New Testament Word & Image: Acts 1:1-11 & Chapel of the Ascension of Christ



The Ascension of Jesus, Chapel of the Ascension of Christ, Rosary Basilica, Lourdes, France

Acts 1:1-11

 

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

 

Chapel of the Ascension of Christ (Rosary Basilica)




And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

Chapel of the Ascension of Christ (Rosary Basilica)

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Holy Week- The Dirtiest Feet In Jerusalem, Memphis and Rome

Divine Servant, Max Greiner

Thursday many Christians around the world will celebrate Maundy Thursday. They will gather together and celebrate the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples before being crucified on Good Friday. But after the supper he did something unusual that took his disciples off guard. He proceeded to wash their feet. Christians of all stripes continue this practice on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. The following are three stories about this peculiar practice amongst the faithful throughout the ages:

John 13:1-7

 

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

 

The Story Behind the Foot Washing at the 1994 “Memphis Miracle”

"Certain segments within early Pentecostalism – most prominently the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909) in Los Angeles, California – promoted a vision of “brotherly love” across the racial divides. However, this interracial vision was quickly eclipsed as Pentecostals set out to organize churches and did so largely along cultural and racial lines. When the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America – an umbrella organization for Pentecostal denominations – was formed in 1948, its founding members were all mostly-white denominations.

Recognizing the need to heal the racial divisions within Pentecostalism, church leaders came together in Memphis on October 18, 1994 and dissolved the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America. The next day the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) was formed by both white and black denominations. The meetings surrounding this monumental act of racial reconciliation came to a climax when, on October 18, a white Assemblies of God pastor, Donald Evans, approached the platform. He tearfully explained that he felt God’s leading to wash the feet of Church of God in Christ Bishop Ithiel Clemmons, while begging forgiveness for the sins of the whites against their black brothers and sisters. A wave of weeping swept over the auditorium. Participants sensed that this was the final seal of the Holy Spirit’s approval from the heart of God over the proceedings. This event, which became known as the “Memphis Miracle,” is a significant milestone in the annals of Pentecostal history..."

 

Pope washes feet of young Muslim woman prisoner in unprecedented twist on Maundy Thursday     

"While popes have for centuries washed the feet of the faithful on the day before Good Friday, never before had a pontiff washed the feet of a woman. That one of the female inmates at the prison in Rome was also a Serbian Muslim was also a break with tradition.

“There is no better way to show his service for the smallest, for the least fortunate,” said Gaetano Greco, a local chaplain.

Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates aged 14 to 21, among them the two women, the second of whom was an Italian Catholic. Mr Greco said he hoped the ritual would be “a positive sign in their lives”. 

Catholic traditionalists are likely to be riled by the inclusion of women in the ceremony because of the belief that all of Jesus’ disciples were male.              

The pontiff, who has largely disregarded protocol since his election earlier this month, urged his fellow clerics before the ceremony to prioritise the poor. 

“We need to go out to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters,” he said at a mass in St Peter’s Basilica.
“It is not in soul-searching or constant introspection that we encounter the Lord.”
Francis, the first leader of the Catholic Church from Latin America, led a mass with a mixed group of young offenders at the Casal del Marmo prison outside of Rome.
The 76-year-old, who was archbishop of Buenos Aires until chosen as pope, has already made a name for himself as a champion of the disadvantaged. In his homeland of Argentina he was known for his strong social advocacy, working in slums and shunning the lavish lifestyle adopted by some senior clerics. He lived in a small flat near the cathedral, flew to the Rome conclave in economy class, and chose to travel with his fellow cardinals by minibus rather than in the papal limousine.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio - as Pope Francis was previously known - had already washed and kissed the feet of women in past ceremonies in Argentinian jails, hospitals and old people's homes, including pregnant mothers and AIDS patients.
Before performing the traditional feet washing, in his first general audience on Wednesday, Francis called on the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics to reach out to “lost sheep” over the coming days.
“Holy Week challenges us to step outside ourselves so as to attend to the needs of others: those who long for a sympathetic ear, those in need of comfort or help,” Francis told thousands of faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square..."
 

