In much the same way, as we give in to sin and let it become the center of our focus, we are not only separated from God, but we fail to even notice Him when He is standing right in front of us. They are so engrossed in the coins on the table that they cannot see anything else. It’s also worth noting that the people to the left of Matthew are completely oblivious to Christ as he is calling their friend. This is a statement about the yearning that each one of us has inside us – a restlessness until we leave ourselves and our worldly attachments to follow Christ’s call. Upon closer investigation however, we can see his legs seemingly drawn toward Christ as though they would get up and walk on their own. We can also see that he is leaning back toward his friends and metaphorically, to his life before this moment – a life of greed centered around money. Often, we feel that we are not worthy of God’s mercy because of our sinful nature and rather than asking for forgiveness, we turn away from God, the one who wants to forgive us and welcome us back into His arms. Let’s take a look at Matthew first immediately, we can see that he has a look of surprise on his face and he gestures to himself as if to ask, “Me?” This speaks to the tendency we have as humans to be skeptical or even to deny ourselves the love of God. Now to look at the painting itself it may help to have easy access to an image of the painting as you read this. God works through weak instruments and like the rays of light shining in on Matthew, so too does God shine through the weakness of human nature as He uses flawed individuals to communicate His own goodness to the world. In much the same way that God inspired the troubled artist, Caravaggio, to paint such a beautiful painting, He inspired the sinful tax collector, Matthew, to write the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a man who had a reputation for being an outlaw, so to speak – he was forced to flee Rome because he murdered a man over a tennis match and a gambling debt (although some have a different theory of the motivation) – but he painted some of the most powerful and iconic works of Christian art. The fact that Caravaggio painted “The Calling of Saint Matthew” is an incredible testimony to this idea. God uses humans, who are sinners, to be his instruments. Christ calls us to follow Him just as He called Matthew. This painting is not simply a snapshot of a great moment in time it represents what each of us, as Christians, experience in our lives. I regret not recognizing the beauty of the painting and my apathy toward the depiction of such a profound and pivotal moment.
We discussed the use of light and dark throughout the painting, and our professor told us who each person was and why they were shown in clothing that would not be worn until about 1,600 years after the event depicted in the painting.Īll of this was presented to me and I took it as just another old painting. We covered this painting in that class and I did what I had done with every other old painting we talked about I memorized its title – “The Calling of Saint Matthew”, I memorized who painted it – Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, I learned about Baroque style, and about Caravaggio’s turbulent life. When I was in college, I took an Art History class as part of my “gen.-ed.”, or core curriculum.
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