Art to Heart Call to Worship

Caravaggio: The Supper at Emmaus

©2002 by Jeff Dugan

Here’s an early 17^th century scene with some men having dinner together.  They seem pretty excited; maybe there’s an argument of some sort.  Or at least you might think so if you didn’t know the title of the painting. 

Caravaggio has portrayed Jesus without the signature beard because the Bible tells us that the two disciples didn’t recognize Him, even after spending the afternoon with Him.  At least, they didn’t recognize Him until they sat down to an intimate dinner with Him and He broke the bread in a way that had a very personal significance for them.  It reminded them of the body that had been broken, and of the supper they had shared on that last night before the crucifixion.  Now that bread has even greater personal significance for them because they share it again, after the resurrection, with the body that has been resurrected.  At this point, the disciples may not have worked out all the theology, but the supper they share on this night will symbolically bind them into the “body of Christ” that remains behind and accomplishes His work on earth as he returns to the Father.

But are we mere voyeurs, looking in like an intrusive camera upon a scene of personal importance only to these two disciples?  Not if you believe what Caravaggio has to say about it with his painting.

Imagine that you are standing before this painting in the museum in London where it hangs.  Notice how the disciple on the left pushes his chair out toward the viewer’s space, and how his right elbow seems to jut out from the plane of the canvas.  Caravaggio has even put a little hole in the sleeve so he could highlight it with a spot of white that would attract our attention.  On the right, look at the disciple’s outstretched left hand, which seems to nearly jab you in the eye.  And then, in the center, look at the basket of fruit.  It’s teetering on the edge of the table, and it’s about to fall off if you don’t leap forward to catch it!

What Caravaggio is trying to do here is to lure you into the scene as an active participant.  The outstretched arm of Christ is not so much a gesture blessing the bread, but an invitation to each one of us to sit with them at the table.  To recall our own personal experiences with Christ, our own personal epiphanies.  To partake of the bread, and in so doing, to become the body of Christ, thereby assured of resurrection, and until then, empowered to carry out His work on earth.

Sometimes we stand at the side like the waiter and miss the opportunity to participate in the miracle of experiencing God.  But today, in this worship service, we have another chance to sit at that table, to be astounded by him, and to know him for who he really is.