Image Maintenance and God

Paul Vander Klay:

Technology journalist and curmudgeon John C. Dvorak recently wrote a column suggesting that the real technological power behind the wave of Middle Eastern revolutions was not Twitter or Facebook but rather the lowly cell phone camera. Dictators like Qaddafi and Kim Jong-Il are obsessed with maintaining an image, but that image can be torn down with a camera phone and an Internet connection. During the second Gulf War journalists loved capturing pictures of crowds destroying the statues and portraits of Saddam Hussein. Images have real power and those who desire to preserve their power know that trying to control the creation and propagation of images is essential. 

As I was mulling these news pieces over I also reflected on Genesis 1, where God creates man and woman in his image. As we watch Qaddafi try to look strong and tough instead of ridiculous as the Western powers take his military apart, as we watch silly and futile legislative efforts attempt to protect business interests, we might ponder the complex unity of absolute strength and humility that God exhibits in the management of his own image. God, in fact, affords the creation of his image to any two individuals who have the appropriate and functional biological equipment. 

Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is the ikon, the image of the invisible God. During Lent we focus on the image of the invisible God freely subjecting himself to the image-obsessed Herods and Pilates of the world. The one who could summon legions of angels subjected himself to temple guards, a kangaroo court, Roman execution and this taunt: “You saved others, why don’t you save yourself?” 

God’s patience in refusing to secure his image property rights affords a public space where we might bear witness to him even at the expense of his own reputation. As you watch the powerful (or those who pretend to have power) of this world wrestle for control over their image, consider how this exercise bears witness to their futility. Consider also how the ikon of the invisible God is bloodied and killed by God’s own image bearers, yet through that humiliation gains preeminence over all things.

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