The Unseen

One of Rembrandt's painting known as "The Storm in the Sea of Galilee"  is noteworthy for several reasons.  One is that it was stolen from an art gallery and to this day has not been found.  It is also Rembrandt's only seascape.  And, thirdly, in the boat are fourteen men.  Jesus and the twelve disciples make thirteen, but the fourteenth is Rembrandt who painted himself into the painting.  And, of course, he gave himself a place of prominence as he sits next to Jesus.     

Rembrandt is not the only artist who has painted himself in the picture, nor  the first writer who has written himself into the plot.  And, as we consider such happening, it is surely not a far stretch to begin thinking about the Creator somehow putting Himself into the Creation which He put in place way back in the beginning.  There have always been those who speak of the Creation revealing the presence of God.  There have always been those who speak of hearing the voice of God midst the Creation.  Who is to say that God, the Creator, has not put Himself into the picture of creation for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear?   

It is likely that many who see Rembrandt's painting look, but do not notice the extra man in the boat.  Every day we look at the Creation which surrounds us and see it, but fail to notice the way God is revealing Himself to us through the things which seem so ordinary that they cease being seen.  The Creation is about more than animals, and plants, and rocks, and sunsets, and mountains, and seas.  It is about holy mystery.  Not to see holy mystery simply speaks to our being too busy to pay attention.