I did this painting several years ago. It is Jesus in modern day Palestine set in his own time of course.
I don’t profess to be a scholar regarding his life, or what times of his life he was where. I feel like-minded and hearted with people who seek to live how he taught to live. In that way, I see myself as a Christian although he himself in his lifetime had never heard that term.
He was Jewish, so I feel kindred with gentle-minded, gentle-hearted Jewish people and I have met many. It is not about Christian or Jewish, it is about gentle-minded and gentle-hearted. I wonder if actual Jesus were standing in actual Palestine in modern times, what would he think about what is going on there?
I don’t mean what modern day Christians or others say he would think, but what would he actually think? Could he bring peace to that region and if so how? Maybe it would have something to do with gentle-minded and gentle-hearted and the deeply peaceful kind of human that makes you.
I don’t have any answers for areas with conflicts. I know in a worldly perspective it is complicated. Good people get caught in complicated situations.
I just hope and pray this holiday season and coming year, the gentle-minded and gentle-hearted people of this world help win-win situations emerge. We know what guns, bombs, outrage, and war does.
Let’s see what brings peace… real peace… long term peace… and let’s experiment with what THAT can do.
May every gentle man, woman and child feel safe.
May war and violence seem like a bad idea to everyone who holds power.