The Fontgombault Christ - The All-Inclusive Eyes of Jesus

"What the Word does for our ears, the icon does for our eyes."

This lovely icon was painted by a monk of the Abbey of Notre Dame de Fontgombault in France. Do you get the feeling Jesus is walking? And do you recall these two verses from St. Matthew's Gospel? I've added the italics for emphasis.

He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illness among the people  Matthew 4:23 

Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and all kinds of illness. Matthew 9:35 

St. Matthew tells us (St. Luke does as well) that Jesus lived on the road. He didn't build a building where people had to come to him—he went out to them. Every word of the verses matters, and Matthew has chosen words that fill us in on the expanse of Jesus' reach and gaze: round, whole, tour, all (three times!)

The icon-writing monk understands. Notice the direction of Jesus' eyes—as if he is starting to look around in a great circle. No one (myself included) is excluded. Every one, every place, every kind is included. His eyes say all. Churches that put out welcome signs on the lawn need to think twice about the inclusive breadth of that word. An awful lot of people aren't feeling it.

Notice too, the icon is filled with light. When we're living in and by the light, we can see where we need to go and who is not being included. A trans-woman was horribly murdered and when her family was tracked down years later and claimed her body, they asked the local priest for a funeral Mass. He responded, "No, and it wouldn't make any difference anyway, she's in hell already." It's simply not Christ's way, which is the way of round, whole, tour, all, all, all. 

Some people will want to qualify it, put conditions on it, walk out on it, but there it is. Christ's all, will not be whittled away.