Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was the most celebrated painter and sculptor of the Renaissance period, but he’s also the one who authors today’s prayer. His first commissioned sculptor at twenty-three, the Pieta, depicts Jesus’ body as it was removed from the cross and placed in the lap of his mother, Mary. After Michelangelo’s prodigious art career that culminated in the painting of the Sistine Chapel, he returned to the image of Pieta late in life. This time, he positioned Mary and Mary Magdalene on either side of Jesus’ lifeless body. The towering figure to the rear of the sculpture, believed to be Nicodemus, bears a striking resemblance to Michelangelo. Nicodemus makes two brief appearances in John’s gospel, the first in John 3 as he queries Jesus about the nature of spiritual birth and the second in John 19 as a believer who joins with Joseph of Arimathea in asking the Roman authorities for Jesus’ body to give him a proper burial. Most art critics are convinced Nicodemus is Michelangelo’s self-portrait. The theory is entirely plausible, given that Nicodemus is portrayed in John’s gospel both as a questioner and a believer. Michelangelo was also an accomplished poet, as evidenced by his three hundred poems, most of which are prayers addressed to God. As I reflect on his poems, two themes stand out: guilt and grace. He understood himself as favored by God for his talents yet also felt unworthy to receive God’s mercy. He wrote in a letter to his nephew Leonardo, “Many believe—and I believe—that I have been designated to this work by God. Despite my old age, I do not want to give it up. I work out of love for God, and I put all my hope in him.” While his poems profess love for God, they also evidence despair over his struggles with ongoing sin. Most of us can identify. We feel loved by God yet unworthy to receive God’s grace. We join with Michelangelo in praying:
Michelangelo Buonarroti
The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the spirit give by which I pray;
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
That of its native self can nothing feed;
Of good and pious works, Thou art the seed
That quickens only where Thou say’st it may.
Unless Thou show to us Thy own true way,
No man can find it! Father! Thou must lead;
Do Thou then breathe those thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread;
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,
That I may have the power to sing to Thee,
And sound Thy praises everlastingly!
Amen.
Valerie Shrimpton-Evangelidis, “Michelangelo and Nicodemus: The Florentine Pieta.”
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.