Judging Composition

The Day of Judgement, Fra Angelico

Matthew 25:31-46

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Did I ever mention that Art School Confidential is one of the greatest films known to man? It's a comedy, it's a crime mystery, it's a film featuring John Malkovich at his most awkward...all if these being the marks of a movie that I love. Most importantly, it is a movie that represents Art class in the way that I remember it. I've been in that strange dark setting where a working artist leads a handful of developing art students in a critique of their work. As these young apprentices stand under judgment, they try and use big words (incorrectly) to defend what they did. A common misconception of Art School is that it is a place of free flowing, self expression where everyone gets a trophy for being themselves. It is based on the idea that Art is about nothing more than self expression and being true to one's self. If you have been to Art school, majored in Art or had any intensive level of Art instruction then you know that it is a place of judgment. Now it is not like Math education, where there are more wrong answers than right answers, and the real world of Art after school is murkier in its definition of what is right (or if there even is a right way), but much Art education is about judging you and about building your sense of judgment. Honestly that is what education is about across the board. Nobody likes the idea of judgment... or do they? No one likes being judged, when it means getting F's on tests. Yet everyone likes the idea of being able to exercise good judgment themselves, which leads to getting A's on tests. Passing a test is having someone judge that you have good judgment. Everyone loves judgment when it turns out well for them... when it means means reward instead of punishment. Our educational system (and our whole paradigm of knowledge attainment) is based on the concept of the test and judgment. The greatest thing that I learned to judge through these Art class critiques was composition. Wikipedia shares that Composition "in the visual arts—in particular painting, graphic design, photography, and sculpture—composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work. It can also be thought of as the organization of the elements of art according to the principles of art." But judging composition also affected how I understood the arrangement in other disciplines such as literature, science, oratory, sports, mathematics, etc. The key to judging a thing was by analyzing the structure of it's ingredients. This skill was valuable to my education across disciplines. Jesus was first and foremost an educator. Think about it: when God decided to communicate the fullness of His salvific truth to Mankind He chose to do it through a school. Jesus was a Rabbi (a religious teacher) that had students (disciples) who followed him in an apprenticeship (where they learned to be religious teachers). This should not be fully imagined in the paradigm of a seminary class, but rather as a real life laboratory in 1st century Palestine. In this open air workshop they would lean to study the Scriptures, heal the sick, suffer persecution, feed the hungry, make Gospel presentations and distribute the mercy of God under the instruction of their Master-teacher. So when Jesus teaches them in Matthew 25:31-46 about judgment it is a class about the precepts of Composition. It tells of a future time when the Son of Man will finish testing and will gather all men together for a critique. In it he will judge them according to the composition of their lives.

Two Sections




Paradise panel from The Last Judgment, Fra Angelico

So just to give you non-Art majors out there a taste of Art education, let's have a little critique of our own. Now don't be scared, I'm not going to use one of your childhood refrigerator drawings or even one of the doodles that you made in the margins of the meeting minutes at work. We are going to critique the great painters who have illustrated Matthew 25:31-46. So technically this is both a critique session and an art history course. The painting at the very top of the page is "The Last Judgment" by Fra Angelico. We know a lot about Fra Angelico's work and personal life. It is all due to that strange first name "Fra." It is actually not a name at all but a title. "Fra" is short for "Friar." He was a priest in the Dominican Order and Renaissance painter. He was actually beatified (the third step before being proclaimed a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church) by Pope John Paul II in 1982. So Fra Angelico looms large in both Art and religion. The Dominicans are also known as "The Order of Preachers" and being a preacher, Fra Angelico illustrates Matthew 25:31-46 by making a prominent feature in the composition of the text through a prominent feature in the composition of the painting. Both compositions show a heavy bilateral symmetry. There structures are broken into two parts. In the painting as in the text, Jesus is enthroned with those on his left in far dire straights than those on his right. As you go further out to the extremes you can see that the right is reserved for those in Paradise (Heaven) and those on the left suffer in the torment of Hell. This should not be confused with our contemporary Western, political notions of Left and Right but rather to the traditional Middle Eastern practice of using the Left and Right hand for shows of honor and shame. 

Hell panel from The Last Judgment, Fra Angelico

The Right hand is used for honorable things such as shaking hands and eating, while the Left hand is used for the dishonorable task of wiping oneself after defecating. My apology for the frankness of that last sentence (and the one instance of profanity in the Art School Confidential clip) but that is the frankness of the disrespect that is alluded to in Jesus' story. Some of you readers may debate the literalness or eternalness of Hell, but I'm sure that you can agree that Jesus is describing a place of ultimate dishonor that is apart from God's mercy. That is the crux of the description. It is a depiction of Jesus as the divider in this two sided reality. He is the eternal judge that categorizes things as Sheep and Goats, Left and Right and Angels and Demons. Though it may seem heavy handed and obtuse, reality is often divided into two factions. The question is, what are the two groups and what distinguishes each. This is where judgment comes in. Judgment is discernment, insight and the ability to keenly understand the nature of things. Jesus teaches us in this lesson that the judgment that he teaches us to exercise will enable us to decipher between the ways of life and death. Being an apprentice of Jesus will lead to one mastering life. I say this with no "self-help book" intentions because true life mastery is not about focusing on helping yourself but rather helping others. Your life is wrapped up in theirs.


