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| "The Calling of St. Matthew" by Caravaggio, 1600 A.D. |
Caravaggio showcases how
Jesus reaches into every
culture and context,
time and space,
with the call, "Follow Me"
to people like us
who least expect His attention and love.
Jesus reaches into every
culture and context,
time and space,
with the call, "Follow Me"
to people like us
who least expect His attention and love.
This summer, I have had the gift of reading through the Gospel of St. Matthew multiple times again with some teens who are reading it for the first time. It's been my joy and honor to learn alongside them. And in coming to chapter 9 of the Gospel, I was reminded of a painting that continues to captivate me.
The classic artwork by Caravaggio above has helped me wonder again with curiosity and awe about how Jesus comes to each of our tables in life and invites us to follow Him.
The Good News of Jesus
Brought to Life in
"The Calling of St. Matthew"
by Caravaggio, 1600 A.D.
Brought to Life in
"The Calling of St. Matthew"
by Caravaggio, 1600 A.D.
When Caravaggio decided to create the masterpiece above, instead of dressing the painting’s figures in ancient clothing, he used contemporary clothes of the late 16th century to strongly communicate Jesus' calling of people of any time, particularly people who lived in Caravaggio's day, ethnicity, and culture.
The men's wealthy clothing combined with the way they crowd like vultures over the money and meet in the shrouded room displays humanity's often great greed and self-protection to hide our biggest faults, yet here we see Jesus bring His Light to the darkness, showcasing that even in our most hidden evil thoughts and actions, we cannot stop Him or drown out His loving call to each of us to come with Him into freedom and hope.
This most likely resonated deeply with Caravaggio himself because he was as a drunk brawler who picked fights and eventually murdered a man.
In knowing this about his life, we can also see another potent purpose for Caravaggio's layout. Jesus' fingers in "The Calling of St. Matthew" mirror those of Adam and God in "The Creation of Man" by Michelangelo. Where humanity's hand pulled away from God in our selfishness, self-pity, rebellion, violence, prejudice, and erosion of His good creation, God is reaching further still in Jesus, bridging the great divide we constructed, reaching out to us from the Father by the Spirit and calling each of us by name as He reconciled divinity and humanity in His own body, is reconciling heaven and earth in His incarnated life, death, resurrection, and future return, and will reconcile us fully to Himself so that we can eternally rest in being fully known and fully loved.
This painting could be updated today with our own modern 21st clothing in any culture among any ethnicity in any restaurant, pub, club, or table in our own neighborhood, town or city.
Jesus is here,
generously and graciously
pointing to each of us, saying,
"I love you.
I have come to seek and to save you.
Come with Me."
Bonus Caravaggio Post:
+ The Incredulity of St. Thomas
Bonus Artwork:
Jesus is here,
generously and graciously
pointing to each of us, saying,
"I love you.
I have come to seek and to save you.
Come with Me."
Bonus Caravaggio Post:
+ The Incredulity of St. Thomas
Bonus Artwork:
+ Kitchen Maid with the Supper
+ Candlelight & Crossroads
+ Tribute to Bach
+ Rublev's Icon
+ Return of the Prodigal Son
+ Candlelight & Crossroads
+ Tribute to Bach
+ Rublev's Icon
+ Return of the Prodigal Son
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike "Sully" Sullivan
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