Mosaic

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a ‘Mosaic’ is a work of art historically and traditionally made from shards – pieces of pottery and glass items broken and cast aside either through normal use or deliberately smashed for the purpose.

In the bible, Jeremiah 19:2 refers to the ‘potsherd’ gate which is where the shards of pottery were dumped.  Luke records, concerning Jesus, that He referred to Himself as the rejected stone of Psalm 118:22 and then said these words: “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces... but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Luke 20:18).  I take falling on this stone (which is Christ) to refer to those who cast themselves onto the mercy of God out of desperation and glad submission.

Anyone of us who has genuinely done that knows the truth of Jesus’ words: you will be broken to pieces.  These are the shards of God’s mosaic.  Broken pieces all – different in many aspects of appearance, but precious to the Divine Artisan.  And our place in the glorious mercy (and indeed the glorious future) of God – His ‘Mosaic’ – is determined not by ourselves, not by our ‘pastor’, not by our mentor, not even by our friends, but by the Master Craftsman.

The scriptures affirm this using the concept of the potter, the clay and the various vessels the potter wishes to make for his house.  (See Isaiah 29; Isaiah 45; Isaiah 64; Jeremiah 18; Romans 9:20.)

In Romans 12:5, Paul canvasses a closely related idea when he says, “so, in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”  It doesn’t take much to see the idea of a mosaic in this revelation from Paul.  Bear in mind that Paul was the one vessel chosen by the Potter to be the revealer of the ‘eternal mystery’ that God had hidden (even from the angels) from eternity past.

And Paul doesn’t stop at telling the Roman disciples about it, he also takes the message to Corinth: “But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. As it is, there are many parts, but one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18 & 20).

But even before Corinth and Rome, Paul was revealing the mystery and this same truth to the local congregations in the region of Galatia: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).  And here he is a bit more specific, identifying the fact that there are many variations among the family of Jesus, but THEY ARE ALL SONS, ALL ONE BODY, ALL ONE IN CHRIST, ALL CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM AND ALL HEIRS OF THE SAME PROMISE – a glorious mosaic by the Divine Artisan in the gallery of the world to depict, reveal and unravel the mystery of God’s mission: “God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them” – not differentiating on any grounds (2 Corinthians 5:19).

One part of my vision for local ecclesia is that we cooperate with God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in creating and being a part of that glorious Divine Mosaic.

Cheers,
Kevin.