Today's Gospel in Art - The wind blows wherever it pleases

Resolution by Joel Rea © Joel Rea/Unit London

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 13th April 2021 John 3:7-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

'Do not be surprised when I say:

You must be born from above.

The wind blows wherever it pleases;

you hear its sound,

but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.'

'How can that be possible?' asked Nicodemus. 'You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things!' replied Jesus.

'I tell you most solemnly, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak about things in this world, how are you going to believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.'

Reflection on the Painting

Our Gospel reading follows on from yesterday's reading where Jesus and Nicodemus are talking at night. The first part of our reading is truly beautiful in my view. Jesus explains to Nicodemus about a 'new birth in the Spirit' and He compares the spirit to the wind. You can feel the effects of the wind and see trees move, your hair blow, your skin touched, leaves swept up… but we don't know exactly where the wind comes from. In fact, the Hebrew word for 'spirit' means both 'wind' and 'breath'.

To think of the Spirit as wind goes a long way towards understanding better the mystery of the Spirit. Wind doesn't have a material shape or form. It is invisible, yet we can feel the effects. Wind is a powerful force and we humans cannot control it. Wind is needed for life itself: think of the pollination of many plants and nature. Maybe why I most like the analogy of comparing the Holy Spirit with wind, is that there is great variety in the wind. Wind can be a gentle breeze, softly whispering around us, and at other times the winds can be much stronger all the way to uprooting us and shaking us. We have all experienced the different winds of the Holy Spirit working in our lives, from a gentle breeze to a stormy hurricane…

In art, wind is impossible to depict. Only the effects of the wind can be depicted, such as in our painting by Australian artist Joel Rea. The wind has created the stormy waves, and blown the man's papers. What happens next to the man facing the storm, we don't know….

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/774
Christian Art - www.christian.art/index.php