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Summer Fruit |
Amos 8: 1-12; Luke 24: 13-35
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© John Ewing Roberts |
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INTRODUCTION The walls and windows of the great cathedrals presented religious art to teach the story of the Bible to those worshippers who could not read and to remind all who come and go of the content of the word of God. Here at Woodbrook, thanks to Bill Butler's expertise we are able on any Sunday to look at works of art which will enrich our worship. Today the artists will help in a difficult sermon, a sermon of judgment, an important part of the Bible, but a topic from which we may tend to shy away for a variety of reasons. Some in this congregation were raised on "hell fire and damnation" preaching, and you don't miss it. Guilt, fear and manipulation are something you would like to leave behind. But you remember that heaven and hell are part of the Bible story of the last judgment and ultimate accountability, themes Jesus emphasized which we dare not neglect. This sermon is an effort to get these themes on the agenda in a fresh manner. HELL? Some do not believe in Hell at all. Others say that if there is a Hell, it is remedial, a place to be reformed after a time. Well, even if these persons are right, I do not want to go there, even for a remedial interval. And if they are wrong, I definitely do not wish to go there. Nor do I wish anyone else to go there. A good answer to those who do not believe in Hell comes from the redoubtable Baptist theologian, Herschel Hobbs. He wrote, "...Jesus said more about hell than he did about heaven. The denial of the existence of hell is due more to wishful thinking and sentimental reasoning than to an interpretation of the factual teaching of Scripture. To wish there was no hell does not make it so. To say that a merciful God would not make a hell is to examine only one facet of God's nature. Actually, God sends no man to hell; he goes there in spite of all God does to prevent it."[1] We coast right by the themes of judgment and hell with a cheap grace, built partly on valid affirmation and partly on look-the-other-way denials. At our risk we try to relax the judgment-grace tension. Our rationalizations go something like this: Jesus died for our sins; he lives; he loves us and is gracious. He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Such thinking will not hold up; we dare not presume on grace. Paul was aware of the tension between judgment and grace, punishment and forgiveness, when he asked, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6: 1-2) We are told to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. For more on Paul's tensions between grace and judgment read Romans 6: 11-14, 23. PROPHETS AND PAINTINGS - A FRESH LOOK AT THE OLD ISSUE OF JUDGMENT For a fresh look at judgment we turn today to the prophet Amos and to several paintings which I would call prophetic in that they tell forth the word of God. The prophets often used picture words to give vivid visual impressions of their powerful message. Artists are often prophets in their own way, seeing things with their practiced eye which we average persons miss. As a result the artist is often a keen interpreter of scripture, giving us a fresh look at a familiar biblical scene. Amos seemed especially drawn to visual images. God did not ask him, "What do you hear?" but in v. 2, "Amos, what do you see?" Amos saw signs of human sin, reasons for the judgment of God, such a catalog of sins that there would be a famine not of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord. (v. 11) Accordingly, it is appropriate today for us to use a number of different kinds of paintings to get across his message of judgment and justice. ECONOMICS The emphasis in Amos 8 is on economics. God is angry, not because Israel has failed to fulfill cultic requirements, not because there was something wrong with their worship or scripture interpretation, not because of failures in prayer or in music, but because the people couldn't wait to get out of worship and start making a killing financially at someone else's expense. [2] For example, Amos 8: 6 speaks of buying the poor and needy for the price of a pair of sandals. We know exactly what those sandals looked like because near Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the Judean desert, archaeologists uncovered these sandals. (Slide of Sandals, found in the Judean desert near Qumran [where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered], 1st century B. C.) But even if we did not have the sandals from the Judean desert, we know what the shoes of a working man looked like. (Slide of A Pair of Boots, van Gogh, 1887 [Baltimore Museum of Art]) We know they are essential for him to be able to work. The rugged simplicity of a pair of humble workman's boots speak quietly of the dignity of humanity, a dignity not to be violated by the rich and powerful. The particular injustice is economic injustice, unfair business practices.[3] There are many injustices for which we are held ultimately accountable, finally judged. Colossians 5: 19-21 gives a list: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. Matthew 25, our responsive reading today, warns against failure to feed the hungry, aid the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit those sick and in prison. Amos would cry out against economic injustice in our time. For example, since 1974 if we adjust for inflation the average Chief Executive Officers' after-tax compensation rose by more than 300%! At the same time, again adjusting for inflation, the average worker's pay fell 13%.