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Sometimes as I read the Bible, I picture Jesus in his humanity with a sort of halo around his head during his treks through Galilee. The French painter Georges Rouault captures the humanity of Jesus (seen in his piece, ‘Christ Mocked’) in a much different way. His depictions of Christ are not with a halo but as a clown, one despised and mocked. A clown represents the victims of society, the refuse of the world, the perishable, the transient, the foolish (1 Cor. 1:26); this is what Christ took on in his humanity according to Rouault’s art.

Rouault was born 1881 in Paris into a poor family. At the age of 14 he began an apprenticeship as a glass painter and restorer. This early experience as a glass painter is the likely source of the heavy black contouring and glowing colours which characterize Rouault’s mature painting style. When you view Rouault’s work, as in the picture above, what do you feel?

The sorrow and suffering that comes with everyday life is something Rouault fully engaged in his art.  This is why Rouault commonly painted clown and prostitutes. In both Rouault’s depictions of clowns and Christ, there is the same downward curve of the lips, the same elongation of the face, and the same deep emanation of suffering from the eyes. This is the tragic plight of humanity according to Rouault.

There are those who have criticized Rouault for his melancholy depictions of Christ as a clown. Some have even labeled him irreligious. He explains, however, that his art was meant to give a taste of the extent of God’s compassion, “I saw clearly that ‘the clown’ was myself, ourselves . . . this rich, spangled costume is given us by life, we’re all of us clowns . . . wear a ‘spangled costume,’ but if we are caught unawares . . . who would dare to claim that he is not moved to his very depths by immeasurable pity . . . King or emperor, what I want to see in the man facing me is his soul, and the more exalted his position the more misgivings I have about his soul.” (Harvey Cox, A Feast of Fools, p. 139)

I think often we want the resurrection without the cross, the promise of hope without any suffering, new life without the death of the old. Rouault reminds us that it is through the pain and suffering that God’s joy and promises come. In the same way that Rouault’s paintings were made to have light shine through them, the light of God’s hope goes through the cross to the resurrection.

As a group of us reflected on a few paintings of Rouault’s today, we were astounded at how this master painter could portray Christ in utter sorrow but at the same time in amazing serenity. We came to the following conclusion: in the midst of taking on our shame and pain as the clown, Christ entered into a new confidence and peace in his Father’s love. There is symmetry between Christ’s endurance of pain and the embrace of his Father’s love. Christ only enters the pain because of the warmth of love he first feels from the Father and that warmth grows in the midst of the suffering.  And the cross extends this same love of the Father, amazingly, to us.

Rouault’s art has made me think about how Christ’s engagement of humanity as the clown impacts our interactions in society today. If you agree that Christ took on the form of a clown, how do you think this metaphor of the clown should inform how we should relate to others? Have you experienced a ‘clown encounter’ in your life?

Click here to see more of Rouault’s art.

One, there is only one true incarnation, and he is Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus is the only pure embodiment of the gospel; we are not.  I think we would all agree with this statement.  Yet, I find myself at times eclipsing Jesus in my attempt to be incarnational rather than simply pointing people to Jesus (as well as looking for them to point me to Him), the one full incarnation.  When we say we are living incarnationally this does not mean we are Jesus but that we represent and point to Jesus.

Second, we must acknowledge that incarnational living is a two way street.  If we are able to embody the gospel through the Spirit in a concrete location, then it would follow that we will at times also have the gospel embodied before us by others.  In other words, we reciprocally point one another to Jesus.  I know when I think of living incarnationally, I think of it as my behavior towards others and not others’ behavior towards me.  We must expand our view of living incarnationally to also include learning from others’ incarnational living.

What do you think?  Do you think speaking of living incarnationally in our neighborhoods undermines the incarnation of Christ, why or why not?  What other dangers do you think there are in using this language if any?  How would you define living incarnationally?  And what does living incarnationally mean to you?

Monday Night Dinners  6-8pm @ 2741 SE 87th Ave., Portland OR, Great food, great dialogue. Open invitation, bring a friend. We need your help with food, please email bmalick@multnomah.edu .

New Wine Makers Bible Studies  New Wine offers two womens small groups, held on Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings and one mens small group now meeting on Wednesday mornings.  Contact Crystal Santos or Ross Halbach for more information crystalksantos@gmail.com  and ross.halbach@gmail.com 
 
New Wine Blogs  www.consumingjesus.org  Dr. Metzger was recently quoted in a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Mystery Shopper” (about secret shoppers paid to rate churches). There is a link to this story on the CJ site under the new post “I’d rather be shopping”, along with some questions to consider. Check out the story and then share your thoughts!
www.new-wineskins.org Also, don’t forget, there is abundant space for you to share your thoughts, musings etc… on any sort of New Wine related topic on the New Wine blog.
 
The Wine Press  New Wine invites response from students in their column, The Wine Press, published in The Voice. Students are invited to write into New Wine with questions or comments on how to engage culture and the interns respond.  Send questions to newwine@multnomah.edu.

New Wine Forums  Thank you for joining our DTR between Gospel and Culture with Tony Kriz last Friday. For more information contact Rachel O’Brien at robrien2001@msn.com.
 
Girl’s Hangout Night  Tuesday, October 21st is a Girl’s Hangout Night in the dorms (Sorry guys, this one is gender specific)!  We will be having a dessert with some chit-chat at 8 pm in 1st floor lounge of the girl’s dorm.  Contact Crystal Santos for more information crystalksantos@gmail.com.
 
Fall into Math Night  Oct.22nd (Wed) from 5:30p-8p. Volunteer Opportunity at Clark Binnsmead School (85th & Division). They’ve invited us to help with their Autumn event, “Fall into Math Night”. They are looking for 20 people to help teachers run fun, hands-on games as well as help with set-up and clean-up. Come take part in making learning fun! Email bmalick@multnomah.edu if you can make it.

Monday Night Dinners. Every Monday night from 6-8 PM we meet 2 miles south of Multnomah’s campus at 2741 SE 87th Ave to share a potluck dinner together with people from diverse backgrounds. The first hour is spent sharing a meal with one another and the second is spent sharing our lives with one another. This dinner is open to both Christian and non-Christian, religious or non-religious. Come ready to listen and engage people and stories from a diversity of backgrounds and beliefs. If you are interested in helping cook a main entree please contact Laura Mettler at lmettler@multnomah.edu.

New Wine Discipleship Groups (Male and Female). The women will be meeting at Laura Mettler and Kelsi John’s house at 5513 SE Yamhill on Wednesday at 6:45 PM. The men will be meeting at the A-Frame every other Friday Morning from 8-10 AM beginning Sept. 26th. These smaller groups form the heartbeat of our community as we get to know one another, while we discuss and struggle through how we as followers of Christ can best bear witness to Christ in contemporary culture. For more information on the women’s group please contact Crystal Santos crystalksantos@gmail.com or for the men’s group please contact Ross Halbach ross.halbach@gmail.com.