Gospel in Art: The kingdom of God is among you

Hand of God, by Lorenzo Quinn. Public sculpture at Yutong Rd, Jingan District, Shanghai. Bronze and aluminium. Made in 2011. Installed May 2019 © Lorenzo Quinn, all rights reserved

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 10 November 2022
Luke 17:20-25

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was to come, Jesus gave them this answer, 'The coming of the kingdom of God does not admit of observation and there will be no one to say, "Look here! Look there!" For, you must know, the kingdom of God is among you.'

He said to the disciples, 'A time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and will not see it. They will say to you, "Look there!" or, "Look here!" Make no move; do not set off in pursuit; for as the lightning flashing from one part of heaven lights up the other, so will be the Son of Man when his day comes. But first he must suffer grievously and be rejected by this generation.'

Reflection on the public sculpture

Deep inside our Christian hearts there is some tension, a balance we all need to strike: between the hope that we hold for God to make this world a better place, and the personal responsibility that we all have to help him achieve this. The two go hand in hand. That is why Jesus tells us today that 'The Kingdom of God is among you!'. This means we must all even now partake in his Kingdom, this very day, by living as Jesus taught us.

The sculpture, titled 'The Hand of God', illustrates this well: we all live in the palm of God's hand. Dwelling in his loving hands, we can be his hands to help build his kingdom. His hand invites, his hand protects, his hands shows us the way… The artist Lorenzo Quinn, the son of actor Anthony Quinn, made a few versions of this sculpture. The public sculpture we are looking at was installed in Shanghai in 2019.

The Pharisees' question at the beginning of our reading today presumes that the kingdom of God is yet to come, but Christ replies that the kingdom is already present but is invisible and that it is up to us to already partake in it by letting charity, truth, love, justice, righteousness, peace reign. And these are not just abstract concepts on how to live our lives. No, all of them can already be achieved and lived out in a very tangible, real way. By doing this, we will slowly help build God's Kingdom here on earth…

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/

Today's reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-17-20-25-2022/