The Call to Follow
The Catholic Church is blessed to have some of the greatest artwork in human history associated with the worship and adoration of God. Artists such as Michelangelo or Da Vinci made their mark on history by being commissioned by the Church to put the beauty and grandeur of God within the confines of something created by human hands. Some of these artists are even known almost exclusively for their religious work, with one of the most famous being Caravaggio. Caravaggio’s paintings were revolutionary for his time and continue to be often the most popular and famous depictions of biblical events in art. Perhaps his most popular piece can be found in one of the many beautiful churches in Rome entitled “The Calling of Saint Matthew.” The painting depicts the scene which we hear about in today’s Gospel, when Christ goes to Matthew (named Levi in the Gospel of Mark) at his customs post and merely says to him, “Follow me.”
This painting is the subject of extensive analysis. The characters are dressed according to the time of Caravaggio, not of Christ, so that he could indicate to his audience the visible wealth and opulence of the tax collectors to whom Matthew belonged. Christ and Peter beside him, on the other hand, are in the traveling clothes of the first century. At this customs post are actually five individuals, and it is not clear which of these men are Matthew. The most plausible explanation is the one seemingly pointing to himself, who has diverted his attention from the money on the table to Jesus. This theory would make sense when we read the Gospel accounts: in Matthew, there is no need to convince him to leave his post, nor is there any hesitancy within him to lose focus on the earthly wealth in front of him. The call of Christ is not just a verbal one, but one that turns the heart of the chosen entirely towards the presence of God within Christ. Matthew gets up and immediately begins to follow his new master. In Caravaggio’s work, Christ points. In the Gospel, Christ just orders him to follow. Caravaggio’s decision when it comes to the pointing is beautiful: Christ’s hand is nearly identical to Adam in Michelangelo’s famous fresco “The Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel, with the obvious implication that Christ is the New Adam. But this visible pointing moves Matthew to point also, to himself. There is no magic in the call of Christ or omnipotent control Christ has over the person. It’s just an exhortation that causes the one who is called to wrestle with the question within their heart. Is Christ calling me? Should I leave all of this behind and follow him as he is telling me to?
God chose the human race to bring perfection to His creation. When we failed at doing this, He lowered Himself to us so that He could help us perfect creation. He created Adam to care for the earth as a human being, and he created us with the expectation that we do our best to participate in that care. He became one of us to refocus us back to our ordered nature. He has given us both a spiritual intellect and a physical body to take what is from this earth and to bestow beauty upon it; we do this everyday, whether it is through creating beautiful works of religious art like Caravaggio or making the simple bread and wine that eventually becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. “The Calling of Saint Matthew” reveals to us that the human nature of Christ elevates us to participate in the divinity of God. It starts with a call to follow. It continues with an assent to that call, and a desire to be healed and forgiven. It ends with us perfecting our humanity by living according to what we were created for. There is immense beauty in human nature. We have been given the power to know Divine Beauty through the world around us.
Today's Readings: