wrath of the finicky market: ever desiring something new. Hokusai was older by the time that he produced the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and had been driven from retirement by the gambling losses of his grandson. Their were two pairs of disciples who left the fishing trade to follow Jesus. James and John are stated as having been involved in a family business when they left their father to take the gamble of the Good News. I do not take the Good News lightly (in that I just made a joking association of it with a gamble) but their was a definite risk involved. All of the disciples except for John would one day die as martyrs. But in defense of my joke, Jesus actually introduced the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter and Andrew with a joke. His "fisher's of men" was a play on words, yes a pun, on "fishermen." There is no detail given in the Gospel as to whether Jesus' pun was followed by a rim shot or a sad trombone, but it seems to have been successful enough to convince his audience to be his followers. If being a Galilean fisherman was anything like the crew on The Deadliest Catch, then having a sense of humor was necessary. It was hard labor where you risked you life. Maybe this is where Jesus and Hokusai connected: Jesus related to fisherman as well. His job of preaching was dangerous and his task of bringing salvation to mankind would cost him his very life. But Jesus would not shrink from hard work. Jesus didn't just relate to the fishermen but he also related to me and you for scripture says "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus understands struggling with the waves of life. Working with his fishermen/disciples also displayed his concern for the fish.

Carp fan, by Katsushika Hokusai

...And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people...

The Sea Life

One of the great things about this printed fan by Hokusai (just like those Martin Luther King fans in your local Black Baptist church) is the realistic depiction of fish. One can imagine that his exposure world art gave him an insightful advantage over other Japanese print makers. Likewise Jesus' familiarity with all of mankind gave him a realistic depiction of his "fish." He went about all of Galilee healing all types of physical and spiritual sickness. That is where nuance comes into the picture. Most physical illnesses are obvious to the patient, however, spiritual sickness may be more subtle. Jesus had success with the publicans and prostitutes that he ministered to. They were aware of their sinful nature. Society screamed it at them. But Jesus wasn't as successful at converting the Pharisees: men who studied and judged others based on the Scripture, yet they had missed the greater themes of love, justice and mercy in God's Word. This is where pride come into the picture. It may not have been that Jesus was "unsuccessful" as much as Jesus was never asked to offer his services. Jesus once said to the judgmental Pharisees “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” God resists the proud because only the humble see and admit the sickness of their soul. These are the fish that Christ searches for: the humble, the meek, the sinner, those that tired of being battered by the waves of life. 

Kajikazawa in Kai Province (Koshu Kajikazawa), by Katsushika Hokusai

Casting Your Net & Calming Your Sea

This wasn't the only time that Jesus used fishing terminology to explain the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 13:47-50 Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a fisherman's net... not a fishing pole. What's the big difference? Well a net catches a swath of everything in its path, not just one individual fish. The term for casting your net in this way is termed "broadcasting"... a word that we also think of when we speak of television and radio ministry. Both involve spreading the message of Christ to all kinds of people and the most people. From the Apostles to St. Francis of Assisi to Billy Graham to Francis Chan many Christians have answered the call to spread the Gospel to total strangers. Yeah, I know that it seems foreign and distasteful too many. And I am not saying that everyone does it right. Remember that guy I know whose relative evangelizes while dressing up like Batman? There are many ways to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the greatest of these are through acts of kindness, service, forgiveness and love...especially those last two. Some of the greater interpersonal witnesses come from a personal testimony. When others see your life changed and saved they will see God's salvation in action. Remember the story of Jesus' calming the storm or Jesus' walking on water? Yes they both involve miracles but more specifically they involve unstable waters and facing storms. They both involve mastering the waves that rock us in our lives. They both end with the onlookers growing in faith. They both show that God uses those who have struggled with waves in their lifetime.



Ocean Waves, by Katsushika Hokusai

Church Tour: Martin Luther King, Jr. Edition

To close out the week that ended with Martin Luther King Day I would like to share a few images of some of the churches that you hear mentioned in the life of Dr. King.

