Saturday, October 20, 2012

A Month of Miracles Part 14 - Healing the Sick

Title: Christ Healing a Patient
Artist: Mathieu Ignace van Bree
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: tbd.
Date: tbd.
Location: Private Collection


Mark 6:53-56 - When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

In chapter 6 Mark is dealing with the twin themes of unbelief and hardness of heart. This summary passage serves as a foil to the rejection of Jesus by the people of Nazareth (6:5-6) and the disciples' inability to grasp the significance of Jesus as revealed in previous miracles (v. 52). In spite of those setbacks, Jesus is widely hailed by the people of Gennesaret as a wonderworker.

Mathieu Ignace van Bree was a Belgian painter, sculptor and architect (1773-1839), who was born at Antwerp. He painted numerous historical pictures, some of which are of large dimensions, and obtained a high reputation in Flanders. His conceptions are frequently poetical, and his compositions graceful. He brought forward some of the most eminent of the later Flemish painters, among whom are Wappers, De Keyser, F. de Braekeleer, and others of whom their country is justly proud

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