40 Days: Day 4: Water to Wine

6"x6" Oil on Canvas

Commissioned

John 2:1-11, The Wedding at Cana

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

There are no parables in the Gospel of John. Jesus' miracles are parable enough. They are "signs" revealing the kingdom reality. There are so many things to meditate upon in this story. Mary's perspective. Jesus' perspective. The servants' perspective. Spend time with this story however you like. But as for this commissioned painting, the focus is on the the jars of water. 

The wedding and the main characters in the story are represented in the festive colors in the background. The focus is on the stone jars now filled with wine, reflecting festive colors dancing on the surface. They jars are filled to the brim with plain water. But after being changed by Christ, thanks to the faith of his mother and executed rather quietly, the water is transformed to wine and becomes the star of the show and an abundant gift of grace to all. 

God can take the most ordinary of things and, with grace and love, make them extraordinary. Simple canned goods can become life-savers for food-insecure families. Smiles can become ambassadors of hope for hurting souls. Everything in our very ordinary lives can become extraordinary gifts of grace. Our very lives can be used as signs of God's grace to the world. With God all things are possible.

40 Days: Day 37: The Basin and the Towel

8"x10" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

And the call is to community

In an upstairs room, a parable
Is just about to come alive
And while they bicker about who's best
With a painful glance, He'll silently rise

Their Savior Servant must show them how
Through the will of the water
And the tenderness of the towel

And the call is to community
The impoverished power that sets the soul free
In humility, to take the vow
That day after day we must take up the basin and the towel

In any ordinary place
On any ordinary day
The parable can live again
When one will kneel and one will yield

Our Saviour Servant must show us how
Through the will of the waterAnd the tenderness of the towel

The space between ourselves sometimes
Is more than the distance between the stars
By the fragile bridge of the Servant's bow
We take up the basin and the towel

And the call is to community
The impoverished power that sets the soul free
In humility, to take the vowThat day after day we must take up the basin and the towel

-Michael Card

-- LISTEN TO THE SONG --

John 13:1-17

40 Days: Day 15: Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

Matthew 25:1-13

The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

40 Days: Day 2: Luke 18:9-14

6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

Click Here to Purchase

Luke 18:9-14New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The Sower

8"x10" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days: January, 2015—Day 6

Today's painting is another illumination. This time the subject is Jesus' parable of The Sower.  

"A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold."

We tend to reflect on what kinds of soil we are. But recently, I've been thinking about the Sower. The Sower doesn't worry about getting ALL of the seed into the good soil. The seed is liberally thrown about everywhere. Once distributed, nature takes care of the rest. Jesus tells this parable to his Disciples, I think, to prepare them for ministry. We should spread grace the same way God gives us grace—to all—not just those who appear to be worthy.

So this painting's view of the Sower is from the ground up—for we are indeed the soil. What we see from that vantage point is a prodigal Sower, joyfully throwing seeds of grace to all the world. 

Prodigal Grace

And now we come to the climax of Jesus’ parabolic trilogy on grace. After the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, Jesus tells us the parable of a Prodigal Son who runs off and squanders his early inheritance on his own pleasures only to come back home begging for food and shelter. Rather than being angry with the son, the father runs out to meet him and welcomes him home with a great feast. The gem in the story is more about the father than the son. He is just as wasteful, or “prodigal,” with his grace and love as the son is with money. How much more has our Heavenly Father continued to pour grace upon our lives, time and time again?

This painting depicts the father rushing to embrace his returning son. It shows a clash of two realities. The left side of the painting, the side of the son, is dusty and dead. The right side, from where the father comes, is full of light and life. The father’s love overwhelms the brokenness of the son. The pitiful, weeping, son collapses into the embrace of his father who is wrapping him up to protect, comfort, and sustain. The sweeping robe does more than illustrate movement. They are also abstract symbols of fire and water. For it is in the baptism of water and spirit that we know we belong to God. We are loved, forgiven and renewed by God’s Grace. This painting especially depicts the emotions of the father. He is painted older, to accentuate wisdom. While his left hand sweeps strongly, his right hand gently comforts. In his face, you can see the parental mix of emotions. A smile of happiness tempered with a bitter-sweet empathy for what his child has been though.