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church






Ebenezer Baptist Church

16th Street Baptist Church

Riverside Church

Mason Temple Church of God In Christ

Washington National Cathedral

New Testament Word & Image: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Communion of Saints Tapestries, by John Nava

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

Psalms Word & Image: Psalms 27

Urban Light, by Chris Burden

Psalm 27

A Psalm of David.
 

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.

Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
 

Old Testament Word & Image: Isaiah 9:1-4

Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, by Georges de La Tour

Isaiah 9:1-4

 

Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,
As when at first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And afterward more heavily oppressed her,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.

You have multiplied the nation
And increased its joy;
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian

Reruns: Repetition, Reasons and the Religion of Andy Warhol



The Last Supper (Christ 112 Times), Andy Warhol

John 1:29-34

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

Warning: This week's scripture is a rerun of last week.

Now when I say "rerun", I don't mean that it is an actual repeat word for word of the previous one. It is a repeat of the same story, only in a different book and with different details and insights. Once again we are studying Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist. Scripture tends to do that a lot. Why does scripture repeat and reference itself? I think that we may be able to discover it by studying the parallel in Art. Of course I do... that is the gimmick of this blog, right? There are several artists who revisit themes and make copies of earlier works but if we are searching for the King of Repetition then we must focus our attention on the American Pop Artist Andy Warhol. You probably know Andy for his works celebrating mindless American consumerism like his Campbell's soup cans or his lifelong fascination with the phenomena of celebrity seen in his Marilyn Monroe prints. Andy Warhol wasn't known for probing the intellectual depths or criticizing this subjects, he just viewed them. Andy was the ultimate voyeur: things were interesting not for their virtue but because they were being viewed. This being the case he treated his images of great pathos, banality, darkness and whimsy all the same. Andy Warhol was also known as a social butterfly: first creating his exploitative Silver Factory and Warhol Superstars then later moving being a staple at Studio 54. So it may surprise you that Andy Warhol had a religious side. It wasn't public but it may have been one of the few constant things in his life. After Andy's sudden death in 1987 the world first glimpsed the scores of religious images that the Pop master had been privately and incessantly producing. These will serve as our point of departure in understanding some of the reasons behind repetition in art and in the Bible.  

Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper), Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat)

Fulfillment

Sometimes repetition is the product of the fulfillment of its previous manifestations. It is like all of the years of schooling that you go through. For at least twelve plus years you are required to go through the same yearly cycle of learning and tests. With each new year you take different subjects or may take the same subjects but learn greater truths about these subjects, but the two integral parts never change: learning and testing. Then after you graduate from your learning and testing you have the option (by submitting to a few more years of learning and testing) of becoming the taskmaster (teacher) who puts other initiates (students) through these trials. Such is the master and apprentice or teacher and disciple relationship hat we base our society on... and it itself is based upon the idea of fulfillment: the achievement of something desired, promised or predicted (according to a random Google search that I just did). Andy Warhol was a foundational element in shaping what 1960's Art and Design would be, so by the 1980's he was generally universally understood as being part of the art establishment. This gave him an excellent position from which to choose which young artists he could mold and collaborate with. The piece "Ten Punching bags (Last Supper) are one of several collaborative works between Warhol and the young graffiti/neo expressionist phenom Jean-Michel Basquiat. The forerunner and chosen one relationship between Basquiat and Warhol loosely parallels that of Jesus and John the Baptist. It is clear from scripture that John the Baptist's ministry was established and his legitimacy as a prophet well understood by the Judean masses by the time Jesus appeared to be baptized. He was also feared and perceived as a troublemaker by the religious and civil powers-that-be. So when he Jesus recognized Jesus' ministry he did so as if it were one collaborative artwork that they both were creating together. Their ministries were two parts of this one message of salvation. But then here is where my analogy falls apart because even though John the Baptist was the Warhol in this scenario time wise he saw himself as more of a student and servant. Not only was Christ the master painter but he was the subject of the portrait that John the Baptist had been painting: the Lamb of God. In proclaiming Jesus to be the Lamb of God, John the Baptist reveals a another parallel in this story: that of the Old and New Testament. John shows that he is another member in the long line of prophets from the Old Testament that pointed to a fulfillment that stood before him awaiting baptism: Jesus Christ. The "Lamb of God" connects back to something from the time of the Old Testament's greatest prophet, Moses. It is the Paschal Lamb of the Passover (or Korban Pesakh קרבן פסח in Hebrew). The night before the Israelites escaped from Egyptian slavery Moses commanded that they eat a sacrificed lamb with bitter herbs and matzo. They were also commanded to sprinkle the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. In doing so the Lord would "pass over" the homes of the Israelites as he went to destroy the firstborn of every Egyptian household that night. John the Baptist understood the Jesus as the Messiah would serve as the world's Passover Lamb. His would be the sacrificial blood that would be sprinkled over the faithful to save them from the wrath of God. The word "sacrifice" is usually used metaphorically when people discuss the ones that they have made in life, however, Jesus' would be quite literal and John the Baptist understood this. He would have understood the prophetic references to it by such prophets like Isaiah. Judaism up to this point was a sacrificial religion (that's what occurred at the Temple in Jerusalem) so John the Baptist would also understand that "without shedding of blood there is no remission" from sin. Therefore Christ's sacrificial death in our place was necessary to free us from the slavery of sin. Like Warhol and Basquiat's piece illustrates, Jesus became a punching bag.

