one has to believe to see

I've just spent half an hour reading William McCahon's article about his father's art in A Question of Faith. (Colin McCahon is New Zealand's foremost modernist artist.) The article made a very good point about the difficulty most people have had interpreting McCahon's paintings and the artist's unwillingness to explain the art for them - McCahon seemingly took seriously the notion that if people have eyes then let them see. In other words - one has to believe to see . There's a U2 line from the song Walk On that goes - You're packing a suitcase for a place none of has been, a place that has to be believed to be seen.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Jesus' Kingdom of God of late. I like the way that Jesus alludes to its nature but refrains from giving explicit detail - he paints a picture of it, but one will only get the dimensions of it by entering through the narrow gate (him).

It strikes me that people's attempts to break 'entering Jesus' Kingdom of God' into easy steps, clear pictures and formulations is misguided.

This of course presents an ongoing challenge to the preacher - to respect the mystery and not play with the listeners by suggesting that they can easily get what Jesus is on about. I like that Jesus sidestepped those who tried to pin him down. I like the way that as soon as you try to box Jesus he slips away and pops up somewhere else.

I like that McCahon, committed to the way of Jesus, left his art to do its own talking.


Here are a few McCahon paintings... one of my favourites is Otago Peninsula (1946) it is in the Dunedin City Library... I walked in one day and asked one of the staff if she could point out the Colin McCahon piece - she didn't know there was one there, nor did she know of the brilliant Ralph Hotere and Nigel Brown works. I found it soon enough. If you stand in the stairwell and look up it stares you in the face. (It was approximately 8 metres from where the woman worked!)

Another I have included is simply titled One. It has McCahon's trademark triangle in the corner - the Trinity... hinted at in the Scriptures but not easily understood... but the nature of God nevertheless - the truth despite us.


See more McCahon works at http://www.mccahon.co.nz/browse.asp