Today I read about Herod, Herodias and
Herodias' daughter, Salome.
Above was my rendition of the sultry Salome in 2012.
And here is how I drew John the Baptist's head
when it was cut off without mercy
and put on a tray for Salome!
I drew Salome again in 2014 (above).
Below is Salome 2015.
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"What should I ask for?" Mark 6:24
This is the question Salome asks her mother Herodias, after she dances for King Herod and his guests. Herod was so pleased with her performance that he promised to give her ANYTHING she asked for, "even to half of my kingdom!"
Salome was only 12 (according to a Jewish historian) but she must have been sultry and seductive in her movement. I can't imagine a jaded man like Herod being captivated by a cutesy, childish dance.
"What should I ask for?" The child asks her mother, echoing children throughout the ages, in need of guidance and wisdom. And instead of wise counsel, what did she get? Herodias instructs her to ask for John the Baptist's head!
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Salome hurries back to Herod and demanded, "I want the head of John the Baptist, RIGHT NOW, ON A TRAY!" She did her mother better! This just shows that when we teach a wrong thing, it escalates. That's the nature of sin. Perhaps that's why it says in Exodus 20:5: "I, the Lord your God, visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation..."
If we want the best for our children, we should dig up any seeds or roots of sin in our lives, so that it will not grow into a shrub or tree in the lives of our children!
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"...take nothing on the journey..." Mark 6:8
When St. Francis of Assisi heard the gospel on taking nothing for the journey on Feb. 24, 1208, he was overjoyed. I can't imagine anyone being overjoyed at Jesus' instructions to the Twelve Apostles to go out preaching but to take nothing but a walking stick! But Saint Francis had been feeling the pull of God in dreams and visions, and he felt that this was the clear direction he had been seeking.
Although he had been a rich young man, with a taste for luxurious clothes and good food, he had renounced his possessions to the dismay of his father, and embarked on begging for food and for stones to rebuild a small church.
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Like Saint Francis, we too are pilgrims on a journey. We take different paths, but we go to the same God. We will all learn eventually that we need to take nothing on our journey. Everything will be left behind. Some learn this later than others. I have to confess that I am accumulating many things in my pilgrimage. I do not travel light. But sometimes a glimpse of someone dying, leaving with nothing, leaving the same way we all came to earth, gives me pause to think. Truly I need to learn to relinquish my hold on possessions, to make my baggage lighter and lighter.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose." (Jim Elliot, from his diary, Oct. 28, 1949)
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Just love how you put your own illustrations in the Bible, so beautiful! St Francis was always my favorite!
ReplyDeleteWow, i read the same scriptures today myself; your art brings it to life, luv the updates on Salome
ReplyDeletemuch love...
It is wonderful to see how your art how evolved over the last three years. Your message to parents (and teachers) is powerful too. I believe it can work for good too, when we set a good example and give wise, godly instruction.
ReplyDeleteBlessing hugs,
Teresa
So inspirational :)
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful artwork! Linked up with you at Inspire Me Monday.
ReplyDeleteGod bless,
Laurie
http://savedbygracebiblestudy.blogspot.com/