Click on Add to cart button below shopping cart.

Luke 17:5-6 (NLT)
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!

DRAWING NOTES:

TIME OF DAY:
Unspecified in Bible narrative.

LIGHTING NOTES:
The sun (unseen, high in the sky & on the right) illuminates this scene, casting shadows to the left 7 below figures & objects.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:
From left to right: Jesus (in his usual blue outer robe), three of his disciples: Thomas/Didymus, Simon the zealot, Mary Magdalene.

RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
This scene is set on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

I imagine that perhaps Jesus & his disciples might have been sheltering in the shade of a Mulberry tree from the hot sun at the time of this discussion. If that were the case then it would be natural for Jesus to indicate the tree & use it as the subject of his lesson.

Here’s the background, without the figures or tree in the foreground.

Background of Luke 17 – Teachings About Forgiveness and Faith – Scene 03 – Mulberry tree faith

Click on the colour bar below to view/buy this Background:
Background of Luke 17 – Teachings about Forgiveness and Faith – Scene 03 – Mulberry tree faith

In my drawing we see the Mulberry tree being torn out of the ground & thrown into the sea, which didn’t actually happen (as far as we know!) in the Bible narrative, but it makes for an interesting picture! The faces of the three disciples in the scene are ones of awe, surprise & astonishment.

The tree being thrown into the sea is Morus nigra (aka Black mulberry), which is a deciduous tree growing to 39 feet (12 metres) tall by 49 ft (15 m) wide. The leaves are 4–8 inches (10–20 centimetres) long by 2–4 in (6–10 cm) wide, growing up to 9 in (23 cm) long on vigorous shoots; downy on the underside, the upper surface rough with very short, stiff hairs. The fruit is a compound cluster of several small drupes (or stone fruit) that are dark purple, almost black when ripe, and they are 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Black mulberry is richly flavoured, similar to the Morus rubra (aka Red mulberry). Morus nigra trees are thought to have originated in the mountainous areas of Mesopotamia and Persia (i.e. Armenian highlands). They are cultivated & are widespread throughout Armenia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey.

“17:5-10. Jesus also taught that His followers have responsibilities toward God. The first responsibility is to have faith. When the disciples asked Jesus for more faith, He answered that they needed not more faith but the right kind of faith. Even the smallest amount of faith (like a mustard seed, the smallest seed; cf. 13:19) could do amazingly miraculous things, such as uprooting a mulberry tree, a tree with deep roots (17:6).”
[Source: Bible Knowledge Commentary]

Here’s the rough sketch I drew of this scene.

Luke 17 – Teachings About Forgiveness & Faith – Scene 03 – Mulberry tree faith – Pencil Greyscale