The Last Supper, Andy Warhol

Theme

This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

A instance of repetition can also be used as a tool for establishing and furthering a theme. In the above piece entitled "Last Supper" (heads up: they are all entitled "The Last Supper") we see signs of the old Andy, complete with banal replications of popular American commercial imagery...or is the religious imagery the original Andy. Andy publicly presented works with replications of commercial logos for decades but the study of Da Vinci's Last Supper seems closer to the art that Warhol had been familiar with since his youth. Andy Warhol was the son of born Andrej Warhola, the so of immigrants from Slovakia. His family was Ruthenian Catholic, an autonomous Eastern Rite church within the Catholic Church. Though they are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, they visually and culturally seem more similar to the Eastern Orthodox. Andy attended mass as a sickly child at his family's church surrounded by religious icons: flat panel painted images of the greats of the faith used in worship and intercession. Ironically (or intentionally), the grown up version of Andy Warhol would go on to create pop cultural icons in a very flatly painted style that illustrated our "worship" of celebrity and consumerism. The juxtaposition of these two understandings of the concept of an icon (cultural and religious) in Andy's life show it as a theme running through his own art and interests. It is similar to the theme of the Preexistence of the Son of God theme in the Gospel of John. We are first exposed to it in John 1:1-3 :

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 

Then in John 1:6-8 we are introduced to the sub theme of John the Baptist being the forerunner of the preexistent Son of God:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Then later on in this chapter the writer goes on give further narrative detail of John's ministry and quotations asserting that his ministry is but the precursor to that of the long awaited Messiah's.

 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.  It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” These things were done in Bethabara^[h] beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

So all of this leads up to the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus... and the 1st chapter of John serves as a prologue for the story of Jesus in general. So if you are keeping score it includes repetition in the form of 1) repeating a story that is already in another Gospel (Matthew) 2) referencing an Old Testament quotation 3) alluding that John the Baptist his present day's equivalent of the Old Testament prophets that pointed to the fulfillment in the Messiah, Jesus. I believe that I can rest my case now that the author is establishing a theme here. What is it then? It is that Jesus is a real life icon, in the religious sense. As St. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:15:

He is the image of the invisible God...

Unlike John the Baptist, Moses and all of the prophets of old that pointed forward to him, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all of God's Word. He is the image of God that is worthy to receive worship because he is God in the flesh.

