Today's Gospel in Art - You are the Christ of God

Jesus, Prince of Peace, by Akiane Kramarik (born 1994), Painted in 2002 © Akiane Kramarik Art

Gospel of 25th September 2020 - Luke 9:18-22

One day when Jesus was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, 'Who do the crowds say I am?' And they answered, 'John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.' 'But you,' he said 'who do you say I am?' It was Peter who spoke up. 'The Christ of God' he said. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.

'The Son of Man' he said 'is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'

Reflection on the Painting

The artwork we are looking at today was painted by an eight-year-old girl! Quite remarkable. I must say that when selecting the artworks every day, I pick artworks that I do like a lot and that over the years have given me much joy to look at.

Today's painting I must admit I don't particularly like that much, but yet it is important to look at all types of art that are out there. And I think this canvas, painted by an eight-year-old, merits a closer look as it is a remarkable achievement. Akiane Kramarik was born in 1994 to a Lithuanian mother and a Catholic American father. She is a self-taught painter and sold the present painting for $10,000 after she completed it, which grabbed news headlines across the world. In December 2019, this painting was recovered by Akiane's family and sold to a private collector for $850,000.

In today's Gospel reading Jesus Himself is putting the question to His disciples and to us: Who do people say I am? It is a very personal question for each of us to answer. We are invited to think who Christ is for us. Is He my father, my friend, my soulmate, my teacher, my judge…or a combination of all of these? As it is such a personal answer we each would give, portraits of Jesus by artists over the ages are also highly personal, and that is why maybe I don't particularly connect with today's portrait of Jesus. All I know is that He is there right beside me on my own daily faith journey, with His arms around me and helping me with my path of discipleship... present as a friend.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/555

Christian Art - www.christian.art