The strange thing about foot washing as an act of ministry is not just that it is allowing a stranger to connect with you in an intimate way but that it throws our notions of ministry for a loop. It makes us think of ministers (Christ, the Apostles, bishops, pastors, popes) as servants. Ironically that is exactly what "minister" means: servant. Wikipedia states that the English word is derived from the word "minus", denoting "less." At a time when many try to shine out and "do the most" Christ is calling us to "be the least." Christ showed us in his foot washing that we are called to serve our Christian brothers. The Assemblies of God and Church of God In Christ Pentecostals in Memphis showed us that we are called to serve our brothers that we have differences and disagreements with (racial, theological and organizational). Pope Francis showed us that we are called to serve those that we may not view as our Christian brothers and sisters because we are still all God's children. We do this because Christ call (during Easter and year-round) is one of humility, love and giving. We are called to serve the sinful, unfaithful, criminal, unrepentant, prejudiced and unfamiliar brothers and sisters that we have enmity against... because that is how Christ finds us. God sees behind the beautiful shoes that we adorn ourselves with. He knows the dirty and burdened feet that have traversed the earth running away from Him. Yet it is these feet that he reveals, embraces and washes with the water of His kindness. He kneels before us as a servant so that we might be free from the bondage of Sin. And he cleans us from our past and present, preparing our feet to walk he path of righteousness.

 

How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

- Isaiah 52:7

 

 

 

Blind Faith

John 9:1-41

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth...

If you are a professional librarian, teacher or professor who reads this blog then you probably cringe at the fact that I use Wikipedia consistently as a reference. I will continue this dangerous practice in this post. In it's definition of Blindness, Wikipedia describes it as "the complete lack of form and visual light perception and is clinically recorded as NLP, an abbreviation for 'no light perception.'" In it's definition of Photography it describes it as "the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light... either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor." The tie that binds photography and blindness together is light. It actually doesn't tie them together but rather repels them apart, since photography requires light and blindness cannot perceive light. I included this extended prologue so that my introduction of Sonia Soberats would be that much more impactful. Sonia Soberats is a blind photographer. She was not always blind but rather lost her vision after losing her son to Hodgkin's Disease and her daughter to Ovarian Cancer in a three year span. She was left alone in a dark world. After these traumatic events she picked up photography and started to provide light to those with vision. She works with an assistant who sets up the tripod and camera but she is the one that provides the light that creates the image (using a process called light painting which has been used by other artists such as Pablo Picasso). Actually there are several blind photographers who are presently garnering fame with this same technique. Sometimes those who cannot physically process light can understand and share more about the beauty of light than the sighted can. Sometimes those with vision are the ones who live in the dark. In today's scripture reading we find Jesus (who described himself as the Light of the World) encountering a blind man who reveals the same truth.         

Blind From Birth                                                                  

 

...And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know”...

In every culture and age the blind have been known by their aid. This blind man in scripture was a beggar, receiving the aid of those who passed by. Today we see blind people empowered to work by the aid of a walking stick or a seeing eye dog. Jesus healed many in his earthly ministry. Yet this story of the man blind from birth stands out amongst the others. The author of the gospel has taken 41 verses to show us the story of the healing and its aftermath. It all starts when Jesus' Disciples ask him why this man was blind from birth. The prevailing thought of the day was that sin brought about sickness as judgment from God. Since this man was always blind the Disciples asked if the assumed judgment was due to some spiritual error of his parents. Jesus understood that life isn't as black and white as they thought: the chain of cause and effect has a nuance of shady gray. Maybe Jesus thought about the story of Job in the Old Testament, where all of Job's friends see his loss of health, fortune and family as the judgment of God for his sin. We as readers know that Job is suffering due to a wager between God and Satan (based on God's trust of Job's character) but Job is never given such an answer. His health and possessions are eventually restored but God is silent as to giving Him a reason. His answer is more of a "I have my reasons" response. In the end that is the answer to much of suffering in life: God has His reasons. Truly they are usually past our comprehension, hence the saying "the Lord moves in mysterious ways." Jesus had more insight into this particular case in specific, stating to his Disciples that "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me..." Maybe that is the answer to any suffering that we encounter as Christians and people of goodwill: God has allowed these things to occur so that He might be revealed through our good works. We are called to aid those in distress even as Christ once aided us in our spiritual distress.   

  Vision Test   

 

...They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”

He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”

The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out...

