Gospel in Art: He will not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick

Posters for the International Campaign to ban landmines, designed by Shaun Fox. See: http://icbl.org. © Shaun Fox

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 16 July 2022
Matthew 12:14-21

The Pharisees went out and began to plot against Jesus, discussing how to destroy him.

Jesus knew this and withdrew from the district. Many followed him and he cured them all, but warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved, the favourite of my soul.

I will endow him with my spirit,

and he will proclaim the true faith to the nations.

He will not brawl or shout,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

He will not break the crushed reed,

nor put out the smouldering wick

till he has led the truth to victory:

in his name the nations will put their hope.

Reflection on the graphic design posters

In our Gospel reading, Jesus is the silent healer. Quietly and without wanting to draw attention to himself, he goes out to heal and help people. The quote from Isaiah which Matthew includes is beautiful. He makes the point that in Christ, the bruised reed and the smouldering wick can acquire new life and light.

The Gospel is exactly there for everyone - for all the bruised reeds and the smouldering wicks that we all are. The Word of God is what can re-ignite our wicks and bring fire again; the Word of God can straighten the reeds and give them strength again.

Today's reading reminded me of this artwork by Shaun Fox: four posters for the International Campaign to ban landmines. The campaign was set up to raise awareness about the long-term dangers of landmine warfare. Sadly, these landmines are still being extensively used in Ukraine and elsewhere. When Shaun did his research he found that most of the imagery surrounding this subject was the same. It all relied heavily on shock value with lots of blood and explosions and figures without legs. Shaun said, 'The problem is not that those images aren't truthful - they are. The problem is that people are jaded from seeing too much of this kind of imagery - so much so, that it becomes ineffective'. Hence the artist moved away from this 'traditional' imagery to tackle the problem, and represented four objects with which we are all very familiar in our daily lives. BUT each is missing a 'limb', an essential feature: a piano's leg, a bike's wheel, etc… So does the smouldering wick miss its light and the bruised reed its strength...

LINKS

Christian Art: www.christian.art
Today image: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-12-14-21-2022/