GOSPEL OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 19 - 23

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 19

1 It happened after Jesus finished
Speaking these words, he moved diminished
From Galilee and came up to
The border of Judea’s view
The other side of Jordan’s stream.
2 And great crowds followed him on beam
And he healed them there like a dream.
3 The Pharisees came to him to
Tempt him and say to him in crew,
“Is it lawful for a man to
Divorce his wife for any due?”
4 But he answered them saying true,
“Have you not read that He who came
Creating at the start of game
Created them male and female?”
5 And he said “That’s why a man leaves
His dad and mum and joins his sleeves
To his wife and the two become
One flesh to go about and hum,
6 “So that they are no longer two,
But one flesh. So what God’s joined crew,
Let no man come to separate.”

Your sent one suggests that the best to follow
Is always earliest text come to swallow.
He chooses Eden’s fair estate to show
The rule of marriage, not the come and go
Of the Mosaic code of concubine
And second and third wife upon the vine,
Of divorce and the climate of the wine.
All others in their wait require the late
In text to supersede the early state.
So Christians take the Gospel and the grate
Of St. Paul, while the Muslims quash them all
And start with the Qur’an upon the wall.
I choose no sides, but still with Jesus fall
Just since I’m still working on the first call.

7 They said to him, “Then why did Moses
Command to give divorcement closes
And put away the dame that chose us?”
8 He told them, ”In hardness of heart,
Moses allowed the both to part.
But it was not so from the start.”

Anything taught after refusal to
Hear the words on Sinai, rebellious crew,
Is given as a second choice in view
Of hardness of the heart instead of true.
Beloved, I cast aside my favourite saints,
Both Moses, even David of complaints,
And Jesus and Muhammad and Ali,
And come to You alone who set me free
From the hardheartedness of church and state,
Of synagogue and even the mosque late.
All are hard-hearted on this dergah floor,
Despite the beauty of every heart’s core
Where You sit in reflection, the great I,
The only One, Beloved, that I can spy.

9 And I tell you, “Whoever puts
Away his wife, if not for gluts
Of uncleanness, and goes to marry
Another, commits adultery.
And the one who marries her who
Was put away commits it too.”
10 His disciples said to him, “If
The case of man and wife’s so stiff,
Better to go jump off a cliff
Than marry and suffer the diff.”
11 But he said to them, “Not all make
Room for this message, but for sake
Of those to whom it’s given in stake.”
12 “For there are eunuchs who were born
So from their mother’s womb unsworn,
And there are eunuchs who were made
Eunuchs by men, and so they stayed,
And there are eunuchs who themselves
Made themselves eunuchs among elves
For the sake of heaven’s kingdom’s shelves.
The one who can take this let him
Receive it and live with it grim.”

Beloved, I bring You word Your sent one’s told
A thing beyond the message wrought in gold
That You gave from the start. He’s been too bold.
He makes it sound like celibate estate
Is more blessed than the ecstasy of rate
And rocking in rhythm to copulate.
If he thinks so, I doubt his data’s great
Enough to make comparison of late.
By his own exegesis from the start
To make of Genesis the better part,
He’s wrong. The celibate way is result
Of hardened hearts, unless he’d catapult
Us into wedding chemical and take
Divine Sophia both to sleep and wake.

13 They brought wee children up to him
So he might lay hands on them trim
And pray. But the disciples came
And rebuked them saying for shame.
14 But Jesus said “Permit the wee
Children and don’t prevent their glee
To come to me, for of such is
The kingdom of heaven in biz.”
15 And laying hands on them, he went
Away from there as he was sent.

This text is so abused, Beloved, I’d think
You would have prevented it on the brink
Of canonizing writings on the blink.
Some say it means that children ought to take
A squirt of water on the head for sake
Of immersion, while others see excuse
In laying on of hands for their abuse.
The evils of priestcraft and paedophile
Go hand in hand a weary watch and mile.
A clear text to put those men down with smile
Would have been better than to greet with guile.
It must be Your love of wee ones blinds You
To politics and wickedness of crew
Of adults leaning on the fence in view.

