Acrylic 24” x 32”  John 12:23-33

The idea of Jesus modeling a counter trend was present in many of Jesus’ parables of the kingdom of God. Central to the feel of this image is the concept of harvest and its cost. The kernel of wheat must first die, dry up, be buried, before it can produce the expanded, exponential life of a new generation. I see  the seed imagery as representing the core of Jesus message, an alternative to living for self. He was not promoting self-loathing or self-deprivation, but reorienting his follower’s destination, to not so flagrantly live for their own life alone. Jesus loved life. Rather, he was saying, “Don’t just love your own more than everyone else's.” The painting, then, takes on this flavour. There is no obvious seed imagery, but there is rootedness in the vine on the right and weighty depth in the aquatic rhythms on the left. If you look closely you see in their shapes a sense of the harvest to come, fish and grapes. They, along with the figure, are grounded in the labour of this life and the cost of waiting. All this in the foreground is held in tension with the contrastingly brilliant light drawing forth life from them. The upward movement of freedom in worship reflects harmony with God and fruit to come.