Monday...continued from yesterday...

Michelangelo : Rondanini Pieta, detail

“you are God’s work of art...”  Ephesians 2 v 10

... an unfinished masterpiece...

do look back at yesterday’s blog 

& its meditative poem

“you are Gods work of art...” Ephesians 2 v 10

Michelangelo : Slave

God’s work of art.

That’s me ?

Then Beauty must lie

In the eye of the

Beholder.

I feel more like

One of those statues

Michelangelo left

Half emerging

From the marble block;

Full of potential,

On the verge of life,

but prisoned still

By circumstance and

Fear.

Michelangelo : Slaves

yet part of me is free -

And you are still creating,

Bringing to life

The promise that is there.

Michelangelo : Slave

Sometimes by 

Hammer blows

Which jar my being,

Sometimes by

Tender strokes half felt

Which waken me to

Life.

Go on, Lord.

Love me into wholeness.

Set me free 

To share with you

In your creative joy;

To laugh with you

At your delight

In me,

Your work of art.

poem by Ann Lewin, ‘Revelation’  found in ‘Invitations’ by Francis Dewar p 98

Sundays in Lent

Every 3 years we have these wonderful Gospel readings from St John ... beginning with Nicodemus, an important Pharisee, coming very circumspectly at night to have a private conversation with Jesus.

Crijn Hendricksz :Jesus & Nicodemus

St John 3 v 1-8

Hendricksz depicts him as a wealthy Jew of his day (17th Cent )... wearing a stylish turban, fashionable slashed sleeves & expensive fur jacket. Did he come expecting an academic discussion...as all the pointing fingers & reference books suggest... Is that what the gospel writer portrays?  Or does Jesus choose a less cerebral, more spiritual direction ? Read it for yourself, and see...

What happened to Nicodemus ?  

We come across him again ( ch 7 v 50f ) after there has been so much controversy against Jesus that the Sanhedrin is firmly set against him... Nicodemus speaks out in his defence, asking whether it is lawful to condemn a man without first giving him a fair hearing...
then later, after the crucifixion, Nicodemus joins Joseph of Arimathea to bury Jesus with a vast quantity of spices. (Jn 19 v 38-42 )

Michelangelo pieta

Michelangelo sculpted this pieta near the end of his life... Did he portray Nicodemus, orJoseph of Arimathea..?. this face is very similar to a self-portrait sketch... was he deliberately thinking of himself in their role ?