George Frederic Watts – Art & Theology

'For he had great possessions' by George Frederic Watts — George Frederic Watts (British, 1817–1904), *‘For he had great possessions,’* 1894. Oil on canvas, 139.7 × 58.4 cm. Tate Britain, London.

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”

And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

—Mark 10:17–22 (cf. Matthew 19:16–30; Luke 18:18–30)

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SONG: “Iesū Me Ke Kanaka Waiwai” (Jesus and the Rich Young Man) | Words and music attributed to John Kamealoha Almeida, 1915 | Performed by Mark Yamanaka, with Sean Naleimaile, 2018

The origins of this song are debated, which is why it often circulates with the credit “Traditional,” but many sources attribute it to John K. Almeida (1897–1985), a famous singer, songwriter, and bandleader from Oahu, who said he wrote it in 1915. According to music archivist Harry B. Soria Jr., Almeida offered “Kanaka Waiwai” to the Mormon Church, of which he was a member, but his gesture was turned down when the piece was deemed too “hula sounding” and unsuitable for a worship service [liner notes, John Kameaaloha Almeida (HanaOla Records, 2003)].

Almeida first recorded it, along with secular mele (songs), in 1946, accompanied by Genoa Keawe’s Trio. It gained immense popularity in 1971, when the Sons of Hawaii recorded it with Moe Keale on vocals. Now it is one of Hawaii’s best-loved hymns and is widely performed not only in recording studios but in churches. I’ve combed through dozens of performances to find what I consider the best, which is Mark Yamanaka’s. You’ll notice he employs a characteristic Hawaiian vocal technique known as leo ki’eki’e (“high-pitched voice”), a yodel-like break between registers. The video above is from a HiSessions acoustic live session shot earlier this year, but you can also hear him singing the song on his 2013 album Lei Maile.

Ma ke alahele ʻo Iesû
I hālāwai aku ai
Me ke kanaka ʻōpio hanohano
Kaulana i ka waiwai
Pane mai e ka ʻōpio
ʻE kuʻu Haku maikaʻi
He aha hoʻi kaʻu e hana aku ai
I loaʻa e ke ola mau?

E hāʻawi, e hāʻawi lilo
I kou mau waiwai
Huli a hahai mai iaʻu
I loaʻa e ke ola mau ia ʻoe

Minamina e ka ʻōpio
I kona mau waiwai
I ke kūʻai a hāʻawi lilo aku
I ka poʻe nele a hune
Huli aʻe ʻo Iesū lā
Pane aku i ka ʻōpio
ʻAʻole aʻe hiki ke kanaka waiwai
I ke aupuni o ka lani

A literal English translation, by Haunani Bernardino, is as follows:

Along the road, Jesus
Met
With a distinguished young man
Who was known for his wealth.
The young man said,
“My good lord,
What must I do
To gain eternal life?”

“Give, give away all
Of your possessions,
Then come and follow me
In order to gain eternal life.”

The young man grieved
Over his wealth,
Unwilling to sell and give all
To the poor and destitute.
Jesus then turned
And answered the man,
“Rich man, you will not enter
The Kingdom of Heaven.” [source]

When the song is sung in English, however (even by native Hawaiians), a completely different set of lyrics is used, going something like this:

Let me walk through paradise with you, Lord
Take my hand and lead me there
All my earthly treasures I will gladly give
Teach me how to love and how to share

Greed and lust and vanity were mine, Lord
Till I found your love divine
Now on my knees I pray that I will find a way
Let me walk through paradise with you

Oh, my Lord, my Savior
Guide my poor feet along that lonely road
Faith and hope and love will light the way before me
And I’ll walk through paradise with you

Oh, my Lord, my Father
Take my hand and lead me to paradise
Oh, my Lord, let me follow in your footsteps
Let me walk through paradise with you

I’m not sure where these lyrics originated, nor why a closer approximation of the original has not been attempted. This English rewrite drastically changes the content of the song, shifting it from a retelling of a Gospel narrative that ends on a sad note to a personal prayer that, while touching on some of the themes of the rich man’s encounter with Jesus, is sweet and bright and indicates conversion. One could say it’s a revisionist account told in the rich man’s voice—if he had surrendered to Jesus’s call rather than resisted, unwilling to give up his material wealth. He is thus held up as a positive model in this version, and we are enjoined to respond with similar boldness of vow (“All my earthly treasures I will gladly give”) and fervency of petition (“Let me walk through paradise with you”).

In the following video, an unnamed woman with beautiful vocals performs this English version to a simple ukulele accompaniment:

This post belongs to the weekly series Artful Devotion. If you can’t view the music player in your email or RSS reader, try opening the post in your browser.

