Gospel in Art: Follow me

Dance (I), Paris, Boulevard des Invalides, 1909 by Henri Matisse © Museum of Modern Art, New York

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 29 June 2026
Matthew 8:18-22

At that time: When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' Another of the disciples said to him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' And Jesus said to him, 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.'

Reflection on the painting

When someone expresses enthusiasm for a cause or project, our instinct is to match their enthusiasm. We encourage, affirm, and celebrate people who are enthusiastic about things, especially when the challenge they will face is hard. Their enthusiasm is usually followed by our encouragement.

Yet in today's Gospel, Jesus responds in a rather different way. A man approaches Him with remarkable enthusiasm: "I will follow you wherever you go." It is an extraordinary pledge of loyalty. Rather than meeting these words with encouragement, Jesus however immediately points to the cost of discipleship: "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." He gives the man a reality check. He invites the man to look beyond the initial enthusiasm and understand what following Him truly entails.

This response remains as relevant today as it was then. Genuine discipleship requires both enthusiasm AND realism. Enthusiasm for Christ is essential, but it must be grounded in an honest awareness that the Gospel path is often demanding. To follow Jesus is ultimately to accept sacrifice also.

Matisse's Dance (I) captures something of that first kind of enthusiasm: pure, unguarded, overflowing joy. Painted in early 1909 as a study for a monumental commission, the canvas is stripped to essentials: five figures, rendered in pale pink against arcs of blue sky and green earth, join hands in a circle of dancing. Matisse said the work evoked "enthusiasm and rhythm," and it does. The figures are caught mid-motion, carried forward by something larger than themselves. There is joy here, and an almost childlike enthusiasm in simply being alive and moving together.

But the joy of the dance, for all its beauty, is still a joy rooted in feeling, in the body, in the moment, in the shared exhilaration of the dancing. What Jesus calls the man to in today's Gospel is something much deeper. The Christian is called not merely to feel the music but to follow where the music leads. The Christian is called not merely to be enthusiastic about Christ, but to follow Him all the way.

Or if I can put it this way: the dance of discipleship is real, but it is ultimately danced on the road of the cross!

LINKS

Christian Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reading: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-8-18-22-2026/
Video: How art called me to the priesthood: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/55096