Jonah leaves the city of Nineveh

Jonah 3

What I love about the Jonah story is that he is generally portrayed as a villain. He is a prophet that flat out did not want to do what God told him and he went out of his way not to. As much as I would like to go into the back story of why Jonah would want Nineveh to be overthrown I would rather keep it simple.

Mat 12:39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Jonah being in the belly of a fish for three days and Jesus being dead for three days; Jonah preaches to a city of gentiles and they repent and the message of the apostles “the Gospel” goes out and us gentiles turn and believe. This is the sign given to the Jews and for us, Jonah points to Jesus and the Salvation he wrought.

Nino  

The New Temple

The picture comes from a view of 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.  The reality that we do not ascend up a mountain top to meet with God nor do we have to visit a temple, but that we are now the temple of God. The smoke is the mystery of being filled with the presence of God. This is a new relationship between humanity and God that comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ, being united with him through the Holy Spirit. The simplicity in this picture is like the simple relationship we have with Christ.  On the surface not much, but the deeper you dig the richer it becomes.
Nino

Baptism of Jesus

The baptism of Jesus should be more amazing than this picture shows. Yet, it seems to me from the encounter between Jesus and John what was happening was only known to the two of them. Reading all the Gospel accounts, I was thinking over the fact that God revealed and concealed his Son for so long and no one knew, even in this moment he was as normal in appearance as everyone else.  Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve.  Jesus stands apart from any man who Claims to be holy, in the fact that he lived and moved and pursed God by becoming and being common. Even at Jesus’ baptism he only showed his glory to John. My thought is how much we dress up for one another and Jesus had dressed down for us, he doesn’t expect us to reach his level, he comes down to ours. For comfort, we would rather ascend for a mountain top experience instead of descending to serve the least of these lost and broken sinners.

God Bless

Nino

Prayerful Obedience

The passage is taken from Philippians 2:5-11. The humility and obedience of Jesus is amazing, considering that He is God in the flesh worthy of all honor and praise.  The painting is that of Jesus praying with his hands raised to heaven, and the aroma of his prayer caught up in the vision of his obedience unto death (and that of one on the cross) on the mount of skulls. I believe the passage calls believers to serve one another humbly, because none of us are better than Jesus. Even though there is more than that which can be said, I will leave it at that.

God bless ,

Nino