A Month of Miracles Part 22 - Ten Lepers Healed

Title: Ten Lepers Healed
Artist: Brian Kershisnik
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 50 x 40 cm
Date: ca. 2010
Location: tbd.

Luke 17:11-19 - Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

People with leprosy were required by law to keep away from healthy people (Lev. 13:46); these came as close as they dared and called out loudly. They ask not in particular to be cured of their leprosy, but, Have pity on us. Jesus did not tell them positively that they should be cured, but bade them go show themselves to the priests. This was a test of faith. They were healed as they went in obedience to Jesus’ word. One of them, and only one, when he saw that he was healed, instead of going forward to the priest, to be by him declared clean, and so discharged from his confinement, which was all that the rest aimed at, he turned back towards him who was the Author of his cure, whom he wished to have the glory of it, before he received the benefit of it. He appears to have been very hearty and affectionate in his thanksgivings: “With a loud voice” he glorified God!

Brian Kershisnik (born 1962) is an American painter. After a year of college at the University of Utah, he served for a time as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark. He returned to the USA to study art at Brigham Young University, during which studies he received a grant to study in London for six months. After graduate studies in Austin, Texas, he and his family moved to Kanosh in central Utah where he paints. Currently, Kershisnik is represented by the Two Sisters Fine Art Gallery, who offer prints of his work for sale on their website http://www.twosistersfineartgallery.com/brian_kershisnik.html

A Month of Miracles Part 4 - Healing of the Leper

Title: Healing of the Leper
Artist: Unknown
Medium: Illuminated Manuscript
Size: 45 x 31 cm
Date: ca. 1035
Location: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.

Matthew 8:1-4 - When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

This leper was in a desperate and apparently lifelong situation. Biblical leprosy (distinct from modern Hansen's disease) was an assortment of serious skin problems that isolated the leper from the rest of society. In fact, Jewish law forbade touching lepers. By bowing down the leper not only shows physical signs of respect toward Jesus; he acknowledges that Jesus has the right to decide whether to grant the request. To acknowledge that God has the right to grant or refuse a request is the ultimate act of dependence on God's compassion, and takes deep trust and commitment. And thus it is no small matter for Jesus to touch the man.

The "Codex Aureus," the "Golden Book of Gospels Echternach" among the most important treasures of Middle Ages books. This Codex was constructed around 1040 in the Benedictine Abbey of Echternach near Trier, the principal scriptorium of the Salian. Latin transcriptions of the four Gospels are written on 136 sheets of size 445 x 310 mm vellum. This extraordinary Codex arguably stands as one of the most important manuscripts of Ottonian-Salian Arts