John Fuellenbach SVD in his book, “The Kingdom of God”, talks about an attempt to restore Rembrandt’s The Nightwatch. He describes how, when the restorationists removed the successive coatings of varnish that had been applied throughout the years to protect the painting, they were surprised at the brightness of the colours in the original painting. Some were thrilled and some were disappointed.
It didn’t look like Rembrandt anymore. They had become so used to looking at the painting through layers of varnish. They preferred it that way. They found the colours of the original offensive to the eyes. Fuellenbach suggests that a similar thing has happened with Christianity.
Jesus came to “set fire to world” with his vision of the Kingdom of God centred on justice, compassion and the inclusion of everyone in one great family of God. His disciples shared that vision. Although they didn’t understand it fully, it gave them life and they didn’t want him to die. Life was too exciting, meaningful and rewarding. After he did die, they were depressed and discouraged but they slowly came to realise that they were being sent just as Jesus had been sent to proclaim his Kingdom. As the years went by the community of disciples slowly became a church. In the early times, when the Gospels were being written, the Kingdom was obviously still the central idea of their mission. But as the institution grew institutional issues became more important.
Over the centuries successive layers of varnish have been added and the vision has become dimmer. We, Christians may have become comfortable with that dimmer vision but it has lost the brightness and the power to challenge of Jesus’ original message.
The irony is that the Kingdom needs the Church, an institution, for it to continue. Without the Church, “the sign, seed and initial flowering forth of the Kingdom”, Jesus’ prophetic vision might have died and would not have the same power or meaning. Max Weber illustrated this in his analysis of prophecy and institution. The charismatic prophet proclaims an exciting, enabling vision which is then institutionalised and kept alive but with less intensity. Still the seed is there waiting for the new prophet to call us back.
Today in the Church we seem to need a symbol that will unite us. A symbol that will provide a coherent vision to give us hope, inspire us, and provide a convincing rationale for our dialogue with one another and with the world. Jesus’ “kingdom” is such a vision. It gives each of us and the Church a vision and a role that is exciting, deeply scriptural and theologically rich.
Fr Noel Connolly
director@columban.org.au
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