Remember the wife of Lot
El Greco’s painting soberly adorns the cover of this month’s Magnificat. The artist placed the Lord’s left hand upon the globe of the earth, while Jesus’ right hand is raised in a calculated gesture. What kept me mesmerized by this painting, though, was the light. The sole source of light is Jesus Himself. The painting fits the somber readings and Gospel passages of the last days of the liturgical year. In Magnificat’s piece, about this work, we are reminded that El Greco, “the Greek,” was a painter of icons. Born in Crete, at twenty-seven, he moved to Venice, where he studied under Tintrorreto.
In the evening of his life, El Greco said: “All my life I have burned, all my life. Not in the fire, but in the light. I threw myself into its blaze.” Light—and not shadows, as is proper in sculpture and architecture—was the fundamental reality that structured his works. There is no sunlight in El Greco’s work. Only the light born from light conveys to the viewer the invisible aspect of the visible subject. Didn’t he often say: “I never leave home before six o’clock in the evening, for fear that the sun’s luminosity might darken my interior light”?
Here, the Savior of the world seems to have his own light within him. This light is strong, brilliant, to the point of whitening the flesh tones.
Interesting, but how does this painting relate to the phrase, “Remember the wife of Lot?”
Indeed.
El Greco’s painting’s title is incorrect. Called Salvator Mundi ( Christ’s Blessing) because of the raised fingers on the Lord’s right hand, Jesus’s gesture is not a blessing. That gesture is that of a teacher and judge.
With his right hand raised, Jesus’ gesture is interpreted as a blessing, but in reality is the gesture of the Teacher, of the One who teaches all truth because he is the very Word of God. It is at the same time the gesture of a Supreme Judge. Finally, this gesture constitutes the living scepter of the One who will reign forever and ever. In the East, the thumb, index, and middle fingers are raised, representing the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, whereas the ring finger and the little finger—lowered and joined—symbolize respectively the divine nature and the human nature that are united in Jesus. Finally, with the palm of the hand, these two fingers form a heart which reminds us the Christ Jesus is king of a Kingdom where Love reigns.
Don’t look back
Friday’s Gospel message isn’t peaceful, soothing, or calming. It is alarming:
Jesus said to his disciples: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, someone who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise one in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.” They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
What is Jesus doing here?
He is teaching and warning us. And yes, if it takes terror to stop us, then all to the good. Although we know that our constant bickering about our ministers, priests, politicians, and spouses is evil, we do it. anyway. We’d be holier if we had our priests and bishops. were supernatural. And insist on looking outside ourselves for the fix to our problems. In the Lord’s own words, we look at the splinter in our neighbors’ eyes and ignore the plank in our own. Habitually committing sins of detraction and calumny. Sin is not complicated; it’s awfully simple.
It’s hard work to change our habits of sin into habits of virtue. But it is the most critical work of our lives. For if we are not advancing in virtue, we slide. It’s a rule, we cannot stand still but must continually advance in our desire for holiness, for holy zeal.
Bishop Erik Varden’s meditation on Friday’s Gospel eloquently exhorts, “Don’t look back!”
“Remember the wife of Lot”
Christ’s commandment Remember the wife of Lot occurs within a cardinal passage in Luke’s Gospel. On it hinge the tableau before—three great parables of judgment in chapters 15 and 16—and the tableau after, the Passion, introduced by the words Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem (18:31). This context explains the crescendo that faith must translate into action. The disciples are told to show resolute forbearance: If your brother sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, “I repent,” you must forgive him (17:4). They are to labor without thought of reward: When you have done all that is commanded of you, say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty” (17:10).
The kingdom of God, they are told, is in their midst if they are ready to receive it (17:21). As for the end times, their arrival defies calculation (17:23-24)…. Hence the importance of standing always ready, of being cautious with attachments, of practicing the ascesis of not lingering. Those who wish to follow Christ must be ready to get up and go. They are not to think of taking luggage. As an exhortatory climax, the warning resounds: Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it….
Whether we regard her final glance (see Gn 19:26) as a failure to understand, as a function of sinful inertia, or as a state of being pierced by homesickness, she stands before us approachable and close…. For surely we have known, if not all, at least some of the dynamics she instantiates? From experience we know the truth of Saint Bernard’s claim: “Not to move forwards on the path of life is to slide back.” Standing still is not an option. We need to stay fixed on the goal we would reach, to mobilize our will, orient our desire. To cite Bernard again: “Let us run ahead by our desires and by progress in virtue.” It is no coincidence that the Christian life is likened to a marathon both in the Pauline letters and in Saint Benedict’s Rule. To keep running is what matters, and that, right to the end.
Bishop Erik Varden, o.c.s.o.
Bishop Varden, a convert to the Catholic faith, was the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Mount Saint Bernard in Leicestershire, England, from 2015 until 2019, when he became the bishop of the region of Trondheim in Norway. / From The Shattering of Loneliness: On Christian Remembrance. © Erik Varden, 2018
