{"id":298,"date":"2022-12-07T16:42:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T16:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/2022\/12\/06\/its-a-matter-of-trust\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T20:19:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:19:26","slug":"its-a-matter-of-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/its-a-matter-of-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a Matter of Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This painting caused an outcry when it was first exhibited following its completion in 1850. None other than author Charles Dickens decried it as a scandal for its gritty portrayal of the Holy Family. Describing the portrayal of Jesus, he wrote, \u201cIn the foreground of that very carpenter shop is a hideous rye-necked, blubbering, redheaded boy in a bed gown, who appears to have received a poke in the hand from the stick of another boy with whom he has been playing in an adjacent gutter.\u201d1<\/sup> The painting was the work of John Everett Millais, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of artists, poets, and critics who saw their work as an effort to reform the arts toward a more careful attention to reality as it really was and not as \u201csloshy\u201d academic artists rendered them in their convention-bound portrayals. The scandal of this painting was so intense that it caused some to leave the association of the Brotherhood because they feared that this work and that of others threatened to disgrace Christianity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These sorts of concerns are likely now regarded as quaint. What Dickens saw as scandalous, (especially ironic in light of his portrayal of London poverty in his writing) we might view as refreshing for its more honest, unfiltered, portrayal of life in Joseph the carpenter\u2019s workshop.2<\/sup> This is not the idealized portrayal so typical of the Renaissance. There are wood shavings and dirt everywhere. The characters even have dirt under their toenails!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the question over whether or not the characters in the painting look sick and destitute or honestly portrayed as rugged and hardworking risks missing the mark of what makes this painting so compelling. The scene is rife with symbolism that serves as dramatic foreshadowing for the saving work of the Christ-child who stands in the center, compelling his mother\u2019s devoted attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph, standing just off to the right, is bearded and nearly bald \u2013 thought by tradition to have been much older than Mary. He is working on a door. We see it laid across his carpenter\u2019s workbench. Nails in the door lie exposed and it appears that the boy Jesus has cut his left hand on one of the nails. He holds it up for Mary to inspect the wound and in doing so, allows drops of blood to fall from his hand and land on his foot. Mary offers her cheek for his kiss. Millais is inviting us to recall the wounds of Christ on the cross and Christ\u2019s devotion to his mother, even in that hour. An older woman stands behind the bench, reaching for pliers, a tool associated with bringing Jesus\u2019 body down from the cross. She is likely Anne (or Anna), the name given to Mary\u2019s mother by tradition. Her name is a form of \u201cHannah\u201d who was the unlikely mother in the book of 1 Samuel whose song<\/a> Mary reworks as her Magnificat<\/a>. Off to the right, a boy wearing only animal skins brings a bowl of water to wash the wound. This is Jesus\u2019 cousin, John the Baptist, who will baptize Jesus in the water of the Jordan. Behind John, barely visible, a single bird drinks from a dish of water set on the window sill. Another bird, clearly a dove \u2013 the Holy Spirit \u2013 sits on a rung of a ladder, like the ladder used to retrieve Jesus\u2019 body from the cross or is it Jacob\u2019s ladder<\/a>? Next to the dove, a carpenter\u2019s triangle recalls the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all of this action takes place in such a symbol-rich environment, a young man on the far left bends to get a better view of all that is happening. He represents all of Jesus\u2019 future apostles who will be witnesses to Christ\u2019s death and resurrection. Finally, behind it all, a herd of sheep gazes intently through the doorway. They are the only ones whose eyes meet ours as though they know that we know what will happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This painting works because we know how this story goes and the thought of this scene playing out among characters who don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen next adds to the intensity of the image the way a predictable horror movie draws us in with anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real Joseph, on the other hand, had no idea what was going to happen next. Matthew relays the account<\/a> of his initial confusion and then well-intended planning. He is dissuaded from this path in a dream. Matthew writes as if the path forward for Joseph is crystal clear, \u201cWhen Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him\u2026\u201d3<\/sup> If we\u2019re honest we\u2019ll have to admit, a dream doesn\u2019t seem like much to go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not much to go on, because most of us don\u2019t put much stock in our dreams. Mine tend to be pretty crazy, especially when I\u2019ve taken NyQuil before bed. They are not trustworthy conveyors of reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust is at the center of it. Joseph acts because he trusts what he\u2019s being told is true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you trust?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph\u2019s dream angel anticipates this question. The angel essentially says, \u201cHey, don\u2019t take my word for it! Remember the prophet [Isaiah\u2019s] words: \u201cLook, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.\u201d 4<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have that same word, only the word in our possession has the benefit of the whole story, laid out in a big tableau like Millais\u2019 painting. We know how the story goes. We have the testimony of the Apostles who watched it all happen. We have the witness of the Early Church who worked to sort it all out, seeking to understand and describe the Christ event as best they could because, as a phenomenon, it was undeniable. We have the example of generations of trusting and trustworthy believers who acted out lives of love and service because they trusted in who God claimed to be in Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, at this stage in our stories, our trust is the same. The Holy Spirit, like a dove perched on the rung of a ladder<\/a>, is present for us regardless of the scene in which we find ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace and joy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Jim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Jim<\/a> and Pastor Kate<\/a> take turns writing weekly devotions for the Chapel of the Resurrection.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 <\/sup>Dickens is quoted in this short video<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/sup> If he was a carpenter at all. The Gospel according to Matthew<\/a> identifies Joseph by his trade as a tekton <\/em>\u2013 a builder \u2013 and there\u2019s some debate within the early Christian tradition over whether he worked in wood or stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/sup>Matthew 1:24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4<\/sup>Isaiah 7:14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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