The Last Supper, Andy Warhol

Harmony

And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The third reason for repetition in Art and Scripture that I'd like to explore is that of harmony. Harmony in music doesn't denote everyone singing exactly the same but rather singing similarly enough in their differences as to compliment each other (according to a definition that I just made up). Yet again we are presented a Warhol image entitled "The Last Supper" (made via silkscreen printing, which Warhol pioneered in art). Once again it is derivative of Da Vinci's Last Supper. Yet this one becomes the triumvirate of repetition by consisting of the same image produced twice. Andy Warhol became famous for his machine like duplication of images through silk screening. He even stated once "The reason I'm painting this way is that I want to be a machine, and I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do." The thing is that Warhol's notion of a machine was repetitive, mechanical and maybe dispassionate...it wasn't perfection. Quite the opposite he still left intentional differences in his artwork that were capitalized on. The type of errors that an old printing press machine would make and repeat, getting greater and greater each time. These differences were not erroneous to him but rather beautiful, intentional and displayed a sense of intelligence, will and design from the machine itself. So when you look closely at Warhol's repetitions you will notice that they are not identical: it is intentional and to the appreciative eye it can be beautiful. Placed beside another similar piece it create harmony by the pairing of complimentary difference. The four Gospels are not identical. Three of them (Matthew, Mark and Luke) are fairly similar and are called the Synoptic Gospels, from the Greek meaning "seen together." yet some of their differences can be weighty. The Gospel of John is a whole other animal. It's like if you saw a swan sitting next to a duck, who was sitting next to a goose...then a platypus walks up. Yet as shown in art and music, differences does not always lead to cacophony but sometimes rather produces harmony. The harmony of the Gospels is that they testify to the same overall conclusions in the midst of their differences. The Gospel of John recants the story of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at his baptism just like Matthew 3:13-17 does. The difference is that in John, John the Baptist makes an endorsement of Jesus' true nature while in Matthew God Himself is shown declaring it. Yet both testimonies, the four Gospels and the fulfillment of the prophets of old harmonize to the same conclusion:

And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.



The Last Supper, Andy Warhol

All of life can be exercises in repetition and a man is judged in how he occupies his time. The religious part of one's life is no exception. Andy Warhol's secret religious life was revealed by his stash of paintings about the Last Supper and the eulogy at his memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. He did 100 variations on the theme. The eulogist revealed that Andy served in soup kitchens feeding the poor, attended mass every week and often throughout the week. Andy knew religious repetition. Sitting through mass he would have known the schedule: like when the priest would present the bread and wine as body and blood of the Lamb of God that come to take away the sins of the world. Then he would go home from mass and work on these private paintings of The Last Supper where Jesus is (argued by some) pictured eating a Passover meal with his Disciples. The sacrificial Lamb of God was participating in the ritual that once included the eating of another sacrificial lamb with his disciples who like John the Baptist and the prophets of old would go along later to spread the message of the fulfillment of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus knew religious repetition. Now Andy Warhol was known as a naughty boy, but I will not pontificate upon the final destination of his soul. I don't know what he did in his final moments. It does seem that underneath his public celebrity, hedonistic, voyeur, bon vivant persona lied a person with faith. It wasn't perfect faith. It wasn't overly intellectual theologically. It wasn't very deep. But Christ himself encouraged us to have faith even if it is as small as a mustard seed. He can develop that faith. If we are to be honest, many of our own personal faith portraits look like Andy's. Christ also encouraged his disciples to make their acts of prayer, fasting and giving to the poor private and not acts for public spectacle. Andy surely did keep his religious life private. The difference between the repetitive religious lives of Jesus and Andy Warhol (and our own) is how we deal with sin. It is fine (and sometimes great) to be private with aspects of your faith but it becomes problematic when you are public with your sin. I am not judging Andy Warhol, he just happened to live his life publicly so we are aware of his public problems. The rest of us are free to sin repetitively in private. Yet there is one who sees all and knows all: God. He sees our repetitive sins. He sees our repetitive acts of righteousness. He sees our repetitive hypocrisy. Sin is something hat Christians will deal with repeatedly while they continue to breath. But Scripture tells us that we have a mercifully repetitive God:

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,Because His compassions fail not.They are new every morning;

The Gospels of Matthew and John both show the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ at baptism. This is the same Holy Spirit that comes into the Heart of every believer. It is the part of God that teaches and develops every believer through every interaction how to be Christ-like. If you are not where you need to be spiritually have patience, obedience and humility and God will lead you there eventually. You are not perfected at baptism but baptism shows that you are a growing disciple of the Perfect One. Faith is a journey that takes a life time because God is patient and learning is repetitive.

