Dear friends,
One of my favorite paintings is “Christ Learning to Read” (1914) by Henry Ossawa Tanner. In it, we see Jesus as a young boy, maybe 8 or 9 years old, nestled by his mother’s side. She holds a scroll, and together they focus on its tiny words.
Jesus looks like he’s thinking hard, trying to make sense of the scribbles. Maybe he’s slowly sounding out the words. Or maybe he’s trying to remember what sound a letter makes. Jesus, like all human beings, had to learn to read. Read a Letter from Erica Ridderman