Risen

Silent Saturday is a somber reminder to me of just how easy it is to live viewing Jesus on this side of the cross-after He has risen.

His torture and murder is more than I can wrap my mind around. The details of how He suffered are more than any of us could begin to understand. Imagine the hearts of those that loved Him and followed Him only to witness the horrific, the unfathomable. Imagine the emptiness and devastation that they felt. But that’s not what this painting is about.

Jesus wasn’t the power wielding authoritative king that came to take over and conquer by the bloodshed of those that hated and murdered Him-the political and religious leaders of His time.  He turned all of time upside down when He conquered death by death.  The God Man who chose to sup with the marginalized, the outcasts and the misfits, the One who opened blind eyes and deaf ears, the One who raised the dead, the One who forgave and loved the unlovable - that One-  He willingly laid His life down, that all should come to know the power of His Love.  It is by His blood that we all find our healing and eternal life.

Risen is my interpretation of Jesus, literally stepping out of the darkness, death literally under his feet. And all around that darkness, springs new life, glorious new life!  It was customary for Jesus to gather around a table with people. They danced, they sang in Jewish tradition. Risen is my interpretation of a powerful and ever so gentle, ever so loving King.