As the artist coats a blank canvas with vibrant strokes of colored paint, he steadily makes an image which speaks to us. It might thrill us, or horrify us. The scene may suggest the warmth of maternal love, or the fierceness of martial courage, or the sad finality of death. The skilled painter doesn’t merely hope that people “like” his work. Rather, if he’s worth his salt he has something worth showing and thus it’s worth saying. The picture speaks without words.
Rembrandt’s lovely Prodigal Son hangs in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg telling the roaming museum-goers that if they run home to their Heavenly Father, His grace stands ready to grasp them with pardoning love. The painting embraces us with paternal grace, inviting wandering sons to the father’s strong arms.
Each time we feast here at the Lord’s Table, God paints a picture. The Master Artist turns you and me into brushstrokes on the canvas. The scene displays a company of old & young, men & women, rich & poor, gathered around a plain table laid with sourdough which gets chased down with ordinary wine. This scene, Paul insists, declares something. But what?
It’s tempting to think this painting depicts the homely quaintness of fraternity & friendship. Or it may occur to us that we’re in a picture of the hushing glory of the sacred. But what it principally declares is an innocent man who hung mangled on a cross because of envious Pharisees, cowardly governors, and the stubborn traitors like you and me. This meal paints a picture of the dying Christ. He died that the world through Him might be saved. So here, once again, the canvas is covered with the crimson hues of Christ the righteous dying, and by His death a new world begins; a world where sins are forgiven & life is everlasting. If you come to Christ, the frame of His grace encompasses even you.
So, come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…
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