In between the general practitioner and dentist, in the hierarchy of medical professionals that people reverence, is the eye doctor. Just like the other two medics we visit the eye doctor yearly (or so) and go through a ritual that measures our health and sickness. The eye doctor puts us through a series of tests involving pictures of backwards letter E's and hot air balloons in the distance. In the ornate dance of attaining the right glasses, we go through several rounds of lying to him about being able to remember which lens is better... and he miraculously delivers the correct prescription! After the blind man was healed by Jesus the Pharisees put him through a series of tests. Spiritual tests are more like trials and this one takes the form of the constant back and forth of a classic episode of Matlock (minus the gray suit that Matlock wore everyday). Sometimes I think that my fellow American Evangelical Christians can go overboard on the whole "culture war" thing. We complain a little too often about suffering the ire of Hipsters due to our strange beliefs...yet when we do this for simple misunderstandings we cheapen the true persecution that our brothers in other countries (and throughout the ages) have suffered in real blood for their beliefs. Choosing to follow Christ always comes with repercussions... for you, your family and those around you. It should! Being spiritually healed by Christ makes you different, not better (you are still a sinner saved by Grace) but blessed in a unique life-giving way. Don't allow the persecution or misunderstanding that you go through be the catalyst of "us versus them" thinking on your part. Refrain from retreating to your own little Christian commune (be it real or imagined). Let this trial of your faith be a time of witness: through conviction, love and mercy. Share the Light that you once could not see. make the invisible God visible to them through your loving actions. Use it the Light to make beauty for those around you.

Spiritual Blindness

...Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

The key to vision is not only being able to see what is around you but also being able to focus. Problems with focus leads to a distorted view. After Christ restored the blind man's vision he asked if he believed in the Son of God, to which the blind man asked "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” His physical vision was intact but he needed a focal point for his spiritual vision. When Christ is depicted as healing the blind in any of the Gospels it is usually surrounded by displays of faithlessness of others surrounding him (often the Pharisees or even his own Disciples). This contrasts with the people of simple faith that Christ has just healed. It is used to show the distinction between physical and spiritual blindness. Both are conditions where Light cannot be perceived and Christ is presented as the remedy to both...yet, the spiritual blindness is treated as a much more serious condition. Obviously the Disciples were not fully spiritually blind (since they were Jesus' closest followers) but it may surprise you that the Pharisees (Jesus' fiercest adversaries) were not completely void spiritual perception. Jesus, the Disciples and the Pharisees were all Jews and recognized God as their spiritual Father and His Scripture as truth. Yet beyond those basic tenets of faith is where they differed. The Pharisees, although astute students of Scripture, could not see the running thread of mercy that weaved throughout it. They proudly practiced their faith in the working out of God's Word and Law and missed the physical manifestation of God's Word and fulfillment of God's Law: Jesus Christ. They had a type of spiritual vision of the Law but without the focal point of God's Law, which still left them legally blind. When I say these things about Jesus, I am not just speaking of Christ the religious deity to believe in but also the message of Jesus the prophet who preached peace. The two are not separate but rather joined together in a union that brings peace between God and mankind. This is the Light that the Disciples grew humble enough to accept. This is the Light that blind eyes were willing to see but sighted eyes became blind to. This is the Light that casts darkness upon your sins of the past but illuminates the God of forgiveness. He is the focus of God's Word.

Out of Darkness

 

There is one part of the story that I've left: my part. In my junior year in college as an art major I discovered that I was slowly going blind. I was diagnosed with Keratoconus: "a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than the more normal gradual curve." While I was studying painting my perception of light and images was eroding. Over the years I visited several different doctors and specialists and eventually underwent surgery for the Holcomb C3-R procedure with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. Unlike the man blind from birth in the Gospel of John, I developed my problems with processing light later in life. However, much like the Pharisees in this story, I was born with a problem with perceiving spiritual Light. I imagine that  this sounds like your part of the story as well, because we were all born with Original Sin. Its our collective spiritually-genetic birth defect. God doesn't punish anyone by cursing their children with blindness, Down's Syndrome, Diabetes, Tay–Sachs disease or any other condition that genetics throw your way. Life just comes with its challenges. Yet we punish our children by cursing them with the ignorance of superstition, unacceptance and conditional love. We punish our brothers with persecution and judgment that comes from a heart not enlightened by the love of God. We punish our neighbors by not perceiving the Light of Christ and expressing it through humility and mercy. Blind Faith isn't about becoming blind to facts in following the Church and its leadership. It is realizing that we are blind outside of Divine illumination. It is locking arms with another believer in a community of support as you feel your way around a dark world while walking toward the Light. When we do not understand this Light in our daily interactions with God and His children then it is then that we have embraced darkness. Walk in the Light.
 

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