16 See one came near and said to him,
“Good Rabbi, what good thing with vim
Shall I do that I may indeed
Inherit eternal life’s seed?”
17 And he told him, “Why do you call
Me good? No one is good in stall
Except One, God! But if you wish
To enter into life, then fish
To keep the commandments in all.”
18 He asked him then “Which?” And Jesus
Said “You shall not kill nor commit
Adultery, nor in a fit
Steal nor bear false witness with grit,
19 “But honour your dad and your mum,
And love neighbour as self in sum.”

The human heart divides Your law in two,
Beloved, and that’s why every blasted crew
Takes the last thing here, which alone is not
Writ in the Sinai message for a plot
To deny that Your oneness, image, name
And Sabbath should be counted in the game.
So treacherous is human thought to find
The meaning of Your word when left behind.
The fact he only quotes a part of it
Does not mean he thinks the rest is unfit.
The fact he quotes another verse instead
Does not mean he would pour upon our head
More obligations than You Yourself fed.
But he affirms the Sinai message writ.

20 The young man told him, “All these things
I’ve kept from my youth up in springs.
What more do I need without strings?”

Let this be a good lesson to both me
And You, Beloved, sitting up in Your tree.
Don’t ask more questions than you should and be
Both satisfied with the first answer’s fee
And happy to get on with what sweet spree
At the time brightens our eternity.
What’s wrong with every faith established here
Is this precisely, commandments in fear
Numbered from one to ten do not appear
To be enough for foolish human mind.
Beloved, I take the Decalogue and find
It sweet and far sufficient for my kind,
Simply because I’m neither rich nor blind
To satisfy my heart in You resigned.

21 Then Jesus said to him, “If you
Wish to be perfect, residue
Of all your property both sell
And give to the poor, and pell-mell
You’ll have treasure in heaven’s well,
And come and follow me a spell.”
22 But the young man heard the word in
Great sorrow, because in his bin
He had great wealth which is no sin,
And so he went off with no grin.

I told you so! Jesus would never bother
To say such hard things if people had rather
Stuck to their own business instead of coming
To ask about deep secrets they’ve been humming.
Now all the cloistered hermitage of hell
Proliferating in the Christian dell
Is justified, also justified well,
Because one young man could not keep his mouth
Shut in the face of truth blown in from south.
Who knows what damage I have done, though I
Am far from young and being rather sly,
For all the crowd of words I have put by?

23 Jesus told his disciples then,
“Truly I tell you among men
The rich man will find very hard
To enter heaven’s kingdom barred.
24 “And I tell you again, it’s easier
For a camel to pass through breezier
A needle’s eye, that for a man
Of wealth to enter in the span
Of the kingdom of God by plan.”
25 His disciples greatly surprised
Heard this when they’d been so apprised,
And said “Then who can be saved here?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and said
“With men impossible is bred,
But with God all things can be sped.”

If it’s too hard for wealth to come into
Your kingdom, still it seems this word if true
Is too hard for the Christian in the pew.
I’ve heard at least three explanations fit
To show that the word means another wit
Than what it says about the camel’s size
And where a needle fits in needle’s guise.
The wealthy are not comfortable here,
And the poor too gloat too much at the ear.
Beloved, I’m not set up here to condemn,
My purpose and my role upon Your hem
Is not to justify, explain or crow.
It’s merely to point out the jaundiced show.
Do as You like with camels, men, and dough.

27 Peter replied and said to him,
“See, we’ve left everything in trim
And followed you. What then shall be
The fate of us most faithfully?”
28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly
I say to you, who’s followed me,
In the time when the son of man
Sits on throne of his glory’s span,
You also will sit on twelve thrones,
And judge Israel’s twelve tribes from stones.
29 “And everyone who’s left house and
Brothers or sisters, father and
Mother or wife or children or
Land for sake of my name in score
Shall get return a hundredfold,
And life eternal in the fold.
30 “But many first ones shall be last,
And last ones be first in the blast.”

If Jesus meant the promise that he made
Should be pie in the sky and on parade,
It’s certain that his followers did not
Understand such a thing to be their lot.
They understood that they should sit on thrones
In Palestine in their own life of groans,
And not in future kingdom ages thence.
That’s certain as they sat there in their tents.
Beloved, I bring a suit against the one
You sent to tell us all about the fun.
If he did not lie when he gave his word,
At least he led astray and made hearts stirred
With something promised that did not come true
In the lifetime of any of that crew.

