INFANCY GOSPEL OF THOMAS CHAPTER 7 - 14

INFANCY GOSPEL OF THOMAS 7

1 When Zacchaeus the master heard
So many allegories stirred
Of the first letter spoken by
The young child, he could not reply
Before his answer put so high,
And said to those who stood nearby,
“Woe’s me, the wretch I am, I see
I am defeated in degree,
I’ve brought shame to myself in fee
By taking this young child to me.
2 “Take him away, I do so pray,
My brother Joseph, in my way
I cannot take the harshness of
His look, I cannot speak above
The word. This young child’s not of earth,
But one who can tame fire in berth,
Like one begotten e’er the world
Was made and firmament unfurled.
What womb bore this, what belly fed?
I do not know. In woe I’m led,
O my friend, he puts me away
From all my sense, I go astray
From following his knowledge ray.
I have deceived myself, three-fold
Wretch that I am, how I was bold
To get a disciple, I’m told
I have a master in his hold.
3 “Friends, I think on my shame now old
Worsted by a young child; and I
And ready to faint and to die
Because of the boy: I cannot
Look him in the face as I sought.
When all men say I’ve been confounded
By just a little child surrounded,
What can I say? And what can I
Tell about the first letter’s cry
Of which he spoke to me to vie?
I’m ignorant, my friends, I know
Neither the start nor the end’s row.
4 “So please, my brother Joseph, go
And take him away to your place,
For he is something great in race,
Whether hero or angel’s trace
I don’t know what to call his face.”

The fact is that the alef is so great
That even Scripture cannot bear it’s state
And starts with bet and makes that sign the start
Of revelation of the divine heart.
The books of Moses start with b and show
Beginning in the wisdom of Your glow.
And even the Qur’an follows in suit
And starts with b as in the name to boot.
So how can Zacchaeus come to describe
What You have left in secret from the tribe
Of humankind for all eternity?
The alef and Your oneness’ mystery
Stands at the start, a number and a quest,
The witness that You are one and the best.

THOMAS 8

1 And as the Jews were counselling
Zacchaeus, the young child to sting
Laughed out aloud and said “Now let
Those bear fruit that were barren set,
And let them see who once were blind
Of heart. I have come down in kind
From above so I may lay curse
On them, and call them to converse
Of things that are above, as He
Commanded so to you sent me.”
2 When the young child stopped speaking, then
All who were blinded among men
By his curse became whole again.
And no one after that would dare
To provoke him, lest for his share
He should curse him and he should be
Maimed or blinded disgracefully.

Some may think that the curse was a bit much.
But I think it was too little to touch
The hearts of those around with fear of such.
He ought to have cursed them enough so they
In latter years had never come to say
Give us Barabbas but take Jesus out
And execute him on a stake, one stout.
If Jesus had been as wise as a man
As he was in childhood, the evil plan
Of killing Son of God would have been rough.
Sweet Jesus simply did not curse enough.
Beloved, teach me to curse and with a will,
So I may keep my way upon the hill
And not fail with the cart come out to spill.

THOMAS 9

1 Now after certain days Jesus
Was playing on the housetop’s truss,
And one of the young children that
Were playing with him fell down flat
From the housetop and died. And so
When all the other children know
And see, they flee the spot and leave
Jesus alone without reprieve.
2 The parents of the dead child came
Accusing him and casting blame.
And Jesus said “I did not throw
The boy down from the roof below.”
But still they blamed him for the show.
3 Then Jesus jumped down from the roof
And stood by the corpse, cried for proof,
“Zeno, for so was the child’s name,
Get up and say if I’m to blame,
And if I threw you down for shame.”
And right away the child got up
And said “No sir, not like a tup
Did you throw me down, but instead
You raised me back to life from bed.”
They saw it and they were amazed,
The parents of the child unfazed
Glorified Ælohim because
Of the thing that came true to clause,
And gave reverence to Jesus dazed.

Evil is human heart, so that a child
Innocent of all wickedness defiled
Is blamed unless he can show with the call
Of raising up the dead out of death’s thrall
To witness of his innocence and part.
So Jesus had to play to grosser heart.
Before the miracle, the parents sigh
In praise to You beneath the golden sky.
Beloved, the day itself and so the night
Are miracles in Your and in my sight.
Let every eye see that divine work done
In every second spinning with the sun,
And fail to cast the blame on those who wait
For You, Beloved, beside the empty plate.

THOMAS 10

1 After a few days, a young man
Was splitting wood nearby in scan,
And the axe fell and cut his foot
In two, and losing much blood put
About to die. 2 And when the folk
All gathered round to see the stroke
The young child Jesus also ran
There and by force came through the crowd,
And took hold of the foot allowed
Of the young man and right away
The foot was healed and whole that day.
And he said to the young man then
Whose foot had been cut off again
And healed, “Get up now and split wood
And mind me as well as you could.”
But when the multitude there saw
What happened they fell down in awe
Of reverence for the young child and
Said “Truly God’s spirit has spanned
This young child here in our own land.”