Underwater Mystery

Blue Chandelier 1, Dale Chihuly


Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him...

In the miraculous case that my wife and I ever become suddenly and obscenely wealthy there are three things that we plan to do...

1) Hide the face that we have become suddenly and obscenely wealthy from others...especially our kids, until they are mid-college age. I mean, look at what happened to Denise Huxtable.
2) Donate to our churches, the poor and other deserving non-profits...I know that you are secretly judging me for not putting this as #1, but I am simultaneously judging you for judging my spending of my imaginary money.
3) Buy a Dale Chihuly chandelier...We wouldn't necessarily get an amazing new house. You'd just walk into a regular house and *bam!*, you run into a Venice Biennale quality hanging sculpture.

Dale Chihuly is an imposing figure who makes imposing pieces. For centuries glass blowers have been known for being the most manliest of all artists. They have to possess the old school, rough and tumble. barrel chested physique to be able push enough air out of their diaphragm to shape hot melted glass. Add to this the fact that Chihuly creates bigger than life sized works and he wears an eye patch. He carries an air of mystery about him and looks like the arch nemesis of the Dos Equis man. There is also a mystery as to what exactly is the nature of Chihuly's work? How do you classify it? Are his pieces pure abstraction or loose representations of undersea life? Are they blown glass art or large scale sculpture? Maybe the answer to both questions is all of the above... and that's what makes them amazing. They are colorful celebrations of the extreme possibilities of blown glass that is turned into large scale sculpture and explores the explores the abstracted inspirations that can come from representing those areas of the sea that the common man knows the least about. They are about light and form, delicacy and strength. They play with the illusion of weightlessness while flirting with the potential dangers of mass. They seem to represent movement and fluidity yet they are stationary. They are multiple things at one time. It is both a recognized hybrid and something that skirts on the barriers of classification. It is interesting that his works seem to make allusions to the sea because one can imagine that the ancients viewed water in the same way that I view a Chihuly piece: elusive yet accessible and plentiful, formless, yet able to take form, invisible yet reflective of light and able to take upon and mirror color. It is with this mystery of water that some of Christianity's greater mysteries are discussed in today's scripture.



Persian Ceiling, Dale Chihuly

The Medium

Water is a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. We encounter it daily and it is the majority of the expanse of our globe yet there are many mysteries to it: Such as what lies in the depths of the abyss. We have magazines and television channels that dedicate much programming to wowing us with the exotic, vibrant and Chihuly-like creatures that inhabit those inaccessible places. Water contains things both personal and foreign. One of it's greatest powers in our daily life is that of the medium for life and cleanliness. It sustains our internal life but also beautifies our external appearance. Biblical literature capitalizes on this aspect in explaining mankind's spiritual dilemma. In our personal external context water deals with our physical dirt. In our personal internal context the image of water deals with our spiritual dirt: Sin. Water shows sin and beautifies us by removing it. Scripture uses water as an agent of judgment and repentance. In the first book of the Old Testament we find the story of Noah where God sees Man's sinfulness and sends the Flood as judgment. In the first book of the New Testament we find the story of John the Baptist where God sees Man's sinfulness and provides baptism in the Jordan River as a sign of repentance from sin. This act of acknowledgment of sin and simultaneous submission to God is what makes way for God's salvation. In like manner John the Baptist's ministry of repentance was the precursor of Jesus' ministry of salvation. So the water of baptism doesn't save anyone in itself. It is an outward sign of an inward change. It shows the world that you have recognized your sin, repented and submitted to God. If this repentance is authentic then God saves you and creates good works through the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist is even shown in scripture discouraging inauthentic baptisms. If it is inauthentic then it is just another counterfeit: it may look like the real thing but it actually holds no value. Adolf Hitler was baptized but he is not known for producing acts of righteousness but rather acts of horrendous evil. Baptism isn't a magic bath. Of course Christians will still deal with sin in their lives once they have been baptized, but the Holy Spirit acts as a continual reminder to repent and lead a life that displays holiness, mercy, love and justice. The water represents repentance from sinfulness, selfishness and hatred: this repentance isn't just an act but a continual lifestyle. The water of repentance continually displays the dirt of sin in our life and asks us to continually scrub.

