Frieze Frame

Construction began on Notre Dame Cathedral in 1163 and took 187 years to complete. Nine generations—some of the same family—participated in its creation, six or seven of which never saw the magnificent building completed. For some contrast, when I was part of a mega-church staff in the early 2000s, our first 92,000 square foot building took just under thirteen months to build. And it was agonizing. (Facepalm emoji).

In our three visits to Paris over the decades, Lauren and I have spent many meaningful hours strolling through that great cathedral. Part of its design—and that of most European cathedrals—as you process around the ambulatory encircling the choir and the apse—is a frieze that frames the Bible in pictures, not as much for art’s sake, but so that even those who couldn’t read could still know the Scriptures. And what look initially like distinct pictures in themselves are actually a sequence of frames that together tell the whole story. An ancient graphic novel, if you will.

The four debates in Luke 20 are like that—a sequence of frames that only together tell the whole story—and it will help us understand the theological, spiritual, and relational impact of this week’s Gospel if we see where and how it fits within the sequence.