There is an artistic
technique that is called a “mise en abyme” that consists in placing a portrait
within a portrait, a story within a story, a heraldic shield within a heraldic
shield. It is also the effect produced when an object is placed between two
mirrors and, consequently, is reflected infinitely. In this process, the object
that is placed within the other object is not just added on to the original
object, it becomes a way of interpreting it or of giving it a completely new
meaning.
That is what the Word
of God does. It does not change what can be seen at the surface of things, but
it does give them a new layer of meaning. When Pilate says, “Ecce homo! Here is
the man!”, he is describing what he sees on the surface – a fragile,
vanquished, beaten, rejected and condemned person. He does not understand that,
before him, is a “mise en abyme” in which Jesus reveals who we are at a deeper
level.
When God enters the
picture, we can see all things in a completely different light.
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