It is generally accepted that one of the great art jewels of the city of Florence is Michelangelo’s majestic sculpture of David. I’m glad that we actually took a guided tour in Florence that included a trip to the Accademia to see this great sculpture and to hear the guide provide such a multi-layered historical and aesthetic description of how the art came to be. One of the most striking anecdotes that was revealed to us during the tour concerned the giant block of marble itself, from which Michelangelo sculpted or, as our guide pointed out, “freed” the figure of David from! The block of Carrara marble had actually been rejected by other sculptors at that time because of the many “imperfections” in the marble. The marble block was not considered to be worthy of or even capable of producing a work of art, much less the size and dimension of the likes of David. But this didn’t seem to be prohibitive for Michelangelo. His solution was to position the figure of David such that the weight distribution would compensate for the weakness or imperfection in the marble. The result was the beautifully relaxed yet alert stance of David, resting the weight of his body on his right leg. The “wound” of the marble was not only “healed” but actually contraposed and adorned with the aesthetic beauty conferred upon it by its artful master!
In today’s first reading, 1 SM 17: 32-33, 40-51, we hear the well-known story of David and Goliath, wherein a young man, who was the unlikely choice to be king of Israel, now “faces down” the enemy of Israel in battle – a giant Philistine! Saul warns David of the apparent overwhelming disparity in size, weight, armor, and experience, between David and his Philistine opponent, yet David remarks with confidence, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine.” As the story goes, David, armed with only a staff, 5 small smooth stones in his shepherds bag, and a sling, approaches the Philistine and with a single sling of one of these rocks, takes down the Philistine. What a remarkable and seemingly impossible feat for such an untrained “warrior.”
The Gospel continues along these same lines, MK 3: 1-6, with Jesus in the synagogue, being carefully watched by the crowd to see if He would actually cure on the Sabbath, mind you, in the Synagogue, even though this was proscribed by law. Jesus, fully aware of the crowd’s eyes on him calls forward a man with a withered hand, and confronts the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” No one answers. Jesus, recognizing their hardness of heart, becomes annoyed and even grieved. He invites the man, “Stretch out your hand!” The man does so, and is healed. And the crowds feel justified in their witness of this “law-breaking” action and begin to plot against Jesus.
The wound is deep! Imperfections and weakness can be fragile. But the marble does not have to break. What is it that might need to be freed from the hardness of our lives for us to recognize mercy and healing? How can we hear and then respond to the invitation to “stretch out” our hands to receive what is freely being given to us? What must we surrender in order to experience peace? What “Philistine” must we slay, or allow God to slay for us, in order that we might experience the grace of God’s presence at every moment?
Maybe it is a “work or art” to truly listen to God and respond? We are withered in our self- recriminations and inability to see beauty in humility and surrender. It seems that our images of power are sometimes giant looming “Philistines,” that we fail to recognize as specters of fear. Why do we seem so afraid of each other, and in fact of ourselves?
There is always hope…the invitation stands, “Stretch out your hand!” Give us the small smooth stones, Lord, that we must fling, not with violence, but with faithful surrender and trust in Your guidance. Help us to remove all the “Philistine” attitudes in our lives so that the art of our lives can stand strong with graceful mercy, which is that seeming impossible strength that You offer us at every moment, if only we reach for it and receive! The apparent restriction of wounds, when adorned with loving kindness and care, can disappear and wither away, and even stretch us forward into unexpected “works” of beauty!
The emerging work of art in our lives is just a stone’s throw away!
Peace
Thomas