FISH COIN PRESS

Exegetical illustration • Perceive the literary art of the Bible.

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Solomon’s rise to the throne comes through a tangle of political intrigue. When his father David becomes weak and impotent, Solomon's brother makes a claim to kingship, but Solomon's mother Bethseba and the prophet Nathan sweep in and convince the ailing king David to go ahead and crown Solomon. It all stinks of political corruption, but the narrative suggests YHWH is working in spite of it. Solomon parades through the streets of Jerusalem setting a pattern echoed centuries later by Jesus, a wholly different kind of king.

See for it yourself: 📖 1st Kings, Chapter 1⠀

Art by @jared_boggess. KICKSTARTER for our new book is LIVE.⠀

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"You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." All of chapter 23 in Matthew's gospel is a tirade. Jesus is railing on the temple leadership. On and on, Jesus compares the corrupt leadership of the Pharisees to theatrics and blindness and decay. None of their actions are authentic. All of their teaching is self-righteous. They impose strict laws and act holy. They dress themselves up and publicly perform as virtuous, but it's a sham. It's only to maintain their positions of societal power. This is why Jesus calls them white-washed tombs. They might look beautiful, but inside there is nothing but rot.

This illustration “White-washed Tombs” is from a series by Stephen Procopio that reflect on things hidden in the actions and statements made by Jesus.⠀ . . . #stephenprocopio #fishcoinpress #illustration #illustrator #risograph #risoprint #risography #limitededition #poster #posters #printmaking #bible #jesus #penandink #bibleart #biblicalart #christianart #sacredart #religiousart #churchart #scriptureart #dailyscripture #thebible #bible #biblequotes #biblegram #instabible #readyourbible #bibleverse #biblestudy #skull #skeleton #undead #zombie

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“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Jesus was constantly going after the religious leaders of his Jewish society. He held them to a high standard and wasn't afraid to call them out. In Matthew 7, Jesus warns that some teachers have hidden motives. They might look like honest spiritual leaders, but they are only really interested in benefiting themselves. You have to watch the results — does what they teach lead to God and empower people? or does it only serve to humiliate and impair? Jesus likens these teachers to starving wolves trying to blend in with sheep. We're the sheep. Be keen to spot the wolves. Not everyone is what they claim.

This illustration “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is from a series by Stephen Procopio that reflect on things hidden in the actions and statements made by Jesus.

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“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⠀   Following Jesus is dangerous. At the end of Luke 9, Jesus addresses a man who haphazardly declares his allegiance to Jesus. Using a title he favored for himself, Jesus says “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”. Following Jesus and proclaiming the Kingdom meant stepping away from the familiar and comfortable. It meant leaving behind loved ones. It meant leaving home. In fact, he is telling this man he will have no home.⠀   Jesus challenges us to wrestle with why we do what we do and how we do it. In this passage, he reminds us there is comfort losing and finding our way in that mystery.⠀   This illustration “Nowhere to Rest” is from a series by Stephen Procopio that reflect on things hidden in the actions and statements made by Jesus.⠀

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“The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’”

In Mark 4:41, Jesus’ disciples are astounded by his display of authority over creation. It is a moment that is meant to remind the reader of Moses parting the Red Sea. Jesus is presented as a new and better Moses. Much like the Israelites endless journey after escaping Egypt, finding the truth about Jesus is a constant journey. Every day is an opportunity to see new truths and find new hope.

This illustration “Be Still” is from a series by Stephen Procopio (@procopiodraws) that reflects on things hidden in the actions and statements made by Jesus. His rebukes are often shrouded in parable, his actions full of allusion. These passages challenge us to sit with the mystery of Jesus found between and inside that which we see.

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STATION XIII. THE EMPTY TOMB

After what felt like the longest Sabbath ever, Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, and Salome could finally come and prepare Jesus’ body.

As the sun rises on the third day after his death, the three women approach his tomb with spices for ceremonial anointing. Realizing they couldn't roll back the large stone, they hoped they would find help. But upon arrival, the tomb has already been opened.

Inside they are confronted by a young man dressed in strangely clean white robes. He knows their fear is growing as they wonder who he is and where Jesus body has been taken. He quickly assures them Jesus has not been removed, but has in fact risen from the dead. He’s on his way back home, Galilee. The man in white insists the women to go tell Peter and the other students, but the women are so overwhelmed with shock and fear that they flee and say nothing to anyone.

_

From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book by Jared Boggess now on Etsy.

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Station XII. A Day of Rest

On Saturday, the day after Jesus’ death, the tomb was quiet. It was the Jewish ritual day of rest, the weekly Sabbath. But this one was different. It was a day of grief and defeat. All the people who loved and followed Jesus were blindsided by his execution. The Messiah wasn’t supposed to die and be defeated.

Laying him in that tomb was the end of his story. No one comes back from death. His body was left there where all thought it would remain.

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From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station XI. Tomb & Stone

One of the temple leaders, a priest named Joseph, was secretly convinced Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And he was heart-broken by his death sentence.

