#john the baptist
The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish; 1577–1640)
ca. 1610–20
Oil on panel
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
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The Young St. John the Baptist, Antonio Rossellino, ca. 1470
Finally I can show it!
Inktober Día 25 -El banquete de Herodes
Entrando la hija de Herodías, danzó, y agradó a Herodes y a los que estaban con él a la mesa; y el rey dijo a la muchacha: «Pídeme lo que quieras, y yo te lo daré.»
Saliendo ella, dijo a su madre: «¿Qué pediré? Y ella le dijo: La cabeza de Juan el Bautista.»
Salome holds the head of the Baptist…. dog hides just in case….
Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist
Artist: Spanish (Catalan) Painter (mid-15th century)
Medium: Tempera and gold on canvas, transferred from wood
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St Joseph, Guardian of Sons – Melchior Paul von Deschwanden
Eternal God, originator of Fatherhood,
I offer to you the blessed office of Father.
May the men who occupy this dignified place
protect and care for their children and wives
with valiant honesty, heroic chastity,
noble humility, and stern sobriety.
Ignite a fire in the hearts of men, O God,
so that they may respond to the Divine call
to fatherhood, both natural and spiritual,
and model themselves after the holy example of
Blessed Joseph, Father of the Universal Church.
Through his intercession, may fathers
be strengthened to flee from sin,
subdue their flesh, wrestle with the
powers of corruption, banish the darkness,
and obtain victory over hell and its agents.
We ask this through our
Lord Jesus Christ, sanctifier of all men,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
01/21/2022
He has VISION!
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
Jesus asks if John is sure about his plan. John says his plan is “the only way”, which would normally mean that there’s no alternative, except that there IS an alternative – several, in fact – so John protects himself legally by adding that his plan is “the only way THAT [he] WANTS TO TRY”.
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01/07/2022
Keep your CHIN up!
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
John’s most recent attempt at helping Jesus swim… requires?… him to strike our Lord to render Him unconscious. When Jesus doesn’t move for a while, John begins to assume he’s accidentally killed his holy Cousin, so he begins quoting the part of scripture where Cain is cursed by God for killing Abel.
12/24/2021
By the time they’re done, Jesus might just reach the end of His rope.
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
In the previous cartoon, John resolved to teach his cousin, Jesus, how to swim. The catch: the child Jesus can’t actually go INTO water because (in my cartoons) He hasn’t learned how to turn off His walking-on-water superpower. In this cartoon, it appears John’s method for helping Jesus submerge is somewhat crude, consisting of a rope with one end tied to Jesus’s waist and the other end tied to an anvil (which John’s devotion allows him to hold with remarkable ease). Will releasing the anvil succeed in pulling Jesus underwater, or will the rope bisect our gentle Messiah? (People who read ahead in the Bible please no spoilers.)
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12/17/2021
What CAN you do for a walking miracle?
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
This comic follows the previous two from this month. John ponders what to get his cousin, Jesus, for His upcoming birthday. He asks the river, and while the river gives an unsatisfactory answer, it inspires John to offer Jesus swimming lessons as a gift in order to help Him actually go INTO water instead of just walking on it. This comic continues two running jokes I use:
1. In my comics, John sometimes converses with inhuman forces, like rivers and locust men. Perhaps it’s his overactive imagination, or perhaps he’s being pestered by evil forces but resisting them so easily that they barely register to him. Most importantly, they’re fun to draw!
2. In my comics of Jesus as a kid, His ability to walk on water is always on, and He hasn’t learned how to turn it off. Maybe John can help Him learn to submerge Himself and swim, or maybe he’ll accidentally end up fulfilling the river’s suggestion in the effort! No spoilers!
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12/10/2021
Mule.
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
The gift Joseph is making for Jesus in this cartoon is foreshadowing two Bible stories from Jesus’s adulthood:
1) The first is Jesus’s famous conversation with Peter where He says, “Upon this rock, I will build My Church.” Instead, Joseph refers to the rocking mule, which is missing a seat for Jesus, and says, “Upon this *rocker*, I will build His *perch*.” Whimsical, is it not?
2) The second is Jesus’s famous ride on a mule, where people placed palms on the road in front of Him. He seems to have a poetic connection to beasts of burden.
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03/25/2022
The GRANDE FINALE!!!
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
After nearly getting himself drowned, John has been saved by Jesus. John says he’ll probably forget about rivers for a while and live in the desert, alluding to his adulthood according to the Bible where he lives in the desert for a time before returning to baptize people (including Jesus!).
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
And that’s it! The story of John trying to teach Jesus how to swim has concluded in the only way it possibly could’ve: with an ending! Thanks for joining me on yet another long-form story. These are great fun to do, but they do take the place of more focused cartoons like the ones on saints and holidays and readings. Which do YOU prefer: long-form stories or individual cartoons? Could there be a place for both somewhere in the spinning gray of the future??!!?
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03/18/2022
The BREATH of LIFE??!
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
John can’t even see the sun for how deep he’s sinking, but lucky for Him, Jesus can see him no matter how far he falls. Seeing His cousin drowning, Jesus finally submerges Himself into the depths and drags John back to the light. Once on land, Jesus slaps John’s back to help evacuate his insides of water so he can breathe once more!
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03/11/2022
The WORD has SPOKEN??!
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
As seen in the previous comics, John’s hubris has gotten him tossed about and dragged underwater by the storm he asked for. In my comics, Jesus hasn’t found out how to turn off His walking-on-water superpower, so He can only watch as His cousin drowns. As He becomes more and more desperate, the storm above annoys Him enough to make Him order it to be quiet. The storm obeys, and Jesus remembers He’s God, which means all of nature has to obey Him. Finally, He realizes that, if He tells the water to let Him in, it HAS to let Him in. What a simple solution! The power was inside Him all along! Turns out the real walking on water was the friends we drowned along the way!
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03/04/2022
Way to kick a guy while he DROWNS.
JOKE-OGRAPHY:
As per previous installments, John forced Jesus to summon a storm for baptismal purposes, but the storm was wild and John wasn’t ready for what he had called down on himself. Overtaken by a wave, his raft is smashed and he’s sent sinking into the blue abyss, with Jesus presumably still stuck on the surface.
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Benozzo Gozzoli,La danza di Salomè (The Dance of Salome)
c.1461-1462, tempera on panel, 23.8 x 34.3 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
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