[4] A CEO FROM EUTAW PLACE There was a chief executive officer in this church, the head of Western Maryland Railroad, a man named Douglas Gray. Our 7th pastor, O. C. S. Wallace, wrote something about him in a looseleaf notebook he kept with his personal evaluation of each member, one to a page, a sort of earthly equivalent of the Lamb's book of life which will be opened on judgment day. (Philippians 4: 3) Dr. Wallace described Douglas Gray: ...a young man of attractive personality and appearance. He has been irregular in his contacts with the church. He could be of great use if he would devote himself as earnestly to the life of the church as many young men do. On next Friday, at a real estate settlement ceremony the estate of Douglas Gray, brother of George Gray, a check will be turned over to the church of the Gray family, completing a real estate transaction bringing us almost $800,000. "He could be of great use" indeed! The point of this story of economics and judgment is clear - none of us, from pastor on up, should ever in the name of interim judgment give up on any of us. The fruit is not yet ripe, as Amos would say. Or to use the contemporary saying, "Be patient! God isn't finished with us yet!" There is still time for each of us and all us, from CEO's on down, to do justice with our money and God's people. On judgment day our excuses for giving a pittance or not giving at all will be brought to light. Dr. Wallace is not the only one to keep a book. Meanwhile, we join Amos in the prayer, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Amos 5: 24) SUMMER FRUIT In Amos 8 the prophet spoke of summer fruit in wicker baskets such as those used in the service today. Summer fruit in its ripeness stands for the ripe, full development of sin, the sin of injustice against the poor, corruption of worship practices, and a false notion of righteousness.[5] "The sight of summer fruit, well ripened, always does mean that the end of the growing season is at hand...the end of the season for repentance has come..."[6] Summer fruit is Amos' way of saying what those concrete crosses by the roadside in the rural south proclaim: "Repent - the end is near!" The Hebrew word for ripened fruit and the word for "end" sound alike. The point is that there is a point of no return when the Lord's judgment is pronounced with finality, "I will not pass by them anymore."[7] (Slide of Compotier, Pitcher, and Fruit, Paul Cezanne, 1892-1894 [Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia]) "...joyous," "sumptuous," "exuberant" are words used to describe the fruit in this still life.[8] (Slide of Table, Napkin, and Fruit, Paul Cezanne, 1895-1900 [Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia]) Here is fruit meant to be appreciated for its sensuousness, "objects of a caressing vision." [9] (Slide of Curtain, Jug, and Compotier, Paul Cezanne, 1893-1894 [Collection of Mrs. John Hay Whitney]) "The still lifes of Cezanne's maturity elude all attempts at moralizing or symbolic interpretation...neither staged glimpses of everyday life...nor allegories of the senses...The fruit is present not as food but as objects of contemplation." ( Slide of Still Life with Apples, Paul Cezanne, 1893-1894 [Private Collection]) `With an apple,' he once proclaimed, `I want to astonish Paris.'"[10] Since Georgia O'Keeffe said, "I think I'd rather let the painting work for itself than help it with the word,"[11] nothing should be said as we look at three of her still lifes. (Slide of Grapes on White Dish, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1920 [Mr. and Mrs. J. Carrington Wooley]) (Slide of Plums, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1920 [Collection of Paul and Tine Schmid]) (Slide of Apples Family III, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1921 [Estate of Georgia O'Keeffe]) A still-life does not have to have any allegorical or symbolic meaning. (Slide of Still Life of Fruit, David de Heem, c. 1630 [Ashmolean Museum, Oxford]) In Holland where the winters were long, cold and dark, what was wrong in "simply luxuriating in the sensual delight of high summer's abundance"?[12] But fruit can be more than just fruit. (Slide of Madonna and Child with Angels, Giorgio Schiavone, ca. 1433-1504 [Walters Art Gallery]) The Renaissance artist Schaivone painted above Jesus and Mary "a festoon of peaches which could take the place of the apple, traditional symbol of original sin, which are opposed to the cherries and plums signifying the virtue of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ."[13] Notice the fly, symbol of sin and death. Still-life could take on very serious meanings (Slide of Floral Life with Vanitas, Joris van Son, c. 1658-1660 [Walters Art Gallery]), if the artist included such objects as fruit and flowers surrounding a skull and a quickly burning candle.