There are many famous pieces of religious art in the world,
but few are so well known and loved as Holman Hunt’s The Light of the
World, painted in the early 1850s. In case you don’t recognize it by
this name, remember the print often found on funeral home fans and
calendars—Jesus standing at the door and knocking.
There are actually two such paintings by the same artist. The
original is in a side chapel off the main chapel of Keble College in
Oxford (where I attended Evensong recently); a copy—much larger than
the original—is in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Why have so many people been drawn to this picture? Well, it may well
be because it speaks of a universal truth concerning man’s need and
God’s action in Jesus Christ. In the picture, Jesus comes to the door
of the human heart at night. It is fast barred. The hinges are rusty,
and vines and plants have grown up in front of it.
Remarkably, there is no handle on the outside of the door.
The artist is supposed to have explained that he painted it this way
because the latch is on the inside. Jesus is a gentleman; He will not
force His way in where He is not wanted; He waits for us to open the
door.
The painting is, of course, meant to illustrate Jesus’
words in Revelation 3:20: “Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if
any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me.”
Jesus is indeed the Waiting Saviour. As the father in the story of
the Prodigal Son waited at the gate for his wayward son to return,
just so Jesus waits for us to say yes to His overtures of love, mercy
and grace.
But there is a corollary truth that we must not miss: the
One who waits for us — the Waiting Saviour – is also the Seeking
Saviour. It is He who takes the initiative in calling a person to
Himself. In Holman Hunt’s painting, neither truth is obscured. Jesus
not only waits, but has come to the door of the human heart. He has
come to bring light. In Hunt’s picture, Jesus stands holding a lantern
in one hand even as he knocks with the other.. The light He brings
illuminates our need, illustrated in Hunt's painting by the weeds and
vines outside the door of the human heart.
Most importantly, the painting is intended to invoke a
personal response. The question is: What will I do with Jesus? Will I
open the door and let Him in, or will I say with those told about in
the Gospels who cried out: "We will not have this man to reign over
us?"
Almighty and everlasting God, who art always
more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than
either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy
mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and
giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but
through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.
Amen.
The Rev. Victor H. Morgan is rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Blue Ridge.