Servant Leader
Canvas 36” x 48”
Time: Approx. 2 hours
Cost: [Not For Sale]
Artist Statement
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… Ephesians 5:21-25 MSG
I painted this live at a potluck for a Cornerstone 35+ Singles group I was a part of at the time. Manny Mello the director told me to focus on the servant leader role of the man in a marriage. Minutes before I was about to begin painting, I told Manny of my vision to have the man protecting the woman by cutting off the head of a snake. Manny got a quizzical look on his face, then said calmly, “Well, Isaac, that’s Christ’s job.” I said, “Well, ok, let me think about this for a minute.” I panicked a bit, thinking, ‘Oh I can just do the same one painting I happened to do on marriage yesterday at Hope Covenant Church!’ But, I thought, no, I need to trust. So, I began mixing my paints, trying to look confident. Then as Manny prayed to bless the food, suddenly the image came to my mind!
I saw a man and woman kneeling down putting their relationship with Jesus first. The man surrenders his strength/ego which values physical intimacy as the way to achieve attachment. This is symbolized by Jesus’ hand being over the man’s on the sword and the man bowing head. The woman surrenders her beauty/ego which values emotional intimacy as the way to achieve attachment. This is symbolized by her lifting her beauty to Christ and keeping her gaze fixed on Jesus. It allows Christ to live His life in us and through us! The husband and wife can now embrace and submit to one another. And in doing so, their union reveals to all a glimpse of our Triune God’s very nature! Hallelujah!!