Y • E • S • H • U • A
KING of EASTER
One time a pastor gave a message about Jesus and his disciples crossing a lake in a boat. As they neared the other side, a man possessed by demons rushed out to meet them.
A couple of questions popped into my head during this sermon:
How was it that the man possessed by demons knew this boat was approaching? Was he sitting on the side of the hill, bored, with nothing better to do, when he saw a boat full of youths and some scrawny carpenter approaching? Or, did the demons in him sense something - sense some holy, undeniable power from on high approaching, calling them to come and present themselves - so they were compelled to obey?
I also wondered why were these demons - these demons who were so powerful an entire town was driven to desperate measures to rid themselves of this uncontainable menace - why were these demons so afraid of this 30-something carpenter? What did they see that others did not see with their flesh and blood eyes? Instead of a carpenter and a boat full of youths, did they see disciples following their captain, who radiated power and glory… and judgement? They were terrified. And rightly so.
We see pictures of Jesus meek and mild. Jesus the teacher, the healer; compassionate, full of grace and mercy. The sacrifice. We get a couple of glimpses of another side of Jesus - when he clears the temple with passion and violence; when soldiers come to arrest him and they fall backwards when he simply says, "I am HE." The soldiers may have seen an average looking Jew. But the atoms that made up the cells and tissues, flesh, bone and blood of their bodies knew that they had met their maker, and they fell before him.
So, I wanted to work on a series of drawings that began to try to communicate this other side of Jesus. The Jesus the demons fear.
