Creative Tuesdays – Wet Tears for Jesus

Creative Tuesdays – Wet Tears for Jesus

Once again I am joining the prompt from Creative Tuesdays. The theme this week is WET.

I pondered on this for a long time. I thought of all my plants – I am trying to grow some vegetables from seeds. I need to water them, keep the light on them. And I bought an hibiscus – which of course needs watering and watching. I thought about ducks getting all wet. I love water – splashing and exhilarating.

But this Scripture kept coming back to me –

 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him (Luke 7:38, MSG).”

Luke-7-38-Wet-Tears-for-Jesus

This woman was so overcome that she rained tears, enough to wash Jesus’ feet. The Pharisees had no idea what this was all about. They didn’t understand that Jesus has the power to release us from our sins. That woman did and was so sorrowful that she rained tears. But there is good news.

Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”

Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”

That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”

He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace (Luke 7:43-50, MSG).”

Her faith gave her the freedom she needed to live.

This is a beautiful reminder to us that Jesus forgives all. Every time I think of this story I remember that Jesus washes away our sins. We are new again.

Explanation of the Watercolour

This watercolour is totally different than what I usually paint. I haven’t painted too many portraits – and none without a photo as reference. So this woman is totally from my head. It is darker than I usually paint but really she is full of sorrow. And I painted her quickly. In about an hour.

Tweetable:

The woman rained wet tears on Jesus’ feet. “Your faith has saved you.” (click to tweet)

Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail

14 comments

  1. Her face has such a powerful, serious expression, and her tears are very well rendered with the watercolor, love how you can see the texture of the paper and the paint dripping down on the page. Great job!

    1. Thank you very much!
      I tried to feel the way the woman would feel. Such depth of knowledge in Who this Jesus really is.
      Blessings,
      Janis

  2. Being that she was a prostitute up to that point, I think the way you pictured her with her dark mascara works well and it running down definitely shows the wet tears. Unique take, Janis.

    Thanks for your feedback for everyone too.

    1. Michael,
      I am not sure where that came from. I knew I would have to show tears and didn’t really know how to do it. Pushed for time – and that’s what developed.
      Blessings,
      Janis

  3. What a great interpretation of our theme! A very moving moment in Jesus’ time and an unusually expressive illustration of the woman’s grief. You did a lot of thinking about this piece I’m sure. Thanks for your kind comments on my blog. Blessings!

    1. Chris,
      Wow – thank you. Yes I had mulled around the Scripture for a number of days before I decided to try it. I really haven’t done much in portraits and would like to learn more how to get shading, contours etc. But I was happy how it turned out.
      Blessings,
      Janis

  4. Janis, you captured the woman’s passion and her love for Jesus magnificently! I can’t believe it only took you an hour…amazing. Thank you for sharing from your heart. 🙂

    1. Tracy,
      That’s great that you can see that. I really prayed over this one as I wanted to show love, worship, passion and of course the tears. I used a hair dryer this time.
      Blessings,
      Janis

  5. definitely a very different & creative interpretation, I like your use of watercolors, it works well with the piece.

    hope you have a lovely day.

    1. Lissa,
      I let myself go on this one – I am usually not this free as I paint to pictures. But I was happy with the outcome – sort of. lol:)
      Thank you.
      Blessings,
      Janis

    1. Christine,
      There was so much in the word – wet. My mind even went to baptism. But in the end the prostitute’s profession of love and worship kept returning to my mind. Thanks for the kind words.
      Blessings,
      Janis

I love to connect with you.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d