[14] Here we see the vanity of a life which is over all too soon. The fruit is beautiful and ripe, but it will decay. The message is clear, "Remember, o mortal, you too will die!" Gather rosebuds and summer fruit while ye may, but forget not the grim reaper. TWO GREAT PAINTINGS OF JUDGMENT Now we are ready to look at today's two main paintings: (Slide of The Supper at Emmaus, Caravaggio, 1601 [National Gallery, London]) We will come back to this painting in a moment. It has links with our next painting. (Slide of The Last Judgment, Michelangelo, 1536-1541 [Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome]) Here is the connection. Look at this close up of the hand of Christ in The Supper at Emmaus, Caravaggio, 1601 (National Gallery, London) Now consider the close up of the hand of Christ in The Last Judgment, Michelangelo, 1536-1541 (Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome) I believe that Caravaggio saw a link between the first appearance of Jesus after the resurrection and the appearance of Jesus at the last judgment. Remember that Caravaggio's first name was Michelangelo. Even though he wanted to paint, sometimes he seems to have resented his parents' imposition of such artistic pressure. How would you feel if you liked to play baseball but your parents had named you "Brooks Cal?" Sometimes he rose to the occasion and would include in his paintings something that his great namesake Michelangelo had painted. Artists quote one another the way writers repeat earlier authors. Caravaggio seemed "particularly drawn to Michelangelo at this time."[15] Remember his quotation of Michelangelo in his painting of the call of Matthew, where the hand of Jesus pointing at Matthew is the hand of Adam just before God touches it, as painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Well, something just like that is going on here. The hand of Jesus in the Supper at Emmaus is the same left hand of Jesus in Michelangelo's Last Judgment above the altar of the Sistine Chapel. Another link - Jesus in both paintings is beardless, not the way most Renaissance painters rendered him. Let's go back and spend some time with the Caravaggio painting. The Supper at Emmaus, Caravaggio, 1601 (National Gallery, London) There is much to see in Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus. We will look at several elements but concentrate finally on the bowl of fruit and the left hand of Jesus, the places where the theme of judgment appears. - Look at Jesus, clean shaven, "in another likeness" (Mark 16: 12 ) "an ordinary man among ordinary men" as Jaroslav Pelikan described him here.[16] - Now consider the two disciples. They are stunned; they thought he was dead. They are frightened: is this a ghost? And there is another reason to draw back from Jesus: the last time they were with him, they were denying him and abandoning him. From the disciple on our left a tattered elbow thrusts it way out into our space. This man is about to push himself up from his chair, either in surprise or in respect. The man on our right wears a shell, the sign of a pilgrim, his left arm comes out into our space as he spreads his arms either in surprise or to repeat the posture of the crucified but now risen Lord. If we are meant to take him to be Simon Peter, this gesture anticipates his own death by crucifixion. "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?" Cleopas asks the unknown stranger (Luke 24: 18). The word for "stranger" in the Bible Caravaggio heard read, the Latin Vulgate, is peregrinus, which also means "pilgrim."[17] Caravaggio wants us in the picture. We know this because although Jesus is dressed in "biblical clothes," the others are dressed like everyday people of his own time. The point is that Jesus can surprise us with his presence and enter into our world, even when we least expect him, when we did not anticipate his lively presence, even when at the end of the day we are at the end of our rope, even when we are tired or hungry or discouraged or "all of the above." Caravaggio wants us in the picture. We know this not only because of the clothes but because the way the picture breaks out his dimensions and comes into our space. The elbow of the man of the left, the arm of the man on the right, and the fruit bowl. Look at it! The edge is teetering over the side of the table. It will fall off if we don't reach out and pay some attention to it. - Now look at that innkeeper, just standing there with his hat on because he doesn't realize he is in the presence of the Lord. But then innkeepers don't always do as well in hospitality as they should. Remember that fellow at the beginning of the gospel story who declared that there was no room in the inn? (Luke 2: 7) - Now let us concentrate on the fruit, a still life within the larger narrative painting. One observer noticed that "rarely before have pilgrims been so well fed."[18] Something is wrong; the fruits all are ripe in the autumn but this first Easter evening event takes place in the spring. So what do these fruits mean? Grapes beside a broken loaf of bread are not hard to figure out - they stand for the wine of communion, the blood of Jesus poured out for the remission of our sins. A bursting pomegranate stands for the crown of thorns, according to the Walters' guidebook, but more likely when cut to show the seeds inside it, is a symbol of resurrection.