Image of the Week: Comfort My People
© Durga Yael Bernhard
This illustration was part of a series commissioned for Advent – the period of four consecutive weeks on the Christian calendar preceding Christmas. A candle is lit every week during this special season to prepare for the birth – and symbolic second coming – of Jesus Christ. The idea is to be patient and alert to the presence of the Divine, which may manifest at any moment.
The passage I was given to illustrate comes from the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 40. Throughout my years of illustrating scripture, I found Isaiah to be the most challenging and evocative. From a Christian perspective, this passage hearkens to Jesus's time in the wilderness; to his far-reaching vision; and to the power of faith to level even a rugged mountain to make the path forward easier. The passage reads: "A voice calls in the desert, clear the way of the Lord, straighten out in the wilderness, a highway for our God" – suggesting that one acts not only for oneself, but for all of humanity.
The thought of being in desert wilderness does not typically evoke a feeling of comfort. I've hiked in the Judean Desert twice, and didn't find the harsh conditions easy. People are vulnerable in this environment – ever more so in ancient times, when it was not uncommon for travelers to be "torn by a beast." What comfort is there, then, in wilderness?
The point is a paradox: Spiritual sanctuary is found where least expected, and permeates all. In the hands of a strong and steady faith, even the most treacherous landscape, the most wild and unpredictable aspects of life become smooth and accessible. It's not easy to surrender to those hands. The Buddhist notion of "leaning into the sharp points" comes to mind as an analogous concept.
In Judaism, the concept of wilderness has a different meaning, as the word for "wilderness" in Hebrew – midbar – מִּדְבָּ֕ר – also means "desert" – a place of elemental starkness, where one does not settle – the landscape of impermanence. As nomadic herders, the ancient Hebrews found their formless, faceless, universal omnipresent Creator in the desert wilderness – a revolutionary concept in a time of agricultural settlements and widespread idol worship. From that ancient perspective, wilderness was a place of spaciousness, clarity and connection to the Divine. Though we may be less protected there than in a walled city, under the stars of heaven we find a greater solace.
How to bring all this together in an image? As simply as possible. Just as the language of Isaiah only hints at something larger than words, this illustration could only be a starting point – a sort of visual springboard from which the viewer may push off into their own imagination. In the end, all I could do was compose a harmony of diagonals, and balance the cool and warm pastels of earth and sky. All is simple and clear in the desert, with its featureless landscape and sweeping panoramas. One can only imagine how a solitary seeker like Jesus would behold such a place.
To tie the series together, I gave each illustration for Advent a partial, diagonal border – in this case purple, one of several colors associated with the season. The words "Comfort My People" were printed over the sky.
The oldest complete version of the scroll of Isaiah known to exist was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls – written in Hebrew over two thousand years ago by a sect of wilderness-dwelling Jews known as the Essenes, and discovered in the caves of Qumran by a Bedouin shepherd in 1948. The Essenes, too, sought connection to nature and took the teachings of Isaiah – already half a millennia old in their time – to heart, and found spiritual succor in one of the harshest environments on earth. No wonder Israel has been called the Land of Paradox. And no wonder the spiritual literature that emerged from that ancient land continues to reach across time and offer sustenance today. The Bible is not a history book, but it's a treasury of timeless truths.
To all my Christian readers, may the blessings of Advent burn bright for you this season.
Sunrise (at 90ºF) in the Judean Desert, 2009
My photo taken in 2011 of the cave at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
A good week to all!