At first glance this piece may seem simplistic with familiar symbols and you may want to yawn. But I challenge you that it is quite a complex image.  It has all the traditional symbols from historical Christian art and was born from my meditations for Lent.  Here is a summary of the symbols as I painted them:

Black represents death

Purple is sorrow and royalty

Red is redemption

Yellow is divinity, glory and life

Thorns are suffering and sin

Circle is never-ending eternity

Palms are victory and triumph

 

I began with the black cross and filled in the red and purple edges leaving the bright light behind to contrast the darkness. Thorns were added vertically in front of the cross and palm branches were scratched into the wet paint beneath the cross along with circular lines to emphasize the sun.  The final touch was piercing the canvas by sewing the red beads in a secondary circle at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal crossbeams recalling Jesus’ humanity that was sacrificed for my eternal life.

 

A significant part of this work is the bright light.  The sun in my physical universe is the source of biological life and it illuminates everything.  In my spiritual life it is comparable to God, the source of all truth and life. Timothy Keller says in The King’s Cross, if we are orbiting around anything else except the light of God, we are heading toward darkness and disintegration. Isaiah prophecies in chapter 13 that the day will come when the rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and judgment will follow.  

 

But when His hour had come, Jesus’ death altered my trajectory toward spiritual death by accepting the suffering of the cross and entering into complete abandonment of His Father in order that I might live in the light of life.  So, press toward heaven while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.

 

I don’t ever want to over-simplify or take for granted the depth of God’s light and life and the power of his death and resurrection.

 

acrylic on canvas with beading, 30” x 30”

John 12:23-28; 35-36

Psalm 84:11; 27:1

Isaiah 13:9-13