To view all the Revised Common Lectionary scripture readings for Proper 23, cycle B, click here.

VISUAL MEDITATION: “The Birth of Ecclesia”: On Sunday I wrote a piece for ArtWay on a thirteenth-century Bible moralisée illumination that pairs the creation of Eve out of the side of sleeping Adam with the birth of the church out of the side wound of the New Adam, Christ, our spouse, who “fell asleep” on the cross. The painting offers a great example of how art can do theology.

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POETRY LECTURE: “Believing in Poetry for a Secular Age: Michael Symmons Roberts and Mark Oakley,” October 5, 2017, 6:30 p.m., 77 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2EZ: “If we live in a secular age, you wouldn’t know it from our poetry. Not only are some of the greatest poets of recent years overtly Christian, such as Geoffrey Hill and Les Murray, but many who are not remain drawn to and fascinated by ‘the soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage.’” To facilitate discussion on poetry’s spiritual power, the religion and society think tank Theos has organized an evening with the award-winning poet Michael Symmons Roberts and arts writer and advocate Mark Oakley, who will draw on their most recent publications. General admission is £7.

Inspired by his hometown of Manchester, Roberts’s seventh poetry collection, Mancunia, released last month, has received critical acclaim. “Mancunian Miserere” is reprinted in full in the Guardian’s review, but here’s a taste: “As I walk west on Cross Street have mercy on me, O God, / . . . / for the wide berth I gave that man-cocoon asleep on the steps / of a new-closed bank where once I queued to find my balance.”

As canon chancellor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of Mark Oakley’s responsibilities is to advance the church’s engagement with the arts. Last year he wrote The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry, a series of reflections on twenty-nine poems that speak into the life of faith. Earlier books of his include The Collage of God, A Good Year, and compilations of readings for weddings and funerals.

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ALBUM: Grace by Lizz Wright: Lizz Wright’s sixth album, Grace, dropped on September 15 to rave reviews. “A sophisticated straddler of down-home blues, jazz, gospel, folk, southern pop and confessional singer-songwriter traditions,” Wright, with the help of album producer Joe Henry, chose nine covers from an array of sources and eras and cowrote the tenth track with Maia Sharp. My favorite is “Singing in My Soul,” written by Thomas Dorsey and popularized by Sister Rosetta Tharpe—about the steadfast joy that is ours in Christ.

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FILM: The Birth of a Nation (2016): My husband never learned about Nat Turner in school, he recently told me when the name came up at an exhibition opening. So when we got home we decided to watch Nate Parker’s biopic of Turner, an enslaved black preacher who in 1831 led a revolt against the slaveholding families of Southampton County, Virginia, killing about sixty white men, women, and children. It was a watershed moment in American history that spread fear throughout the South and resulted in the execution of fifty-six slaves and the lynching of over a hundred nonparticipants.

As do most cinematic retellings of history, The Birth of a Nation contains inaccuracies, and in its attempts to be a hero’s story, it lacks nuance. But it effectively shows how entrenched Turner was in scripture—he was literate—and how his growing understanding of God’s will for his people, combined with supernatural visions and other pressings of the Spirit, impelled him to act decisively on the side of justice. Because of my pacifist convictions, I cannot commend Turner’s violent methods . . . but I say this as a free white woman in the twenty-first century, whose privilege has protected me from the kind of desperation that was present on the antebellum plantations of the American South; were I in a state of constant oppression with no other way out, and forced to witness daily the abuse of my spouse, my children, my mother, and others I love, maybe my feelings would be different. I can still appreciate Turner’s ministry to his fellow slaves and his hunger and thirst for righteousness, as well as his internal wrestling with what was an extremely difficult situation.

On a related note, Nat Turner’s Bible is one of the collection highlights at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Worth a visit!

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: “This is what hope usually feels like”: In October 2015 I wrote an essay on George Frederic Watts’s allegorical painting Hope and how it pictures the posture that my family and I assumed after my Aunt Marjie’s cancer diagnosis. I am sad to report that Aunt Marjie passed away in July. We spent so many fun times together, traveling, eating, singing and dancing, our weeklong excursion through Italy, along with my mom, being a main highlight. Aunt Marjie’s boundless enthusiasm, positivity, selflessness, and sense of adventure will continue to inspire me. Tomorrow I’ll be flying out to Montana for a party in her honor, where I’ll be telling 150-plus friends and family members what she meant to me—and then dancing it up, just like she wanted! Here are a few favorite photos from my albums.