[19] Just look at these apples - we all know who gave an apple to whom and what happened next - Adam and Eve and the snake. By the way, the Bible never says that Eve gave Adam an apple; it only mentions fruit (Genesis 3: 3). The idea that the fruit was an apple probably comes from the fact the Latin word for wickedly, male and the word for apple, malum, are so similar. But back to the apples, symbols of evil. Look at those spots! Everything verges on decay. Signs of worms and rot - corruption! Even in the presence of the risen Lord, even in this moment of sudden discovery that Jesus is present at the end of the day when we are tired, hungry and discouraged, even in such a time of blessing, the possibility of things going wrong is present also. Good and bad together. Judgment. The meaning of the fruit takes us to the left hand of Jesus, which, as we have seen, is meant to take us back to Michelangelo's Last Judgment. (Slide) In the responsive reading we read that when the Son of man judges the nations, he will send the blessed to his right hand and the damned to his left. The left hand of Christ is for those who reject his blessings, for those who chose evil over good, for those who deserve judgment. Just look at who's there on the left of Jesus: this poor creature who was the inspiration for Rodin's The Thinker. By the way, when the restorers cleaned up this portion of the painting they discovered that she was a woman. And look at this damned soul - in the lowest part of hell he has the face of the Vatican official who gave Michelangelo the most grief. Now he is stuck in hell with asses ears and a snake wrapped around his body. Restorers also found that the snake was biting him at a most painfully vulnerable place! Here is Saint Bartholomew, said to have been martyred by being flayed. How appropriate for him to be holding an empty human skin. But the face is said to be that of Michelangelo, who feared the second death and his own carnal weakness but longed for spiritual relief and salvation.[20] CONCLUSION What does it all mean? In a sentence, a long one(!) our scriptures and our prophetic painters are saying something like this: Amos with his summer fruit, artists with still lifes of their summer fruit which will pass from being objects of beauty, color and almost geometric form into symbols of sin and judgment, all call us into the presence of the risen Lord who can surprise us when we are tired, hungry, and discouraged, but who also will hold us accountable for how we use the good gifts that are before us. There will be a final judgment; the word of God is clear. Michelangelo has reason to fear it; so do we. "But," you say, "we are Christians; Jesus has died for our sins, and God has forgiven us." Yes, all that is true, but who of us wants to accept that forgiveness and then presume on it by continuing to sin with our dollars and our bodies and our minds and our hearts? Let Michelangelo have the last word. A friend said to Michelangelo, "You must be saddened to think of your death." "Not so. If life was found to be agreeable, then so should death. It comes from the hand of the same Master." But we are not yet dead - the fruit is not yet ripe. (Slide of still life of fruit.) There is still time. What should we do? We should expect Christ to surprise us as he did the disciples at supper in Emmaus, coming upon us when we least expect him, when we are tired, defeated, and discouraged. We should, like Amos, manage our money, our worship, our very lives that justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. That way we have nothing to fear on that day when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive good or evil according to what we have done in the body. [This sermon is for circulation within the Woodbrook congregation and may not be reproduced without permission.] Notes: [1] Herschel H. Hobbs, Fundamentals of Our Faith [Nashville: Broadman Press] 1960, p. 145 [2] Op. cit., p 12 [3] "Judgment Day," William H. Willimon, Pulpit Resource, Vol. 26, No. 3, p. 11 [4] Op. cit., p. 13 [5] Craig Loscaizo, "Preaching Themes From Amos," Review and Expositor, Dan R. Stiver, managing editor, Louisville, Kentucky, Vol. 92, No. 2, Spring 1995, p. 199 [6] Jacob M. Myers, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 14 [Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press] 1966, p. 140 [7] Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, The Communicator's Commentary, Vol. 20 [Dallas: Word Publishers] p. 342 [8] Joseph J. Rishel, "Paul Cezanne," Great Paintings from the Barnes Foundation [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, p. 134 [9] Op. cit., p. 146 [10] Francoise Cachin et al, Cezanne [Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art] 1996, p. 383 [11] Jack Coward and Juan Hamilton, Georgia O'Keeffe - Art and Letters [Washington: National Gallery of Art] 1987, p. 135 [12] David Piper, Treasures of the Ashmolean Museum [Oxford: Ashmolean Museum] 1990, p. 70 [13] Eric M. Zafran, Fifty Old Master Paintings from The Walters Art Gallery [Baltimore: The Waters Art Gallery] 1988, p. 34 [14] Joneath A. Spicer and Asya Haikin, The Walters Art Gallery - Guide to the Collections [London: Scala Books] 1997, p. 64 [15] Howard Hibbard, Caravaggio [New York: Harper and Row] 1983, p. 77 [16] Jaroslav Pelikan, The Illustrated Jesus Through the Centuries [New Haven: Yale University Press] 1997, p. 198 [17] Howard Hibbard, Caravaggio [New York: Harper and Row] 1983, p. 80 [18] Alfred Moir, Caravaggio [New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.] 1989, p. 82 [19] Peter and Linda Murray, The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture "Flowers and Fruit," [Oxford: Oxford University Press] 1996, p. 183 [20] Pierlugi De Vecchi, Michelangelo - The Vatican Frescoes [New York: Abbeville Press Publishers] 1996, p. 232 |