Gospel in Art: You received without charge, give without charge

Luma Arles, Architecture by Frank Gehry (born 1929) © Alamy / Christian Art

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 13 July 2023
Matthew 10:7-15

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: 'As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge. Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses, with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep.

'Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house, salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you. And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet. I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgement it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town.'

Reflection on the Museum

As Jesus is sending out his disciples on their mission, he tells them 'you received without charge, give without charge'. The sequence of the sentence is important: Jesus tells us first that we have 'received', and then he tells us that therefore we should 'give'. It is important not to lose sight that we have received first. We sometimes tend to reduce the gospel to the moral call to 'give'. Whilst this on the surface doesn't seem wrong, the giving solely does not convey the full message of the Gospel. Giving on its own if it is isolated from the realisation that we have received everything in the first place would be at danger of self-gratifying us too much. 'Look how much I am giving' would soon be a mentality we would be in danger of cultivating.

The 'receiving' requires a response from us. God is there sharing the gift of his gracious love with us. We have to learn to receive it.

Many of the artworks have been 'gifted' to many museums around the world. In fact, a lot of the museums have been almost entirely built on gifts and the good will of benefactors. Whilst now there are some tax benefits attached to donations to museums, historically this was not always the case. Donations of artworks to museums help to preserve the cultural heritage of a country and also opens up public access to so many treasures, enhancing their educational value. Just as the museums received 'without charge', they should also 'give without charge'. Hence it is of crucial importance that as many museums around the world don't charge entrance fees and are freely accessible to everyone.

One of the more recently opened museums is the Luma Arles, in France. Built between 2014 and 2021, The Tower opened to the public on June 26, 2021. The building designed by Frank Gehry has a twisted façade decorated with stainless steel bricks. This material, which is typical of the architect's work, captures and renders all the colour variations in the sky, and gives the building an ever-changing appearance. This aesthetic choice is a nod to the canvases of Vincent van Gogh, who was constantly capturing the shades of the Provençal sky on his canvases during his time in Arles. The LUMA Foundation is financed entirely by the personal funds of its founder and president Maja Hoffmann from her share of the family fortune that comes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roch founded by her great-grandfather.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-10-7-15-2023