Don’t feel like you belong? Well, that’s probably because you are not of this world… Through all the brokenness, longing, and ravishing, a silent figure approaches but keeps silent, he knocks but does not enter. He too is not of this world even though he entered it. He created it in perfection, and it will one day be refined to perfection but right now we are in a cosmic drama of having the choice of which side to join: life or death.

There is a piece of art that adorns the walls of Keble College, Oxford in their side chapel called The Light of the World. It pictures Christ wearing a crown of thorns, holding a lantern that is shedding light on the dark scene, and knocking on a door. Painted by William Holmen Hunt in 1853, this icon is hauntingly beautiful in its use of light. And while much can be said about the brilliant workmanship of the masterpiece perhaps what is most remarkable about the painting is what is missing; the doorknob. The door on the outside lacks a doorknob. He knocks but we must answer.

Though the curse has long been broken
Adam’s sons are still the prisoners of their fears
Rushing helter-skelter
To destruction with their fingers in their ears
While the Father’s voice is calling
With an urgency I’ve never heard before
To come in from the darkness now
Before it’s time to finally close the door

Adam, Adam, where are you?

Don Francisco

Though we resist it, our very being is crying out to answer the one who gives us life. The angels and the saints are praying for us to finally give ourselves wholly to our creator; not just our good parts but the broken, and the hurting parts. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20)  

References

“The Light of the World.” Keble College, http://www.keble.ox.ac.uk/about/chapel/light-of-the-world/.

Francisco, Don. Adam Where Are You? 1977, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKB2Q7JOIws.