Matthew 10:7-15 |Jeff Koons | You received without charge, give without charge

Matthew 10:7-15 You received without charge, Give without charge

Bouquet of Tulips, Sculpture by Jeff Koons (born 1955), Unveiled in 2019, Installed in Paris in front of the Petit Palais Cast, polished and painted bronze © Christian Art 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.’ READ MORE Reflection on the Sculpture Any time we do anything for anyone, we participate in God’s plan. That plan started with Him creating the world and us, as a gift. Because all we are and all that surrounds us is a gift, we cannot be individualistic or ungenerous. Jesus is telling us in today’s reading that the life we have been given and the gifts we have been given, are not just there for us to receive, but we are called to give back… not just to give something back, but to give ourselves back. This giving of ourselves is life-changing, as He tells the disciples in today's reading, not just for ourselves but for the world around us. This sense of giving reminded me of the controversy last year when Jeff Koons gifted this sculpture of nine hand-held balloons to the city of Paris. Some people gladly accepted the gift, others didn’t. The giant sculpture was gifted as a memorial in the wake of a series of terror attacks across France. As a gesture of Franco-American friendship, the work is meant to evoke the hands of the Statue of Liberty. Instead of Lady Liberty’s hand gripping a torch, Koons’s huge, realistic hand grips a bouquet of balloon tulips, in the colours of a rainbow, sign of peace… …More than just giving a bunch of flowers like in our artwork, Christ is calling us to give our very selves. Only then can we fully appreciate the gifts we have received and pass them on to our neighbours… by Patrick van der Vorst