The Creation of Adam
During one of the talks for a mission I recently gave to a parish, I did something I have never done before. I took a section of time and preached on a piece of art. What follows below is going to sound like something out of the “Da Vinci Code”. So please bear with me.
My mother was given a book by a religious sister one time about praying with icons. My mother is a very spiritually curious person and is very open to encountering the Lord in new ways. Because of that, she graciously received the book that contained reprinted images of christendom’s most familiar icons. Along with the images were guides for praying with each image. A couple of days later, I saw her on the couch with the book standing up on an end table with one of the images visible. Elbow on the arm of the couch, back of her hand supporting her chin, she stared with a peaceful gaze upon the sacred image. I was seminarian at the time and thought, “I don’t think prayer like that would ever speak to me.”
I still can’t image making it a regular practice, but sometimes things just hit you.
Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” is just stunning. The more I look at it, the more I see, and the more prayerful it is for me to examine. In the fresco, I see the entirety of human history represented. The broken nature of who we are as humans and the very essence of God as love are all present. But first the angels.
I placed numbers in the image above as a reference, but please note numbers 1 and 2, the angels. The first angel is a bit odd. The face is that of a baby, but look at its physique. It is rather muscular and flexing. Then take note of the position of the body. The head is going to the right of the viewer while the rest of the body is to the left. Then notice the tone of the muscles. All this seems to show that this angel is not supporting God or surrounding God as part of the heavenly hosts. Instead, the angel is pulling God away from Adam. Then look at angel number two. The angel has God’s arm around its neck while its body is turned in the opposite direction than its head is looking. It too looks like it is trying to pull God away from Adam and looking back with horror at Adam. It is as though the angels know that Adam is going to break God’s heart. They know that Adam, all of humanity, will time and time again reject the very Love he craves and was made for. Again, the clue to this rejection is in the fresco.
One word for “sin” in Hebrew means “to miss the mark.” It comes from archery. We humans have our appetites, our passions. They drive us. They motivate us to act. Ultimately, it is an appetite and drive for Love. And as Jesus told Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing …” (Luke 10:41-21) St. Augustine called it “concupiscence” and it is something that I just don’t understand about myself or any human. Why are we so resistant to grace? Why are we so busy, like Martha, looking for something else to satisfy us when we have been made for God? Adam’s reaching, but what is he reaching for in the painting? His finger isn’t pointing toward God and he seems so lethargic. Each of us reach for something. What are we reaching for? A bottle? A remote? Our phone? Our wallet? A career? Esteem from others? We reach for anything and everything, but rarely do we earnestly reach out to God.
And then there’s God.
The angels are pulling him back; Adam is indifferent; yet, with everything that God has within himself, he is seeking Adam. He knows Adam is resistant. He knows that Adam and all humanity will reject the offer of an intimate relationship with him. Still in all, the all-powerful God is flexing every muscle he has to reach the Man. One could say that God is even reckless in his attempt to get to the Man. He is doing everything he can to reach Adam.
The song is old now and some have said that it doesn’t belong in the liturgy, but “Reckless Love” certainly seems to describe the Love of God seen in Michelangelo’s art. He is straining, reaching, and nothing will hold him back. Even if the rest of heaven is confounded and is trying to convince him to abandon this fool’s errand, God is in pursuit of Adam, in pursuit of us.
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
Looking back at Adam, his reach is on an infinite trajectory away from God. But …but with the slightest of movements, he would be aligned with aggressive reach of God. As my friend Steve Angrisano sang, “we’re only one step away” Casting Crowns also recorded a song to this effect in “One Step Away”.
During this season, I’m going to see God coming hard after me and I’m going to lift a finger to allow myself to be caught.