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Hand of God,
Sculpted by Lorenzo Quinn (born 1966),
Bronze and aluminium,
Executed in 2011
© Lorenzo Quinn, all rights reserved
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Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was to come, Jesus gave them this answer, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God does not admit of observation and there will be no one to say, “Look here! Look there!” For, you must know, the kingdom of God is among you.’
He said to the disciples, ‘A time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and will not see it. They will say to you, “Look there!” or, “Look here!” Make no move; do not set off in pursuit; for as the lightning flashing from one part of heaven lights up the other, so will be the Son of Man when his day comes. But first he must suffer grievously and be rejected by this generation.’ |
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| | Reflection on the Sculpture
Deep inside our Christian hearts there is some tension, a balance we all need to strike: between the hope that Our Good Lord will intervene to make this world a better place, and our personal responsibility we all have to help Him achieve this. The two go hand in hand. That is why Jesus tells us today that ‘The Kingdom of God is among you!’. This means we can all partake in His Kingdom already now, this very day, by living as Jesus taught us and try to live a truly Christian life. And Christ is continually present with us on our journeys of faith…
The sculpture, titled 'The Hand of God’, therefore illustrates this well: we all live in the palm of God’s hand, in His kingdom if we already chose to do so. A hand that invites, a hand that protects, a hand that will show us the way… The artist Lorenzo Quinn is the son of actor Anthony Quinn and made a few versions of this sculpture.
The Pharisees' question at the beginning of our reading today presumes that the kingdom of God is yet to come, but Christ replies that the kingdom is already present but is invisible and that it is up to us to already partake in it by letting charity, truth, love, justice, righteousness, peace reign. And these are not just abstract concepts on how to live our lives. No, all these can already be achieved and lived in a very tangible, real way in our daily lives. And by doing so, we slowly will help build God’s Kingdom here on earth…
by Patrick van der Vorst |  | |
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