Good Art Aint Cheap
Good art ain’t cheap.
On 15 November 2017, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci titled Salvator Mundi (‘Saviour of the World’) broke the world record for the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. It was bought at Christie’s auction house in New York by an anonymous buyer for a cool $450.3 million. No, I didn’t get the decimal place in the wrong spot. You read it correctly. Four hundred and fifty million dollars! The ‘.3’ there is just the loose change that the buyer decided to throw in on top: an extra $300,000!
What’s even more amazing, though, is the fact that many, many artists refuse to sell some of their best work, even though it could make them an absolute fortune. For many artists, there is something about their best work that makes it hard for them to put it up for sale. It is simply too precious, too valuable, too close to their heart to part with.
I mention all of this because it provides us with a window into God’s commitment to his world. Let me show you what I mean.
The MasterPiece & The Vandals
Imagine that the universe is like God’s masterpiece. It is one enormous, magnificent artwork. You couldn’t even begin to estimate its value. God handcrafted it and hung up it up for all to see, a wonderful display of his genius, creativity and overflowing generosity. Right in the centre of the artwork – the focus of the whole creation – is you and me, human beings, the crowning marvel of God’s creative genius.
If we think of it like this, then sin, suffering, sickness and death are like vandals who have sneaked into the universe, ripped the canvas of God’s masterpiece and smeared black paint all over the place. They have tried to ruin God’s great artwork. The beautiful masterpiece is still there – through the paint and rips you can still see how wonderful it is – but it has been terribly damaged.
Restoring The Masterpiece
Now imagine with me a little bit further. What would you have done if you were God in this situation?
Restoring a damaged artwork is never easy. Just ask the team who worked on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome; it took 10 years and millions of dollars to restore Michelangelo’s great masterpiece! You’ve got to think that one of the obvious options for God must have been to throw his ruined artwork in the bin and start again from scratch. Surely the prospect of restoring his damaged world was too much. Surely it would have been easier to simply forget the whole mess.
But, according to Jesus, throwing out his damaged artwork was never an option for God. Instead, God began his great restoration project.
When God Turns Up
Have a look at this famous quote from John’s Gospel:
“God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” (John 3:16–17)
Can you see what it is saying? God didn’t sit by on the sidelines watching his great artwork being vandalised. And he didn’t take the easy option of condemning the world either, of writing it off and throwing it in the bin. No. God loves the world – he loves us – way too much for that!
Therefore, God began his great restoration project. He began the work of saving and restoring the world. Did you notice how he did it? God didn’t send a mere messenger. He didn’t pay someone else to do the dirty work. Instead, God sent his own Son into the world to clean up the mess. Rather than giving up on his ruined masterpiece, God gave. He gave his own Son.
This is huge. It means that God isn’t ‘out there’ on the clouds somewhere, uninterested by the mess in the world. No. In his Son, in Jesus, God entered his world. He came in person to get his world back. He joined us in the mess. He got his hands dirty. Jesus got tired. He was hurt. He bled and died. In his Son Jesus, God knows what it is like to suffer from the inside.
This, of course, still doesn’t explain why God allows suffering, but it does show us that God is not distant from us when we suffer. God understands suffering, because in Jesus, he has been there himself. You see, great artwork is never cheap, and it cost God a great deal to buy his masterpiece back.
This article was originally published by Bible Society Australia.