MATTHEW 20

1 For heaven’s kingdom’s like a man,
Housemaster, who went out to scan
Early the workers who should come
Into his vineyard, and not scum.
2 He agreed with the workers for
A dinar for the day in store
And sent them to his vineyard door.
3 He went out once more the third hour
And saw some standing round to scour
The market idle, 4 said to them,
“Go also to my vineyard’s hem
And I’ll give you what’s just in hem.”
And so they went. 5 Again he went
About the sixth and ninth hour spent,
And did the same with every sent.
6 He went out at eleventh hour
And found some idle standing dour,
And said to them, “Why stand all day?”
7 They answer him then in this way,
“Because no one has hired for pay.”
He said to them, “You also go
Up to the vineyard for a show,
And you’ll get paid for a just row.”

I’m not sure that employment office now
Is better than just standing to allow
The patrons in the market come to see
Who’s out of work and ready for the bee.
Such offices tend to serve just the goal
Of keeping their own workers off the dole.
It’s natural in any case that makes
No product the reward for all its stakes.
And nowadays, beyond the telephone
And file there is the whiz and whir and groan
Of desk computer to make sure that all
Seem busy and productive in the mall.
Beloved, I seek a simpler life and find
My poverty upon the hill well-dined.

8 When evening came the master of
Vineyard summoned manager’s glove,
“Call in the workers and give pay,
Beginning from the last in sway,
Back to the first and in that way.”
9 And those who had arrived at last
At the eleventh hour to cast
Received a dinar as earned fast.
When the first ones arrived to stay,
They thought they’d get some more in sway.
But they each got a dinar’s pay.
11 And when they got it they complained
Against the master who’d retained.
12 They said “These last just worked an hour,
And you’ve made them equal in power
To us who have carried the tower
And heat of the day under bower.”

I'm not so much astounded that a lord
And vineyard owner should, when he had scored,
Been less than just in terms of equal shares.
That's no concern of wealthy nor their cares.
What bothers me is the twelve hours of work,
When by my calculations at the dirk,
An eight-hour day is better for a perk.
Let not this Jesus institute a way
Of grand oppression like the early sway
Of the industrial revolution's play.
I'm glad I did not live in Jesus' day.
I'd rather work the eight while all alive
Deny the faith and adhere in a hive
To a false church. My fate is where I thrive.

13 But he replied and said to one
Of them, “My friend, I have not done
You wrong. Did you not once agree
With me for dinar’s salary?
14 “Take yours and go. It’s my own wish
To give the last too the same dish.
15 “Is it not lawful that I do
What I want with my things and crew?
Or is your eye wicked because
I am good and without sharp claws?”
16 So the last shall be first, the first
Shall be last though they are uncursed,
For many are called to the row,
But few are chosen as they go.

There are but few today who really think
That everyone that’s born on earth to sink
Should have an equal show for what they think.
Justice today is more the rhetoric
Of those who have a share in politic
To ration an elite some of the thick
And leave majority without a stick.
For forty years no one has wasted breath
On justice for justice’ sake before death.
Beloved, the story means but little now
Beyond the fact that salary somehow
Is all a trick of whim and luck and brow.
That may indeed be good reflection of
Your universe and what You take for love.

17 Jesus went to Jerusalem,
And took his twelve disciples’ hem
From the way and he said to them:
18 “See we’re going to Jerusalem,
And the son of man there will be
Betrayed to the chief priests freely
And to the scribes. And they’ll condemn
Him to death on the wicked tree.
19 “And they’ll give him up to Gentiles
To mock and scourge and in their guiles
To crucify. And the third day
He’ll rise again in glory’s way.”

The only thing that Jesus seems to take
From solar myths himself before the rake
Of crucifixion is the third day’s stake.
The Jonah tale is full of solar cake.
What resurrection of the man in fact
Speaks of is that his innocence well-packed
Conquered at last the humdrum civil servant
That signed the sentence without being fervent.
If Jesus really rose up from the dead,
It’s not my sins that benefit when led,
But the good news that the establishment
That killed him could not touch the one You sent.
And if not him, then never anyone
Who sticks to Your law even under sun.

