Chiseled for War
I’ll invite you to walk with me into the Gallery of the Academy of Florence. This grand museum has a hallway that is perhaps one of the most famous in the world. Let’s spend some time there.
As you walk down this hallway, there are, on both sides of the long corridor, four statues. These four statues are known as “The Florentine Prigioni.” And these four statues are both interesting and troubling to take in. On the one hand, it’s astounding to look at the level of detail that is included in what is finished on these four statues and to take in the story that the statue tells. When you look at them, you can tell that these are the beginnings of people. They’re not finished. They used to be hard and cold blocks of marble. But then, the sculptor began to work with these pieces of marble, and he started to turn them into something. They’re works of art in process. What they will be is not yet there.
On the one hand, it is an awesome thing to try to imagine the story that the artist was telling about these four slaves who remain bound in marble. And on the other hand, it is quite troubling. These four prisoners seem bound in some sort of spell by the White Witch of Narnia, freezing them in ice and binding them in stone. Struggling to escape from this bondage, unable to become what they were meant to be. It is a troubling scene to take in these four prisoners, bound in stone, unable to free themselves.
Can you see yourself in his trap? Caught in the Devil’s web. Trapped in the Fowler’s snare. Pierced by his flaming darts. Locked in his prison of despair and doubt and worry and fear. Do you feel the weight of these chains?
Remember. This is war. Paul is calling us to armor up so that we can take our stand against the Devil’s schemes. But how? How when we are carved into stone, caught in the Fowler’s snare, and locked up in his prison of despair?
Do you know what the master sculptor, Michelangelo, was up to? While it looks like Michelangelo carved four figures into stone, his commentary indicates that he was freeing people from stone. THIS IS JESUS! Using the school of life’s experience and the chisel of his Word, Jesus frees us from despair. He hammers away our rough edges. He reconstructs our hands, ears, eyes, and faces. Jesus comes and sets us free from stone, free from the Devil’s, extinguishing all of the Devil’s fiery darts.
This week, we’re back to “Armor Up.” We will consider the shield of faith that will extinguish the Evil One's flaming darts. When the Devil’s darts pierce us, Jesus is always right there to set us free.
See you Sunday!
Pastor Nate
PS. The accounting and interpretation of Michelangelo’s art are summarized based on the work of Reed Lessing in “Overcoming Life’s Sorrows,” pages 213-215.