Art to Heart Call to Worship

Pieter Brueghel the Elder: Adoration of the Kings

©2002 by Jeff Dugan

Something’s wrong here.  This is the visit of the wise men to the manger.  But somehow it doesn’t look as peaceful and pristine and “Christmassy” as the nativity sets many of us have at home. 

Sometimes we hear of perverse modern artists twisting the truth with their art; surely this medieval artist must have been just as perverse to populate such a lovely scene with such malignant ogres.  These wise men are not wise; they’re decrepit.  The adoring crowd around them is transformed into a vicious, craven mob.  The soldiers remind us of the slaughter of innocent children soon to come, and everybody seems to be more interested in the expensive gifts or some other selfish ploy than they are in the amazing miracle in their midst. 

In this painting, the world is full of sinful fools who are so self-obsessed that they don’t even notice the greatest miracle in history, right before their eyes.  But Brueghel has included one, small, seemingly insignificant sign that is not so cynical.  Look the straw hat Joseph holds.  It just happens to occur at a place where it reminds us of a halo.  In all the despair for sinful mankind that fills this painting, he gives us this one sign of hope.  Even if all the world denies the holiness of Christ, He is still holy.  He is still God.  Ultimately, this meager hat is a bright, shining ray of hope amidst all the despair.  It’s a very subtle sign, but isn’t that the way God comes to us?  In a small, still voice…in a tiny, helpless baby? 

Maybe the circumstances of your life bring you here today with some skepticism about whether what we do here is real at all, or whether it’s all just self-delusion.  If so, I urge you to ignore the shouting, selfish mob that seeks to drag you down with them, and instead seek the small, still voice that spoke all existence into being…the One who came to us as a helpless baby, but who has conquered sin and its consequence for all time.  This is the One we worship today: the subtle God who stands unobtrusively amongst the rush and clutter of sin’s distractions and is holy, whether the world notices or not!