From Dust to Cloud
Canvas: 30” x 30”
Date: 09/10/2023
Cost: $900
“Then Jesus said to his disciples [“talmidim”], “Whoever wants to be my disciple [“talmid”] must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24–NIV]
With tears in my eyes, I prayed to receive an image (knowing only the theme being followers of Jesus, our Rabbi). I saw Jesus walking–enveloped in a cloud, like Moses going into the cloud on Mt. Sinai to talk to YHWH. (I have recently been engrossed by Dr. Jordan Peterson’s roundtable series on the book of Exodus–so God definitely used that today too!) Just then, Doug Glynn began his message and said something shocking to me: there is no such thing as a “Christian” as this term is used only three times in the Bible, each time with negative connotations. But rather, Jesus referred to a follower as a “talmid” or “disciple/student.” In fact, “talmid” appears 269 times in the New Testament. In ancient days, rabbis were celebrated like rock stars, so, to be chosen as a “talmid” you had to achieve perfect grades. But, Jesus chooses his “talmid,” not by our achievements, but by his eternal LOVE: everyone who follows him is chosen.
Bizarre to me at the moment, I saw myself as a wisp of one of those clouds wrapping around Jesus’ body. But, later Doug pointed out that a “talmid,” once chosen, died to his old life, and based his entire life around his rabbi. Now, add billions of "talmidim" and you have a spectacular cloud system. What’s crazier still is that Doug mentioned an ancient saying–’May you follow your Rabbi so close you get covered by the cloud of dust he kicks up.’ This connects back to the cloud metaphor (bear with me here): Rabbi invites me to follow him to the cross to die with him…on the march there together, our sandals already begin pulverizing some part of my ego into dust…that dust cloud is 'raised up' through the pure air of Mount Zion and transformed into a living cloud of his glory!
A short time later, I'm back down in the valley…the cycle starts afresh…I trip on one of the many remaining tendrils of my ego…then…I hear him beckon yet again…“Take up your cross and follow me.”