Seven Parts

 The Works of Mercy, by the Master of Alkmaar

Of course Fra Angelico was not the only artist to cover Matthew 25:31-46. Master of Alkmaar approached this text from a different angle and his composition reflects it. Compared to Fra Angelico, we know very little about the Master of Alkmaar outside of this one painting. We are not even sure of his real name. Just like those who sit on the right hand of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, the only thing that we have to judge him with are his Works of Mercy. They are seven different paintings framed individually so they would normally seem like disconnected scenes. Often in our life acts of kindness can seem random and isolated. They can be large commitments like taking care of an aging parent or simple acts like giving food to a homeless person. When the Master of Alkmaar chose to place these scenes side by side as one piece he captured the emphasis of Jesus' message. When Jesus judges our acts of kindness and works of mercy, they will not be understood as separate disconnected episodes but one unified and creative exhibition of beauty. Jesus will honor them as an act of worship to him. If you are wondering why the artist features seven scenes, it is due to the Catholic teaching on works of mercy: 

"Corporal Works of Mercy are those that tend to bodily needs of others. In Matthew 25:34-40, in the The Judgment of Nations, six specific Works of Mercy are enumerated, although not this precise list — as the reason for the salvation of the saved, and the omission of them as the reason for damnation. The last work of mercy, burying the dead, comes from the Book of Tobit."

The seven corporal works are listed as:

1. To feed the hungry.
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To harbour the harbourless. (also loosely interpreted today as To Shelter the Homeless)
5. To visit the sick.
6. To visit the imprisoned (classical term is "To ransom the captive")
7. To bury the dead.

The Methodists traditionally have a different list which includes working for the abolition of slaves.

1. Doing Good
2. Visiting the Sick and Prisoners
3. Feeding and Clothing People
4. Earning, Saving, Giving All One Can
5. Opposition to Slavery

The fact that Catholics added one more to Jesus' list and that Methodists have a different list that only consists of five acts does not negate any of these lists. I don't believe that they meant to be totally definitive. There are endless ways to perform creative acts of mercy. The point of all of them is that they testify to the fact that your spiritual life is not defined only by you doing "spiritual things." It is not defined by a club made up of only you and Jesus. True spirituality and worship of God is praying to God for guidance in serving those around us. The Epistle of James describes it this way, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." We are saved to save our brothers and sisters. We are given grace with the understanding that we will pay it forward to others. 

One Central Image

Giotto, The Last Judgment

Both Fra Angelico and the Master of Alkmaar came to the story of the last judgment in Matthew 25:31-46 fully aware of the artistic giants who had approached the subject before them. Behemoths of Art history like Giotto, whose "The Last Judgment" exudes a standard for the genre that even latter Renaissance figures like Michelangelo must acknowledge. In a way we can think of Fra Angelico and the Master of Alkmaar's paintings as analytical judgments of Giotto. They were critiquing one if the greats. They constructed their two part and seven part compositions in response to Giotto's one part composition. In calling it a one part composition I am using a misnomer because it has several points and sections, but the thrust of the movement in this piece is central. Just like the text in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus sits in the center of Giotto's painting. Just like the Sun, the Son of God radiates illumination as to the true nature of all who surround him. He deciphers that those who have chosen the path of honor on his right have chosen life while those who have chosen the path of dishonor on the left have chosen death. The decisions that they have exercised while living will continue in the afterlife. Unbeknownst to them the were investing in their eternal destinies by showing interest in life or ignoring it. Jesus is exercising judgment. Judgment is not based on only two factors or seven factors. All of these factors are just expressions of one consideration: Jesus. Specifically I mean following Jesus. Whether we clothe the naked, feed the hungry, comfort the sick or what have you, we do so in an act of following Jesus. It is not just following what he said but it is also following what he did. It us not just believing in him but rather believing in what he said so much that we take it up as a lifestyle and practice. Heaven will not be full of just "believers" rather it will be full of "doers." This is the apprenticeship that the Master has set before his disciples: to learn from his actions and to replicate his actions. We are disciples of Jesus because we want to practice the works that Jesus practiced. The life of Jesus is the central element that should drive the movement in the composition of our lives.

Composition and Completion

Detail of the broken tombs in the central panel of The Last Judgment, Fra Angelico

Since we've analyzed how his fellow painters depicted Matthew 25:31-46, let's return to our critique of Fra Angelico. We discussed the extreme left and right panels but what about the center. The middle section below Jesus is overlooked and sparse on detail but it speaks volumes. It is the point where Fra Angelico's academic and theological analysis into the Gospel text turns personal. The painter depicts open graves that both that have been opened. Those who stand on both the Lord's left and right hand are both resurrected to judgment: some to eternal life and others to eternal death. This part is personal because the painter realizes that he to will be judged like these. Fra Angelico realized that the key to his being deemed honorable by the Righteous Judge will not be contingent on his artworks as a master painter or even his work a priest but rather his works of mercy. It is said that his tomb is engraved with the following:

"When singing my praise, don't liken my talents to those of Apelles. Say, rather, that, in the name of Christ, I gave all I had to the poor. The deeds that count on Earth are not the ones that count in Heaven. I, Giovanni, am the flower of Tuscany."

When entering the door to the afterlife Fra Angelico understood the unifying theme if Matthew 25:31-46. The unifying compositional element to Jesus' story was sustaining the life of others. All too often we Christians act as if the only important part of life is the end. We value dying because our misunderstanding of Jesus' message is all about leaving here so we can go to Heaven. Jesus believed in an afterlife and Jesus also believed in Heaven but the fullness of Jesus' concept if the Kingdom of Heaven was not something that we live in after we die. Jesus believed that the Kingdom of Heaven is for the living. The Kingdom of Heaven is about life and eternal life. Looking out for the temporal life of others is an investment in our own eternal life. In his earthly ministry Jesus healed the sick, feed the hungry, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead and fought every aspect of physical and spiritual manifestation of death and decay. He pursued the promotion of the spiritual and physical life of everyone around him because that is how love us expressed. Love gives life. If you are Jesus' disciple then be like your Master. Live like your Master. Love like your Master. And when the time of your final critique comes, Jesus will honor the work you have done.