Acrylic 48"x36"  -  Edmonton, 2018
[Matthew 3:11]  - 

John the Baptist once said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. I wanted to blend the image of Jesus’ own baptism with this prophetic idea of John. The upturned face of Jesus is shown at the moment in his baptism where the Holy Spirit like a dove descends upon him. Jesus’ posture is one of complete submission to his Father’s plan.  The dove of the Holy Spirit morphs into fire. Two thoughts come to me. In following Jesus there is a baptism of fire that must be suffered [Mark 10:38]. Can we endure? The other idea is that Jesus says he will send his Holy Spirit to help us, to empower us, to teach us [John 14]. It is like, if you have the one, you will have the other.