Theirs is not to be a life of common toil but a life of uncommon grace. (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19) Theirs is not to be a familiar life but an unfamiliar one. And so Jesus sends them into the world, away from the lake with which they are so familiar, away from the hills and towns of Galilee, away from Judea itself, to preach the gospel to all creatures and to make disciples of all nations. He had once told them “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) They were not fishers of men to begin with, but after three years and many trials and teachings, they were ready to be sent out. Where once Jesus had called His disciples out of their boats on the Lake of Galilee to follow Him, He now is sending them out on their own. Burnand intended, the picture is quite effective at stirring up thoughts about the verse itself. (Mark 16:14) But Burnand has moved this to the lakeside, perhaps to tie it into John chapter 21, in which the young apostle figures more prominently. In the Gospel of Mark, the scene for the verse “Go ye into all the World…” is at a table, most likely even inside a room. Both men are detailed and filled in by the artist, but the background is merely sketched in, with a vague suggestion of cumulus clouds far behind them over the lake. Jesus’ brown eyes are gentle and sincere, and there is a suggestion of a halo around his wavy dark hair. His youth is evident from his short hair, his unbearded and unlined face.
John himself focuses intently on that horizon toward which the Master points, his hands clasped in front of him as if calmly awaiting further instruction. Burnand’s picture, Jesus has His arm across the young apostle’s shoulders, and He gestures off into the distance away from the lake. But yesterday I did, and it made me think back to the verse that it illustrated. Yes, I recognized the figures and the scene–Jesus and the beloved apostle John by the shores of Galilee–but as Robert Browning wrote, I had passed it “Perhaps a hundred times, nor cared to see,” and so had not meditated upon the picture. Maus’ insights into the purposes of religious art, I hadn’t really taken a good look at it. I have had the picture for a while, but until I had read Ms. “Go ye into all the World, and preach the Gospel to every Creature.” Marc XVI, 15.”īelow that inscription is the version of that verse in English: “Allez, préchez l’Evangile à toute Créature.
The picture with which I have been blessed is inscribed on the back: Monsieur Burnand became quite famous in his own lifetime for his landscapes, his amazing portraits of soldiers from World War I, and his paintings and etchings on Biblical themes. Maus’ wonderful anthology of Christian art and literature also gave me a very old print of an etching by Swiss painter Eugène Burnand (1850-1921). … The other great service which classical pictures render is to call our attention to a side of some truth which we have never before noticed.” (“Christ and the Fine Arts,” p.7)Īs it happens, the same person who blessed me with Ms. One is to impress deeply on the mind and heart some great truth or Biblical scene which has made only a slight impression before. “Classical religious paintings render at least two great services.
In her 1938 book “Christ and the Fine Arts,” Cynthia Pearl Maus tries to give us some insight into the purpose and usefulness of religious art: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.