As soon as Jesus breathed his last, Joseph marched into Pilate's palace requesting Jesus' body for burial. Pilate couldn't believe Jesus had died so soon and sent off soldiers to confirm it.

When Joseph was finally given permission, he took down the body immediately wrapping it in linen to cover the carnage. With help, Joseph began the procession towards burial. Women who had been Jesus' closest students followed behind watching as his body was laid in a tomb behind a massive disk of stone. _

From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station X. An End to Suffering

Hanging on the cross was excruciating and specifically designed to avoid a quick death.

Like most victims, Jesus is weak and limp from the hours of torture leading up to this moment. His muscles are shredded. He has lost immense amounts of blood. And now he endures the pain of his body weight pulling on the nails that hold him to the cross. Jesus occasionally has to muster the strength in his legs to push up to open his throat gasping for air.

Victims of crucifixion suffer this pattern endlessly. Eventually the Roman soldiers would have to break their legs to end their ability to breathe. Jesus however dies before this is performed. Around three in the blackness of an eclipse, he shouts out for mercy “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” and breathes his last.

_ From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station IX. Crucifixion

On the top of Golgotha, Jesus is striped naked once again. At nine in the morning, the soldiers drive thick crude nails into his wrists and ankles to hang his failing body to the cross. Above his head where Rome displays the crimes of those crucified, a sign mocks him once again, “The King of the Jews”. Below him, the priests revel in their victory taunting Jesus as he gasps for air for hours on end.

_ From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station VIII. Death March

Broken and bleeding and in a state of shock, Jesus is made to carry the large wooden beam from which he will hang at the execution site. Two other men are sentenced to crucifixion that day so the three are driven like cattle stumbling through the busiest streets of Jerusalem and out onto the hillside. Jesus so weak from his especially brutal flogging struggles to stay on his feet. Eventually the impatient Roman soldiers force an unfortunate onlooker named Simon to carry the beam as they finish the hike to Golgotha, the Place of Skulls.

_

From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station VII. Mocked by Rome

The entire purpose of the crucifixion is public humiliation. Rome used it to warn citizens by making a display of the torture. Even after the brutality of flogging, the soldiers take time to mock Jesus. He called himself “king”, so they dress him up like one. Naked and bleeding, he‘s wrapped in a purple robe. Thorned vines are twisted into a crown that scrape and pierce his brow. The soldiers salute and laugh at him, before they yank the robe off his raw and torn flesh. _

From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station VI. Flogging

After receiving the sentence from Pilate, Jesus was taken to a courtyard in the governor’s palace. Roman soldiers tied him to a large thick post already scarred and stained from previous floggings. The whip was short made of several bands of leather with shards of embedded bone and lumps of iron on the ends. Jesus was stripped naked and struck over and over, until the muscle on his back and legs were flayed and bone exposed. At such a weakened state from blood loss, the soldiers had completed Jesus’ preparation for crucifixion.

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From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station V. Pilate

Having condemned Jesus to death, the priests take Jesus to the local governor. Under Roman military occupation, Jerusalem was overseen by a man named Pilate. Rome could care less about blasphemy, so the priests present Jesus’ crime of claiming to be Messiah, or king. Pilate isn’t convinced, so he makes a political move.

Every year at Passover, Pilate would release one prisoner as a peace offering. Thinking he can get around the priest’s suspicious motives, Pilate brings out Jesus and Barabbas, a man guilty of insurrection and murder. But the priests manage to stir the crowd into shouting for Barabbas’ freedom and Jesus’ execution demanding Rome’s worst punishment: crucifixion.

_

From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station IV. The Cost of Blasphemy

It’s as if he hesitates.

Jesus knew as soon as he spoke and laid claim to his identity as Messiah and Son of Man, he sealed his fate. To the priests in that room Jesus was calling himself equal with God, an action punishable by death. In the presence of blasphemy, it was tradition to tear your clothes. It was law to blindfold and beat a man guilty of it. So at the mercy of Jewish scripture, Jesus takes a beating and sheds his first drops of blood.

_ From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station III. On Trial

After Jesus is arrested in the dead of night, he‘s taken straight to the high priest’s home for a sham of a trial. Jesus watches in silence as they argue over how to incriminate him. Tired of witnesses stories not matching up, the high priest storms out in front of Jesus and ask him directly if he claims the loaded title of “Messiah”. Jesus at last speaks up admitting it. Then he goes further and claims to fulfill a prophecy about a perfect human, the Son of Man, who will be enthroned beside the God of Israel.

_ From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.

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Station II. A Kiss of Betrayal

Before Jesus and his students can leave the garden, his persecution is set in motion. A dispatch of officers from the temple storms the hillside with swords and clubs expecting a fight. Jesus mocks them for it. What had he or his students done in the past few days to make them think they were some kind of bandits?

But the part that cuts deep is who turns him in: Jesus’ own student. One of his closest followers and friends walks up and transforms a kiss traditional for Jewish teachers into a mark for arrest and eventual execution.

From “New Stations of the Cross”, our new ltd. ed. risograph book now on Etsy.