Artist: M Alice Abrams
Title: Baby Wearing Jesus
Medium: Linoleum Block Print, metal leaf, watercolor, colored pencil
Size: 7 x7 in.
Artist Statement: 
What if Christ’s sash he’s always depicted wearing was a sling?
Humor me a second.
 
Imagine Christ walking through the bustling markets of Jerusalem, when out of the corner of his eye he spots a beggar woman, on the verge of tears, attempting to comfort her hungry children, with a tiny, helpless, baby crying at her breast but finding no comfort in the chaotic situation. I can imagine Christ tying a knot at the end of his sash, lifting the woman by the hand, and offering to hold her baby closely as he takes her and her small parade of children around the market. He uses his meager lunch change to pay for whatever their chubby little hands can grab to fill their bellies, all while the sweet baby sleeps in the comfort of his warmth. After the flustered mother feels calmed, he hands her sleeping baby back to her with a kiss on the sweet smelling baby forehead, hugs and high fives the little ones, and then pulls some coins out of their ears the way your grandpa does (but like, with Jesus powers), all while the mom, again on the verge of tears but this time filled with gratitude for the generous stranger as he pays for her stay at a nearby inn for her little family.
 
This is all hypothetical, but in a time as tumultuous, confusing, and flustering as this, it’s a happy thought to imagine Christ acting as a father, for he is the father of our troubled spirits.