20 Then the mother of the sons of
Zebedee came to him in love
Along with her sons, and bowed down
And asked a favour from his crown.
21 And he said to her, “What do you
Desire?” She answered to him true
“Give order that my sons, these two,
May sit one on Your right hand due
And one on your left in the day
You come into your kingdom’s sway.”
22 But Jesus answered her and said
“You do not know what you are led
To ask. Are you able to drink
The cup of which I’m on the brink,
And be baptised with the immersion
With which I’m getting with aversion?”
They said to him, “We will not sink.”
23 And he said to them, “Indeed you
Shall drink my cup, my cup of rue,
And you shall be immersed with that
Sinking in which I’m sunk in vat,
But to sit on my right and left
Is not mine to give as bereft,
But to those for whom it was planned
By my Father in His command.”

Some think that Jesus is the power behind
The universe instead of You in kind.
But here he says he does not have the mind
To give a place of credit to a friend.
He’s not much use to my ambition’s end.
If I would be great, let me serve, says he.
I serve no one at all, for I am free.
I do not seek to be great any more,
Since I found out from Jesus the true score.
The search for fame and greatness, though a chore,
Leaves only emptiness before the door.
I gain more from the patch my wife prepares
To hold the flower garden and its wares.
Let others live with conscious and with stares.

24 The ten were angry when they heard
What the two brothers there had stirred.
25 But having called them, Jesus said
“You know that rulers of lands led
Hold power above them by the hand
Of high chiefs controlling the land.
26 “But it will not be so with you.
But whoever wishes in pew
To be great, let him come to serve.
27 “Whoever wants to be the first
Among you let him serve, not swerve
Among the ambitious and cursed.
28 “Just as the Son of Man did not
Come to be served, but to serve lot,
To give his life a ransom plot.”

In all the many competitions here
For place and power, wealth and fine career,
I covet that place where Your sent one sat,
The lowest place, the servant’s habitat.
He came, as every one that You have sent,
To spend his life in service where he went,
A ransom for the poor and the oppressed
Who were downtrodden by the better dressed.
And so he lived, and so he came to die,
Whether obscure or in the public eye,
Obedient servant, Torah-true from first
To last. Leave me to give my life, though worst,
In service to Your throne, let me live life
Below the threshold of the worldly strife.

MATTHEW 21

1 When they came near Jerusalem
As far as Bethphage, toward hem
Of Mount Olives, then Jesus sent
Two disciples, 2 as he had meant,
“Go to the town across from you
And straight off you will find in view
A donkey tied and colt on cue.
Untie them and bring to my pew.
3 “If anyone says aught to you,
You shall reply, ‘The Lord has need
Of them,' and he’ll make so decreed.”
4 But all this happened to fulfil
What the prophet said for a drill:
5 “Then the daughter of Zion, see,
Your king comes to you, meek to be
Riding on a donkey and on
A colt, the offspring of an ass.”
6 And the disciples soon were gone
To do what Jesus said to pass.
7 They led the donkey and the colt.
They put on them garments to bolt,
And set him on them for a ride.

Sometimes the stories told around the fire
By redskins satisfied of their desire
Include such episodes that one cannot
Imagine because of some crazy knot.
The rabbit licks his elbow for a chance,
The children turn to stars, begin to dance.
This is a crazy knot here, I must say,
This riding on two donkeys in the way.
No wonder crowds came by and stopped to sway.
Some circus prancers can accomplish it
While standing, but there’s no one who can sit
On two beasts at one time, and that’s because
A man has got just one sitter in pause.
St. Matthew is a man of greatest wit.

8 The multitude scattered their clothes
Upon the road, and others rose
To cut off branches from the trees,
And spread them in the way for ease.
9 And the crowd both in fore and aft
Cried out and said not being daft,
“Hosanna to the son of David!
Blessed is the one who is unslavèd
To come in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna to the highest scored!”