May this painting serve as a reminder to us all that we belong to a prodigally loving God who continues to allow us to make our own decisions, painfully knows how we squander our blessings, and patiently waits, looking for our return. And when we DO return, our God comes running to us full of joy and forgiveness to overwhelm our broken lives and restore us with a smothering embrace of love and grace.

The Seeker

What on earth is this person doing? What is she looking for? Why is she searching?

These are the questions I hope you will wonder when you first engage this painting. And when you discover the answer, I hope you wonder even more.

After stunning his critics with the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus hits them again with a sequel, “The Search for the Lost Coin”. This second parable tells the story of a woman who stays up all night searching for a single lost coin. When she finds the coin, she invites all of her friends and neighbors to come and celebrate with a big party. Only a compulsive disorder would drive a person stay up all night searching for the coin. And only a foolish person would waste the money to burn a lantern all night and throw a huge party worth many times more than the value of the coin. But it is with this kind of seemingly foolish grace that our God seeks after us.

Unlike the painting of the shepherd, who had found his sheep, I wanted to explore in this painting, the concept of searching. The woman in this piece is turning her home upside down in search of the lost treasure (a coin, a ring, a remote control... it doesn’t matter). The coin is never revealed in order to engage you and get you to wonder what might be worth ransacking a home in the middle of the night. Borrowing from chiaroscuro masters like Rembrant and Caravaggio, the subject is brought to light out of night’s darkness. You can faintly see the overturned chair and basket in the background. The woman’s hair is unkept. You can see that this is a long and ongoing search, and it is consuming all of the her time and energy. Is she looking under a bed, or under something strewn on the floor? Is she looking under there for the first time? Or second? Or Third? The whole point to this mystery is to meditate on the seeker and wonder about that which is lost.

Each and every one of us is God’s most treasured possession. That includes you, me, and the countless invisible, untouchable and unlovable people out there in the world. And when even one of us is lost, God will stop at nothing to get us back. There is no limit to how long God will try. There is no resource God will not employ. Eternally seeking. Even in the darkest places, in the dead of night, God still seeks to find us. We might think its crazy that God would care so much for so many and go through so much fuss over even the worst of us. But to God, we are all worth it.

Lost and Found

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus shares three parables to teach a lesson to his critics. The first is a story of a shepherd who abandons his flock to search for a single lost sheep. Once you get over the shock of the thought of a shepherd leaving 99 sheep to search for the one lost sheep, you discover the story really is about a more individualistic relationship with God. We are so prone to wander off like a lost lamb. God relentlessly pursues after us to find us and bring us home.

This painting explores the relationship of the shepherd and the sheep during their time spent together on the long journey home. There are many clues to their experience in the layers of paint. The shepherd has rescued the lamb from a forboding place far away from the pasture. He has been searching for a long time and distance. His face is blistered by wind and sun. The elements are harsh. There are rocks, thorny bushes, and strong winds. The shepherd is relieved that he as found his sheep. He holds the sheep securely on his shoulders, determined to not let the sheep get away. His weathered face reveals smiling eyes of joy and relief as he casts a loving look to the sheep, as if to say, “You little stinker”. The sheep rests peacefully on the shoulders and still kind of looks away, as if to still be tempted to want to go another direction. Warmed by the sunlight breaking through the stormy sky, and being rocked gently by the rhythm of the shepherd’s march, the sheep’s eyes begin to close on the brink of a much needed sleep. Both the sheep and the shepherd keep each other warm from the harsh winds by huddling close together. They are no longer alone. They are now in this mess together.

In today’s culture, its hard to paint the concept of a savior. So many images of Christ on a cross make us desensitized to the enormity of Christ’s sacrifice. And the whole concept of a sacrifice seems foreign to us. But here in the story of a shepherd and a sheep, we can get a glimpse of our Living Savior. A savior who relentlessly pursues after us to the ends of the earth. A savior who never gives up. A savior who rescues us, delivers us on his shoulders, and suffers with us as we journey together on the long trek home.