Sunburnt Speculations

Meet Yehuda bar Sabas

It is Day 15 in Lent 2025 and our chief character, Yehuda bar Sabbas is beginning to emerge.

Here is a first impression of him, which I have had to ask AI (DALL·E), to prepare, directed and refined through an iterative process with ChatGPT, as I am no artist! It’s a bit sketchy, reflecting the sense that there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Craft Notes

I’m hoping his image will become clearer as I continue to work on him and develop his character arc. Though perhaps that is enough – too much even – and I will leave my readers to bring his image to life in their own imaginations.

I am hoping that , at some point, he might take over the process himself and start talking to me – making his own way so to speak. My role then, as author, will be to record it faithfully – something not altogether unlike the task the Council of Elders has assigned to Yehuda!

It has been a fascinating learning experience, over these last few days, to read and visualise the Gospel narrative through an imagined set of eyes. Having been a diligent student of the law myself at one time- albeit a different type of law – I can already see some similarities between us. Also some differences. I am excited about how it might all play out.