I too praise any son of David who
Comes in the lovely name of YHWH and You!
But where I live the holy spirit’s not
A dove, it’s more a sparrow that’s been shot,
If the decorum in the vestige pew
Of Pentecostal where I live in view
Is indication of what’s right and true.
That means that following the custom here,
My praise is rather quiet. I appear
But seldom in the public eye with great
And sounding voice to praise You in such rate.
Though branches there may be and some to spare,
The area’s a nature reserve’s share.
I’m not allowed to come with axe and pare.

10 So he entered Jerusalem,
All the town was shaken with them,
And said “Who’s this?” 11 The crowd replied,
“This is Jesus, who is the loud
Prophet from Nazareth unbowed
In Galilee.” 12 Jesus went in
The temple of God and the din
And threw out all of those who sold
And bought inside the court threshold.
He overcast the tables where
The money changers changed their ware,
And the seats of those selling doves.
13 And he said to them without gloves,
“It’s written, My house shall be called
A house of prayer, but you’ve installed
A den of thieves.” 14 And blind and lame
Ones came to him in temple frame
And he healed them in every claim.
15 But the chief priests and scribes who saw
The miracles he did with awe,
And all the children crying out
In the temple saying with shout,
“Hosanna to David’s son,” they
Were angry in their priestly sway.
16 And they said to him, “Do you hear
What these people are saying here?”
And Jesus said to them, “I do.
Did you never read the Psalm true,
'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
You’ve ordained praise' on all these bucklings?”

The son of David quotes the Psalms, I swear,
He knows the wonders of the tinkling air.
If Jesus is the son of David, I
Bow to him and his right to rule the sky.
But if he’s just a god incarnate then
I leave him with the rest of such god-men
To wander in the myths of pagan rite
That I turn from for good and hide my sight.
All men have their own prejudices here,
Some follow what they’re taught from birth to fear,
Some follow what they think is right and clear,
Some follow the majority with cheer,
But let me, My Beloved, keep at my ear
Your voice alone and David’s songs alight.

17 He left them and went from the town
To Bethany, and settled down.
18 When he came back to town at dawn,
He felt his hunger drawing on.
19 He saw a fig tree by the road,
And went up to it seeking load,
And found nothing but leaves to goad.
And he said to it, “Let there be
No fruit on you eternally.”
And the fig tree straight off dried up
So no one there could drink or sup.
20 When his disciples saw the thing
They marvelled at it and saying
“How quickly the fig tree dried up!”
21 Jesus replied as fast as tup,
“Truly I tell you, if you’ve faith
And do not doubt for sound or wraith,
Not only will you do the great
Miracle of the fig tree’s fate,
But even if you said command
To this mountain ‘Go up and stand
In the midst of the sea,’ it would.
22 “And everything you ask or should
In prayer, believing, so you could.”

It’s right to curse the human soul that makes
Light of Your ten commandments and mistakes
The self to be a god who ought to get
All glory and all honour on the set.
But is it right to curse the humble tree
That brings forth by the laws You set to be
The gauge of life and love eternally?
I think not, my Beloved, I think not yet.
A doubting Thomas, I lack faith and daring
To contemplate and act on what You’re sharing.
If You provide no fruit upon the bush,
I rejoice in the shade it comes to push.
Let those You send from now on pity green
Things growing on the earth from thorn to bean.

23 When he had come into the court
Of holiness, the chief priests’ sort
And elders of the folk came by
Him as he taught, saying in sly,
“By what authority do You
Do these things? And who gave to you
This power to grant and say and do?”
24 And Jesus answered them and said
“I’ll ask you one thing, if you’re led
To tell me, then I’ll also tell
You by what authority swell
I do these things and do them well.
25 “The baptism of John, from where
Was it? From heaven or human share?”
And they reasoned among themselves,
Saying “If we admit like elves
From heaven, then he will say to us,
‘Why did you not believe the buss?’
26 “But if we say from men alone,
Then we fear the folk won’t atone,
For all consider John to be
A true man of God’s prophecy.”
27 And they replied to Jesus then
Saying “We do not know for yen.”
And he said to them, “Neither then
Will I tell what authority
I have to do the things you see.

