These Hands, Mixed Media, Marcia Carole
It is warmer and much less rainy today, so I plan on painting two long pieces of paper for two accordion books. I completed the collage “pages” at Marge’s home in Connecticut last week. Now is the time to put everything together. Completing work is a skill of its own.
The above collaged page is really the pivotal point in the story of the woman at the well. Jesus, knowing she is an outcast in her community, has had four husbands and is currently living with another man, and yet… He does not bully her into some new revelation on her needs, nor does he angrily condemn her. Jesus asks for help. He asks for a drink.
He does not have a leather cup, and she probably doesn’t have one either. She has come in the heat of the day with her water pot to carry fresh water back home. Most likely, Jesus is asking for a drink of water directly from her hands. As a moral outcast with morally impure hands, here we see Jesus desiring relationship more than condemnation, or we might say, grace, mercy over legalism. He is lowering Himself, God incarnate, beneath this woman in order to show His genuine love for her.
The Men In Her Life, Mixed Media, Marcia Carole
Jesus is the Maker of those hands; His way of lovingly redeeming them is revolutionary. This love causes the woman to run to her community to tell everyone about Jesus. It’s almost more than she can receive and she has to share it. She is bursting with “Living Water” and Genuine Love. Jesus has brought ultimate Peace to her life and restored her to her community.
Bursting With Love, Mixed Media, Marcia Carole
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) – John 4:7,8
“The whisper of Shalom became more real to me… Create we must, and respond to this dark hour. The world needs artists who dedicate themselves to communicate the images of Shalom. Jesus is the Shalom. Shalom is not just the absence of war, but wholeness, healing and joy of fullness of humanity. We need to collaborate within our communities, to respond individually to give to the world our Shalom vision”. -Makoto Fujimura
