Gospel in Art: I finished the work that you gave me to do

One: Number 31, 1950 by Jackson Pollock, 1948 © Alamy / Museum of Modern Art, New York

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 23 May 2023
John 17:1-11

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

'Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him, let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do.

Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world was. I have made your name known to the men you took from the world to give me. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me. I pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you: all I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified. I am not in the world any longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.'

Reflection on the Action Painting

Today's gospel reading is the beginning of the great prayer of Jesus that is to be found in chapter 17 of John's gospel. Jesus begins by praying for himself and then he prays for his disciples. He prays as someone who, in the words of the prayer, 'has finished the work' that God gave him to do. The prayer Jesus makes for himself is a prayer we can also all make for ourselves. We ask God to help us to finish whatever work God has given us to do in this life. We are to live in such a way that like Jesus at the end of our lives we can say, 'I have finished the work you gave me to do'.

But this is hard to do, as firstly we have to determine what exactly it is that God wants us to do with our lives. Ongoing discernment will help us, but then we need to act upon it.

First knowing what God wants, and then acting upon it, is what Jesus is prompting us to in today's reading. In the late 1940s there was a new style of abstract painting: action painting. In a way it is contrary to the point that we were trying to make above: the action consisted only of throwing random splashes on a canvas, without any regard for composition. The technique was made famous by Jackson Pollock, and formed part of the more general movement of abstract expressionism. Action painting stood for absolute devotion to unfettered personal expression, free of all traditional aesthetic and social values. However Jesus' point is opposite of this: you must act, yes, but it needs to be focussed. Don't just live your life as random moments, splashes, drips of fleetingness. First know what God wants you to do with your life and then let the action be at the service of God's masterful clearly defined composition.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-17-1-11-2023-2/