By what authority did Jesus, John,
Muhammad and Elijah come upon
The earth to teach and do. Say, by what power?
I see that You are silent for an hour.
Ask me the question difficult and sound,
And I shall answer You upon the ground.
By what authority? I hear around
The din of truth that preachers all propound,
But hear no rate of who sent them to speak
In Your name telling all the folk to seek
Some other way besides the one You spoke
On Mount Sinai. Who proclaims it a joke?
By what authority do men now take
Qur’ans and Testaments outside Your stake?

28 “But what do you think? Once a man
Had two sons, and coming by plan
To the first he said, ‘Son, go out
Today and work the vineyard route.’
29 “And he replied and told his dad,
‘I will not.’ But after when sad
He went and did so, a good lad.
30 “He went then to the second son,
And said the same. And then by gun
He answered, ‘I’m off, sir, to run.’
But he did not get off his bun.
31 “Which of the two now did the will
Of the father?” They answered still,
“The first.” Jesus then said to them,
“Indeed I tell you, by the hem
Tax takers and their prostitutes
Enter before you in your boots
The kingdom of God for cahoots.
32 “For John came to you in the way
Of righteousness, you would not pay
Attention to him. But the ones
Who gather taxes and the tons
Of prostitutes believed him well.
You saw it happen for a spell
But you did not repent at all
After that and believe his call.”

Of prostitutes I shall not say a word.
But I doubt now such things could have occurred
That tax collectors ever’d be preferred.
Perhaps in ancient Rome the tax was lawful.
But in the USA it is just awful
Work of such bandits as were never known
Under the reign of tyrants on the throne.
The tax on tea was a malicious thing,
Perhaps or not. But the true spiralling
Came from the prohibition to instate
One’s own in monetary aggravate.
The tax collection comes from banking union
Out to impoverish without impunion.
There is no hope for any such a mate.

33 “So hear another story now.
There was a certain man, somehow
The master of a house, who came
To plant a vineyard in his name
And place a hedge around the same.
And he dug a winepress in it,
And built a tower to keep it fit.
He leased it out to keepers of
Vines and left the country to shove.
34 “And when the time of harvest came,
He sent his servants there to claim
From the vine workers' profits hame.
35 “And the vine workers took his slaves
And they beat one, and killed for graves
Another and one stoned for shame.
36 “And he sent more slaves than at first.
And they did the same at their worst.
37 “At last he sent his son to them,
Saying 'They will respect my gem.’
38 “But when they saw the son they said,
The vine workers among their dread,
‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him
And take his property with vim.’
39 “They took him and they threw him out
Of the vineyard, killed with a shout.
40 “So when the master of the house
Comes to the vineyard like a mouse,
How will he treat vine workers' clout?”
41 They said to him, “Such wicked men,
He’ll utterly destroy them then,
And he will lease the vineyard out
To other vine workers and stout
Who’ll give him his due time again.”

I do not know what rating should be given
To such a movie as this where they’ve striven
And violently killed servant and son
And anyone else who might fail to run.
Your Jesus tells such grisly tales that I
Might prevent hearing by the younger fry.
If Jesus means he’s at the pinnacle
Of a long line of prophets in the pull
Who were rejected, that’s as might be here.
It’s human to reject what all men fear,
And all men fear a man who does the good
And fails not in speaking of what he should.
Beloved, keep me from violence of those
Who run the church and state in stylish clothes.

42 Then Jesus told them, “Did you not
Read in the Scriptures as you sought,
‘A stone which the builders rejected
Became the corner stone confected?
This was from YHWH a miracle
Before our eyes to view the pull?”
43 “Because of this I say to you,
‘The kingdom of God’s gone from you,
And it will be given to a crew
Producing its fruits in His view.
44 “And he who falls down on this stone
Will be broken, but on whose bone
It falls, it will crush him alone.’”
45 When the chief priests and Pharisees
Heard his parables taught with ease,
They knew he spoke of them to freeze.
46 They would have arrested him then,
But they were afraid of the men
Who held him in a prophet’s den.

