our daily bread

[Dexu Xia]

Unfinished Works

Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24–25

At his death, the great artist Michelangelo left many unfinished projects. But four of his sculptures were never meant to be completed. The Bearded Slave, the Atlas Slave, the Awakening Slave, and the Young Slave, though they appear unfinished, are just as Michelangelo intended them to be. The artist wanted to show what it might feel like to be forever enslaved.

Rather than sculpting figures in chains, Michelangelo made figures stuck in the very marble out of which they are carved. Bodies emerge from the stone, but not completely. Muscles flex, but the figures are never able to free themselves.

My empathy with the slave sculptures is immediate. Their plight is not unlike my struggle with sin. I am unable to free myself: like the sculptures I am stuck, “a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me” (Rom 7:23). No matter how hard I try, I cannot change myself. But thanks be to God, you and I will not remain unfinished works. We won’t be complete until heaven, but in the meantime as we welcome the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, He changes us. God promises to finish the good work He has begun in us (Phil. 1:6).

God, thank You that You make us new creatures through the work of Your Son Jesus Christ, freeing us from our slavery to sin. 

He is the potter; we are the clay.

未完成的作品

谁能救我脱离这取死的身体呢？感谢上帝！靠着我们的主耶稣基督就能脱离了。-罗马书7章24-25节

艺术巨擘米开朗基罗逝世后留下了多件未完成的作品，但其中有四座雕像，却是蓄意为之，那是《浓髯的奴隶》、《奴隶阿塔拉斯》、《觉醒的奴隶》和《年轻的奴隶》。这四座看似未完成的奴隶雕像，其实是米开朗基罗刻意呈现的意境，突显出永无止境的奴役束缚。

米开朗基罗并不以锁炼来表达禁锢捆绑的形象，而是直接从大理石块中刻凿出雕像的身躯，并且让这些身躯深陷石块之中。这几座雕像呈现出极力挣扎，却永远不得释放的形态。

我能深切感受这四座奴隶雕像的困境，宛如看到自己在罪中挣扎。纵然奋力挣脱，却仍被罪恶捆绑，并“把我掳去，叫我附从那肢体中犯罪的律”（罗马书7章23节），无论我再怎么努力，都无法改变自己。但感谢上帝，你我都不会像那未完成的作品一样受困。虽然我们必须等到回天家的那一日，才能在上帝手中成为完全，但现在若我们愿意让圣灵在生命中动工，祂就会改变我们。因为上帝应许在我们心里动了善工，必成全这工（腓立比书1章6节） 。

上帝，感谢祢，让我们藉着耶稣基督的救赎，
脱离罪的辖制，成为新造的人。

祂是陶匠，我们是泥土