FaithQuest 2011

Every year Melinda and I help out at a youth event called Faith Quest. We help design and build the stage setup and then I do a series of paintings while the featured speakers give their talks. This year the theme was the Oregon Trail and the talks centered around the Israelites journey into the Promised Land. Troy Wagner presented the opening lecture on the relationship between Joshua, who led the Israelites, and Jesus who leads us.

What’s in a name? The Hebrew word for Joshua is Yeshua. When you translate that into Greek you get the name Jesus. Joshua led God’s people into the promised land. A land that they did not earn; a land they merely received based on God’s promise to Abraham. Jesus also leads us into a promised land. It is also a reward that we didn’t earn. I think there is significance in the name of Jesus. Literally it means ‘He Saves.’ And it was just as true for the ancient Israelites as it is for us.

So God is beyond time. There is no backwards or forwards; beginning or end. So how do you visualize that? How do you show an eternal plan with no beginning and no end? And yet there are two individuals that serve as signposts to this larger picture. Two individuals that share the same name. And it occurred to me that playing cards have this sense about them. No matter which way you turn them they are always ‘right side up.’ They never end.

So then all these things came together- I used a king’s face because Jesus is a king, and Joshua acted in a kingly role in leading Israel into the promised land. But then I made it a ‘Jack’ since their names started with ‘J.’ Throughout the NT you see references to what the “Law and the Prophets” said. Joshua carried the Law- the stone tablets- with them into the Promised Land. Jesus announced his ministry with the reading of a scroll from the Prophets- proclaiming release for prisoners and sight for the blind.

To emphasize the inclusiveness of God’s Kingdom I also thought I would represent both black cards and red cards. So Jesus has a heart (because, you know… the whole ‘Jesus loves you’ thing) and Joshua is a spade because it serves as the point of his spear as he leads the Israelites into battle. His finger is pointing to lead the charge. Jesus has two fingers pointing in blessing. I’m not sure where it came from but whenever you see pictures of Jesus from, like, the Middle Ages and in icons from Eastern Orthodox traditions you have everyone raising two fingers in blessing. I thought I’d allude to that artistic heritage as well. Also, instead of a spear, Jesus leads us by example through His death on the cross.

Hopefully this gives you a different way to think about Jesus, Joshua, and God’s plan. But here’s something else about the power of art: by taking the image of a playing card, the next time you’re playing cards you just might remember this painting, and thus think about Jesus.