This week I'm trying something new... To lighten my load a little, and to bring a bit of variety to these daily posts I've asked a number of my friends and colleagues to share a brief reflection and prayer in response to my daily #LentArt posts. The first out of the starting blocks is my erstwhile ecclesiastical neighbour Rev. Elizabeth Hanna, who shares a few thoughts on this morning's sketch of "St Paul Restoring Eutychus to Life" by Taddeo Zuccaro.
The story illustrated is taken from today's reading in Acts, telling of an episode from Paul's ministry in Troas:
On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.
Acts 20:7-12 (NRSV)
Elizabeth comments:
He wouldn’t be the last person to doze off while the pastor keeps preaching! Three floors up, in a crowded room, with the fumes from the many lamps making the room airless despite the open windows … the young man Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, drops off into a deep sleep, and falls to his death.
At just eight days old, he, as a baby had been named Eutychus, meaning “fortunate.” I imagine his parents had no idea just how prophetic that name would be. Though it must be said, “fortunate” was probably not the first reaction of those who hurried down the flights of steps to gather up his lifeless body.
The Italian artist, Taddeo Zuccaro, captures something of the emotion of the moment in his tiny sketch. He has squeeze so much detail and anguished expressions into a piece that measures only 33.7 centimetres x 46.1 centimetres. It is a drawing in ink, wash and gouache done on grey paper, probably as a quick design for a fresco in the vault chapel of the church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome. That work was never completed due to Taddeo’s untimely death in 1566 at just 37 years of age.
Today's reading from Acts echoes yesterday's Gospel telling of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Only God can bring the dead to life and, for both Lazarus and Eutychus, death was not the end. Creator God can bring life out of death.
Some well-respected Biblical scholars have argued that Eutychus was not dead but simply stunned. Others, equally eminent in this field, have pointed out that among Paul’s companions on this third missionary campaign was Doctor Luke, the physician, author of the Book of Acts, and narrator of this part of the story. As an eyewitness, with professional experience, his assessment was that the young man was dead.
Taddeo’s sketch depicts the moment before Paul takes Eutychus’ lifeless body in his arms and declares, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” What an encouragement to the believers in Troas, and to generations of those who have studied the text in the centuries since this was recorded.
Every period in world history needs to hear the message that the power of God is greater than even death itself. It brings to mind words of Saint Paul to the church in Rome, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
David, the Psalmist, puts it better than anyone,
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff - they comfort me.”
When we look at some of the awful things that are happening around the world there is a temptation to despair and allow ourselves to be consumed with fear and anxiety. But when we look to God, and remember the presence of God with us, then hope is rekindled and our trust in God is strengthened.
These words of John Bell’s hymn, set to the tune of “Ye banks and braes … “keep coming to my mind:
We cannot measure how you heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
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| Rev. Elizabeth Hanna |
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross,
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.
PRAYER
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
in this time of uncertainty and distress.
Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
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