October 2005

Art and the Artist

            I have a picture in my office that provides me with a great deal of inspiration.  It is a Rembrandt painting of the prodigal son returning to his father.  I used the painting as a center piece in a sermon once.  Many people have seen the painting all over the world.  Untold pages  have been written about it by art critics.  Henri Nouwen spent many days paralyzed by awe sitting in front of the painting, and eventually writing a book about it.  It is one of those paintings that the more you see it, the more you see in it. 

            I was thinking about Rembrandt and his painting not long ago, and the thought occurred to me that as great as Rembrandt’s paintings are, Rembrandt is greater still.  His work inspires and teaches.  His originals are priceless.  But they are only expressions of what was inside Rembrandt.  He could put beauty on canvas because of the beauty which was inside him.  All of his paintings together could not begin to amount to the value of the man himself. 

            The painting of the prodigal’s return, beautiful and grand as it is, has no brain or talent of its own.  It has no skill or ability.  It cannot reproduce itself or create another painting.  It is a beautiful arrangement of paint on canvas, but in the end it is only paint and canvas.  Rembrandt the man, however, had living intelligence, skill and a heart full of living beauty.  He had the ability to create many paintings of great worth.  His art is magnificent, but the artist is more magnificent.

            As I thought about that, I began to look at the world around me.  Everywhere I look I see works of art.  Graceful trees with intricate leaves, each with their own kinds of fruit.  Grass and grain, rivers and oceans, mountains and valleys, morning sky and starlit night are the works of a divine Artist.  He has made intricate insects and awesome creatures of every kind.  The human body and mind are incredible works of art and skill.  But all of these are only the expression of the grand Artist.  All of them together cannot measure up to his grandeur and worth.  If God’s works of art are beautiful, he is more beautiful still.  They are only the result of the beauty inside him. 

            Some people see the beauty of the world and are tempted to worship it.  But the creation is only the expression of the Creator who is behind it all.  He is worthy of worship because he is greater than the sum of what he has created.  So the next time you are awestruck by the beauty of creation, stop to consider the awesomeness of the One who is the Creator.

                        Watching and worshiping,

                                    Rod