That Icon
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
That Icon: 24 September 2011: am: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Psalm 78: 1 – 4, 12 - 16
- Exodus 17: 1 - 7
- Philippians 2: 1 - 13
- Matthew 21: 23 - 32
It’s been an interesting week. It began on Monday with a glorious Choral Eucharist as bishop and clergy of the Diocese gathered here with family and friends to give thanks for the life and ministry of Canon Jim Pether. Little did I know Wellington Cathedral was about to hit the international media’s attention – if only for a brief moment. Tuesday morning saw Cathedral staff sitting down with a cup of coffee to pore over Sunday morning’s readings. As we heard a few minutes ago they include the words of one of the earliest hymns of the Church, written in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
For much of Thursday the name of Jesus was indeed on everyone’s tongues – on the buses and trains, on talk-back radio, in the staff rooms and coffee shops of our cities. Within a few hours the story of the New Zealand Icon had gone viral, and by Friday night I had a message from someone to say it had appeared on the front page of the paper in the town where I was born. Of course, it morphed a little as it travelled the world, understandably upset a few people, and, I like to think, provided a point of discussion. If nothing else there is a quiet sense of achievement of getting a story about Jesus and the church on the front page of our local newspaper which is not scandal. If you read it carefully, the reporter even managed to get most of the theology right.
How did it happen? After all, the painting itself has been in the Cathedral shop window since the beginning of September, and was on display for three weeks at last year’s Arts Encompassing, with barely an eyelid batting. An email from the London-based Church Times said that a tourist had sent in a photo of the icon – could we supply a little of the background. This is what I wrote: On display for a few weeks in the Cathedral will be this intriguing painting by Wellington artist Don Little. Entitled “New Zealand Icon” Don has painted the figure of an All Black in the traditional setting of an icon. When I saw this work on display at last year’s Art Encompassing, I immediately thought how good it would be if we could show it again in the Cathedral. I wonder what you will make of it? Will you find it funny, insulting, puzzling? My own hope is that it will make us think a little about one of the central beliefs of Christianity - that God, in Christ, became human. The theological term for this is incarnation - the putting on flesh. Rugby is often likened to the real religion of New Zealand - so I think there is something quite profound being said by Don Little in his slightly tongue in cheek painting.
To be fair, I also added that there had been zero interest in the painting from our local New Zealand media, and that I was delighted it might make a story in the Church Times (which, incidentally, it did). There I thought it would end, except that on Thursday morning a very excited Australian rugby fan arrived offering to buy the painting. We talked, he told me why he wanted it, I called the artist, and we agreed to sell. On the spur of the moment I mentioned that we would give most of the Cathedral’s share to a local touch rugby team for at-risk young people. It seemed perfectly logical to do that a week before a significant fund-raiser for the Taita Pomare Project in Lower Hutt, the Fish and Chips on Friday event. The buyer immediately upped his offer and zapped his credit card through the eftpost machine.
So much for the story. What about the icon? An icon has been described as a window to God. This is how I see the painting. In a country where it is impossible to escape rugby at present, and where even Thursday’s front page article appeared under a teaser entitled “Rugby Heaven”, Don Little’s painting of a person in an All Black jersey, opens that window a little. Did Don intend it to be Jesus? You’ll have to ask him that. Certainly the media has chosen to think so.
For me, there is something a little more profound. It has to do with the story that we tell each year at Christmas time. That story is about God becoming human. St Luke has the most detail – there is a census, a couple who find no room at the inn, a baby born, angels and shepherds in the fields. St John takes a more philosophical approach and talks of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Either way, among the central tenets of Christian belief is this idea that God became one of us, a human being who ate and drank, loved and cried, suffered and died. History tells us that Jesus was born some two thousand years ago in a Roman occupied country called Palestine. The Creed which we say Sunday by Sunday, hammered out in the fourth century, is careful to include a datable reference to Jesus when it says that he ‘suffered under Pontius Pilate.’
But what if? What if Jesus had been born somewhere else and at some other time? What if he had been born in our day in our country? That is the question I believe lies behind Don Little’s painting. It is a question asked many many times by numerous artists. What would Jesus look like if he were here among us now? Christine has put together a collage, a collection of a few ‘faces of Christ’ to push this question a little. You may know some of them; others may be a little stranger and more difficult to access. The point though, is that when we take seriously the incarnation, the belief that God became human, we have to ask what he would look like and whether we would recognise him. It is the question Jesus himself asked of his disciples: Who do people say that I am?
The leaflet you have been given this morning suggests Jesus as angry, as laughing, in an Aboriginal, Indonesian or Chinese context – why not one in a truly New Zealand context.
Enough from me. Naturally Christine (my wife) and I have talked about the headline on Thursday’s paper. Would, could, Jesus be an All Black? Being the creative person she is Christine penned the following meditation, which I’d like to end with.
If Jesus were on Earth today, would he be a rugby player? I have to say, probably not ... I can’t really see the Lord of Love engaging in what is often a violent sport. However... If Jesus were an All Black: • He’d be the guy on the bench whom the Rugby High Priests needed to keep their eye on. • He’d be the player who nearly missed the bus because he was helping an old lady over the busy road. • He’d be the player who is over-tired, not from a late night at the pub, but from spending hours playing with children, the disabled, the ‘at risk’. • He’d be the one to organise the after-match celebration, and he’d never forget to invite the support crew. • He’d be off-side with the team because he’d have something to say about their behaviour in the pub too. • He’d teach everyone that it’s not about winning but playing the game. • He’d annoy everyone by popping across to chat to the blokes on the bench for the other side. • He’d cheer loudly for any score – whether his own team or the oppositions’. • On the field, he’d congratulate any player for good play – no matter whose team the player was on. • He’d be the first on the scene if anyone was hurt. • He’d be a player who knows the game inside out, and have a way of seeing possibilities and interpreting the game with insight and originality. • He’d never lose his cool in a scrum. • He’d play with everything he had to give. • The crowds would love him. • And if the All Blacks lost – they’d crucify him.
