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All Together Now,
Sculpted by Andy Edwards,
Cast Bronze,
Executed in 2014,
statue was finally installed in Messines, Belgium in 2015
© Andy Edwards Artist |
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.
‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ |
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| | Reflection on the Bronze Sculpture
Of all the things Christs asks us to do, probably this one is one of the hardest to achieve: love your enemies. Easier said than done. Jesus talks about love and hate in this passage. But neither of these is to be understood in the way popularly associated with these words. Hate does not necessarily carry the idea of emotional vindictiveness. Christ means with hate, that if you hate someone, you simply ‘dissociate from that person’. You keep your distance, you don’t want anything to do with them. Love on the other hand for Jesus means ‘willing the good of the other’. Again it is non-emotional. In that sense we can see that Jesus’ demand to love our enemies is not unrealistic, as we can still will the good for people we don’t particularly warm to. To love is the decision we all make as the lover. It should not depend essentially on the holiness, worthiness or likability of the beloved. Love reaches out to the imperfect, irrespective of whether they are friends or not… It needs to do so,… or it would have only very few people to love!
Our sculpture of today, by Andy Edwards, commemorates the World War I Christmas truce which took place on Christmas Day 1914. During the one-day truce, the soldiers on opposing sides of the war laid down their arms and played football and sang Christmas carols. You can see two soldiers, one German, one British, shaking hands. Their hands meet right above a football. The day after, they were fighting once more… The sculpture was unveiled in St. Luke’s bombed out church in Liverpool on 15 December 2014, after which it was transported to Flanders, Belgium, to stand on the site where the truce took place… for Christmas Day 2014. For one day the two enemies loved one another, as they willed the good for each other… for one day…
by Patrick van der Vorst
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