Three miracles that irritated men
Are met by three that made them turn again
To You, Beloved, in praise for goodness done.
Now let the little boy go out and run
And play, not stay to teach and work the land,
Unfertile hearts of men and women scanned.
Six miracles in all bring back to life
The deadened village from its daily strife.
Had Jesus had such success in the world,
We might not now lie in a faith uncurled,
Society that lives by war and graft,
The politics of putting fore to aft.
Had Jesus worked as a man as he did
As a child, all the world might know his bid.

THOMAS 11

1 When he was six years old at last,
His mother sent him out to cast
And draw water and bring it in
The house and put in water bin,
And gave him a pitcher, but in
The crowd he struck it on another
And broke the one he got from mother.
2 But Jesus spread his cloak out and
Filled it with water and as planned
Brought it to his mother. And she
When she saw what he did, then she
Kissed him, and kept within her heart
The mysteries all she saw him start.

The water-basket is a thing well known
To Iroquois, as well-known as corn pone.
It may have been invented on the spot
By Jesus when he shattered waterpot.
The water-basket keeps the water cool
While folk are outside wielding every tool
In garden and in workshop, by the pool
For fish in hopes of supper as a rule.
I’m glad Your Christ is not the relished son
Of just one culture and one tide to run,
But in the village caught on space and time
Knows to observe the wayward hill to climb
Both east and west, the nomad and the set,
The many forms humanity has met.

THOMAS 12

1 At planting time, out went the child
With father to sow corn as styled
Upon their field, and as his dad
Put down the seed, the child was glad
Also to sow the grain he had.
2 He reaped and threshed it all the more,
A hundredweight he had in cor.
He summon all the poor in town
Up to his threshing floor’s renown,
And gave them all some corn to eat.
And Joseph took what had in treat
Remained. And he was eight years old
When he worked this miracle bold.

Every man plants in hopes to reap that day.
That is no miracle in Jesus' way.
I say the word and hope the hearer will
Bend to my plot or else then remain still.
I bring the pot to boil and take the egg,
Expecting right away to break the keg.
I prune the apple tree and wait in spring
To eat the apple magic there and sing.
I set my snare upon the meadow green
And sit to wait if there's a sparrow seen.
Beloved, if wheat grows up to thresh the time
It was planted, I rejoice in the rhyme.
But truth is waiting in the share of men,
Until Your Christ appears here once again.

THOMAS 13

1 His father was a carpenter
Who made ploughs to use when to stir
The soil, and yokes for oxen’s fur.
There was a rich man who came by
To order a bed warm and dry
Be made for him. But one plank stood
Too short, and Joseph, try as could,
Could not make it work, but the child
Jesus said to dad reconciled,
To Joseph, “Lay down two beams here,
Set in the middle to appear.”
And Joseph did as the child said.
And Jesus stood at the bedstead
And took hold of the shorter beam
And stretched it to an equal ream
With the other one. And his dad
Joseph saw it and he was glad,
And hugged the child amazed and kissed
Him saying “Surely I’ve not missed
God’s blessings, since He’s given me
This young child to help faithfully.”

The greatest irritations in one’s life
Are not the confrontations born of strife
Where boldness to do right is firmly set
By situations coming as they’re met.
Oh no! The greater trials are those that come
In daily tasks, and troubled hours that hum
With work-a-day incentives to release
Tranquility and scurry out from peace.
Beloved, I’ve seen a board cut short though done
Twice with the measure and the rule unspun.
The carpenter would have been glad that day
If Jesus had arrived to help and stay.
The board-stretching machine’s not yet in stock
Of any hardware outlet on my block.

THOMAS 14

1 When Joseph saw the child was grown
In mind and age, he thought a loan
Of letters would improve his lot.
He took him to a scholar’s spot
And set him at a teacher’s hand.
The teacher told Joseph he planned
To teach him first the Grecian way
Of writing, then the Hebrew sway.
He said so since he knew the skill
Of the child, and he feared to fill
The role of teacher. Still he wrote
The alphabet and Jesus smote
It with his eye and thought for long,
And uttered no response or song.
2 Then Jesus said to him, “If you
Are truly a teacher then do
Tell me the power of alpha and
I’ll tell you power of beta’s stand.”
The teacher was provoked and struck
Him on the head. And the child’s luck
Was to be hurt, and so he cursed
Him and he fainted, and what’s worst
He fell down on the ground and muck.
3 The child went back to Joseph’s place,
And Joseph was sad in disgrace,
And told his mother to her face,
“Don’t let him go out any more,
They all succumb who make him sore.”

So I was right. The teacher thought he’d try
To put one over on the child on sly
By taking Greek instead of Hebrew tongue.
He thought Greek unknown to a child so young.
I too was set to Greek and Hebrew when
I was a young boy in the scholar’s den.
But I had not the wit to tell the man
To preach to me about the alpha’s span.
Instead I learned my conjugations well
And wrote the declinations for a spell.
Beloved, if Jesus knew all things before
The teacher came into the schoolroom door,
He was a prodigy unknown to all
Teachers before and since in the school hall.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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