Differentiating Witness and Works

***As a Swiss reformed theologian, Karl Barth imbibed a measure of that aversion toward Christian art typical of the Zwinglian/Calvinist stream of the Reformation and its wariness regarding images. Nevertheless, as he wrote his magisterial Church Dogmatics, Barth kept before him Matthias Grünewald’s (c.1475-1528) famous painting, The Crucifixion. Grünewald depicts Jesus nailed to the cross as the two Marys and John the Apostle look on. And John the Baptist makes a postmortem appearance as well, standing erect, holding out an elongated prophetically bony finger toward the crucified Jesus with one hand while holding in the other a New Testament opened to display a few of his own most famous words―“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Barth saw in this painting an apt depiction of a fundamental dimension of the Church’s mission on earth―to point away from itself to the Savior and Lord of the world. The emerging movement’s quest for right living, rich relational Body life, and service within and without the church may be a prophetic breath of fresh air. But caution ought to temper enthusiasm for the finger turned in on itself that proclaims, “Look at us, watch how we live, don’t you want to know our savior?” Beware irrational exuberance. If there is a perceptible gap between our Savior and what he deserves to see in our lives, confession and repentance is called for because such an inconsistency undermines our witness to Jesus and his gospel. But alas! Until we see him as he is because we are like him, a gap there shall be. Yet the responsibility to bear witness to him remains. What to do? It behooves us to beg those who need him, when they detect distance between us and him, “Do not blame him!” No, life is not witness. Witness is witness. And witness requires pointing away from ourselves to the only One who can save.