New Testament Word & Image: Romans 8:35-39 & the Berlin Wall Art

Berlin Wall

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

I'm an 80's baby. And being one I clearly remember being fully aware of what was going on globally in that final era of the Cold War. An image that clearly sticks out in my mind from that era was the fall of the Berlin Wall. Even though I could appreciate its significance it probably meant more to my parents, who are Baby Boomers. They were born in the years following World War II and saw the escalating tensions between two former wartime allies, the United States and the Soviet Union. They were just children when the distinction between the occupied East Germany of the Warsaw Pact powers  became more distinct from the occupied West Germany of the NATO member nations. They were just teenagers in 1961 when the television informed them that the Soviet backed Communists of East Germany had constructed a wall to portion off their half of Berlin. And just like my parents, the world watched as half of a major world city's population was held captive. The Berlin Wall was a realized metaphor. It was no proverbial Iron Curtain but rather an actual concrete wall that separated freedom from tyranny. Those within were deprived from enjoying the freedoms afforded to their fellow citizens across the barrier, but greater than that they were deprived from enjoying community with their fellow citizens across the barrier...many of who were not just their neighbors but their family. But for 28 years the people rebelled. They illegally emigrated. They protested. They disobeyed the oppressive state. They created art. 

Germans celebrate the opeing of the Berlin Wall. Tom Stoddart / Hulton Archive / Getty

The thing that stood out to me the most as a child was all of the graffiti on the Berlin Wall. Germany is home to some of the most prolific taggers, graffiti and street artists. The genesis of this can be found with the Berlin Wall. Art is not just a tool to beautify and document life but also a instrument of protest. When the East Berlin authorities constructed mile plus long concrete wall across the city they unknowingly unfurled a mile plus long canvas for the discontented and creative youth of the city. They had given the resistance movement a mile plus long billboard to advertise their protests.  

Berlin Wall art, East Side Gallery

Even decades after the fall of the wall their are still sections that remain intact as a testament to history. A large illustrated section is referred to as the East Side Gallery. This length of wall is an evolving public art space. .   



Graffiti by Lellobot, East Side Gallery Berlin

Many of the wall murals remember the horrors of the Nazi regime (like an artist's portrait of Anne Frank) or the East German communist era, while others colorfully celebrate the artistic present and promise of the German people. This art remembers the destruction of a dark past and directs the viewer to engage in the healing

 

The Wall on Wilshire, piece of the Berlin Wall on Wishire Blvd painted by Kent Twitchell

I moved out to Los Angeles about five years ago. While investigating the city's major museums I noticed a strange thing across the street from the Los Angels County Museum of Art (LACMA). Right there on the side of Wilshire Blvd, thousands of miles away from German soil, were large sections of the Berlin Wall. They had been painted by various American artists, extending the tradition started in Berlin and erected as a testament to the American involvement in the destruction of the wall. This was especially noticeable in the center which featured Kent Twitchell's portraits of President John F. Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan. Both had visited Berlin and spoke memorable speeches protesting the wall. Both portraits feature the text of the most famous soundbites from their speeches. In his unfortunately phrased German, President Kennedy announced "Ich bin ein Berliner." Which translates to something like "I am a small pastry." What he meant to say was that "I too am a citizen of Berlin", conveying how this crisis had made the people of the world relate to the sufferings of the people of Berlin. President Reagan was a little more wary then to tread in the unfamiliar turf of a foreign language. He asked the Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" This art acts as a commemoration stone of a struggle of a single people but a victory shared by two nations...and all the people of the world who love freedom. 

I don't wear a cross as jewelry. I am not against it, I just don't own one. However, my wife is Roman Catholic so we have a cross of crucifix hanging in half of the rooms of our house. Crosses and crucifixes as jewelry and ornamentation are a lot like sections of the Berlin Wall as art. It may seem strange to some outsiders to take aesthetic pleasure in a symbol of state oppression (the Berlin Wall) or state execution (the Crucifixion). They seem to symbolize tragedy and loss. Yet to the one who can perceive the beauty in them they represent the opposite: victory over tragedy and gain from loss. I am not saying that the cross of Jesus Christ is the same as the Berlin Wall. I am saying that the cross of Jesus is a symbol of the demolished Berlin Wall. And that is what St. Paul was saying in Romans 8:35-39, for far too long Man had been separated from His love by the wall of Sin. Not only Sin but a barrier of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword and all manner of evils stood between Man enjoying the love, peace and rest of His Creator. Life before Christ was filled with attempts to create a tolerable life...to create beauty in the midst of anguish...to paint the wall that separated God the Father from His children. Christ came to not only to beautify the wall of oppression and separation from God but to protest its injustice and die for its destruction. In his life he related to sinners like President Kennedy related to Berliners. In his death he took upon his punishment and shame. In his preaching he demanded like President Reagan that this wall that separates be torn down. In his sacrificial blood he bought the freedom from all that had been alienated from God their Father. In his love we find unity with God and remission from sins. The book of Revelation calls believers in Christ Jesus the New Jerusalem. A city, just like Berlin. A city that is no longer a victim to an oppressive wall. Their is no barrier, no wall, no sin that separates us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.