 

Mille Fiore, Dale Chihuly

The Man

 ...And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; ...

So the question that you may be asking yourself is Why is Jesus getting baptized? Isn't Baptism an acknowledgment of sin? Isn't Jesus sinless?" Great question. John the Baptist seems to have had the same question. He prevented the baptism of certain unrepentant Pharisees and Sadducees and he also attempted to prevent the baptism of the Son of God who needed no repentance. Why is God being baptized by a man? Is it because Jesus is also fully a man (in addition to being fully God)? Jesus' answer seems perplexing too: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” There may be several answers as to what this means and what exactly Jesus was doing, but one of the better explanations that I've heard ties in his reasoning for his death on the cross. When Christ was crucified he took the punishment for all Mankind's sins: though he was personally sinless. He was a scapegoat, a sacrificial substitute. In consciously doing this he identified with sinners. Christ befriended sinners, submitted in an act of repentance like sinners, was punished for the acts of sinners and in doing so bought our salvation. Now he can freely offer forgiveness for sinners and freedom from sin and judgment. His obedience to baptism publicly certified God's approval of John the Baptist's ministry of baptism and God's acceptance of believer's repentance through baptism. It was God saying that he accepts our apology. Christ also set the precedent of his followers using this act as a means of initial repentance. God accepts our repentance through baptism because in it we identify with His Son.



Persian Loop, Dale Chihuly

The Mystery

...and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

So what is the nature of the relationship between Jesus and God? Why do we refer to Jesus as being God yet simultaneously treat Him as separate (the whole "Father and Son" thing). You may heard of God's nature discussed as being the Trinity: the ol' three in one. This is what Christianity has understood God to be like for millennia: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Sometimes you may encounter suspicions on the biblical basis of the Trinity since it was formally recognized at the Council of Nicaea hundreds of years later. However this seems less to do with the idea being new and more to due with the fact that Christianity had not been forced to be as formal and declaratory on this fact in the past. It was just something that most understood. Even though the Bible may not explicitly state "trinity" the triune nature of God is understood in the New Testament community. This passage in Matthew actually is a good example of how they understood it. At this baptism God is shown in all three "persons": active and complimentary. The complimentary nature of these actions show a unity of being. The Father shows His love, intention and design. The Holy Spirit shows its inspirational, illuminating and empowering activity. The Son shows his commitment to teaching, saving and identifying with the cause of humanity. The Trinity is a mystery like water and a Chihuly sculpture: It is beautiful and life giving and somewhat elusive to the intellect while yet being able to be possessed... due to God's desire to possess us and be possessed by us in love. This is the greater mystery of community.

Salute Chandelier, Dale Chihuly

In considering the mystery of God's desire for communion with Mankind the Psalmist once wrote:

What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

- Psalm 8:4-8

 

This Psalmists inquiry starts with wonder of God's love for us and ends with water. Our inquiry starts with wonder of God's love for us, is grown stronger through baptismal water and continues through our acts of worship and thanksgiving to Him and forgiveness and kindness to others. This mystery and beauty is love. Love that starts with our recognition of our need for love (repentance) and need to show love to others. It is a love that responds to our every need. It is a love that is mysterious and hard to understand but beautiful to behold.