I’m not at all sure when the word was writ
About the corner stone once seen unfit,
That ancient writer had in mind the man
Jesus Christ as by some diviner plan.
But if all others find the shoe fits well
When they read Torah, Psalm, Prophet, Gospel,
Then I guess Jesus has a right to read
The Scriptures to apply to him in need.
Beloved, I too am such a corner stone,
Rejected from temple before the throne,
With granite face lifted to sun and rain,
To cloud and snowstorm, quiet without pain,
Awaiting word of silence come from You
Before I rise and go to live and do.

MATTHEW 22

1 And in reply Jesus again
Spoke in parables to the men,
Saying 2 The kingdom of Heaven
Is like a man, a king who made
A wedding feast for his son laid.
3 And he sent his slaves to call those
Invited to the wedding feast,
But they did not want feet that froze.
4 Again he sent more slaves increased,
Saying “Tell the invited ones,
See, I’ve prepared my supper buns,
My oxen slain as well as fat,
And everything’s done in the vat,
So come now to the wedding feast.”
5 But they did not mind him at all,
And went away each to his thrall,
One to his own field, and one to
His merchandizing and his due.
6 And the rest, seizing his slaves, then
Insulted them and killed the men.

This talk of always killing’s like to be
A self-fulfilling sort of prophecy.
If Jesus had just caught the vision of
Conforming to the spirit of times in love
He might well have avoided cross and date
With death at such a young age and full pate.
The violence that Jesus sees around
Him and remarks once with each warning sound
Is still the margin of the Roman share
Of just war perpetrated everywhere.
But I do not go out to stand before
The tanks to keep them on their landing shore.
That’s why I’ve lived so long to share the score
Of grey beard and grey hair, what’s left in store.

7 And when he heard, the king became
Filled with wrath and sent armies game
To destroy those murderers and
Burn down their city at a stand.
8 Then he said to his slaves, ”Indeed,
The wedding feast’s prepared for greed,
But the guests were not worth their seed.
9 “Then go out to highways and nooks
And call in all you find of crooks
Into the wedding feast agreed.”
10 They went out in the highways and
Those servants gathered all in hand,
As many as they found to stand,
Both evil and good, so the grand
Wedding feast was filled up with guests.
11 And the king coming in to look
Over those set at tables’ nook
Saw one man there without his vests
Of wedding garments white on hook.
12 And he said to him, “Friend, how did
You come in here without the bid
Of wedding dress?” But the man hid
His consternation without words.
13 Then the king said to the slave herds,
“Tie hand and foot and take away
And throw out into darkness’ sway.
There shall be weeping there and gnashing
Of teeth before punishment slashing.
14 “For many are invited, but
Few do not find the door is shut.”

I too have been in the attendance of
A wedding in Arab province of love.
When all were gathered to the feast in sight,
Each guest was in a wedding garment white,
A new dishdasha and face shining bright
Beneath the headdress bound before the shove.
There were men at the door preventing such
Uncouth from entering the feast to touch
The table and the hand of groom in clutch.
I guess the failure of the Nubian
Guards caused the situation of this man.
I’ll take a lesson now, if ever son
Of mine is married, I shall have this done,
And set the Nubians about doors spun.

15 Then the Pharisees went and planned
How to trap him with wise words scanned.
16 They sent their disciples to him
Along with Herodians dim
Saying, “Rabbi, we know you’re true
And teach the way of God as due,
And do not care about the folk,
Not looking to repute in stroke.
17 “So tell us what you think. Is it
Lawful to give Caesar a bit
In tribute or is it unfit?”
18 But Jesus recognized their guile
And said “Why do you tempt with smile,
You hypocrites for bank and pile?
19 “Show me the tribute coin.” And they
Brought a dinar to him to say.
20 And he asked them, “Whose image here
And superscription do appear?”
21 They answered him “Caesar’s.” Then he
Told them, “Then give away in fee
To Caesar what is Caesar’s own
And to God what is due His throne.”
22 They marvelled when they heard the thing,
And left him and went on to sing.

Beloved, Your sent one was so smart to say
A word to save his own skin on a day
When questioned about tribute in the sway
Of Rome. Since then his words have made appeal
To justify the weight of stately heel.
But tyranny is never justified
By the submission of true to deride.
I submit with both courtesy and smile
To state and mugger intruding a while
Upon the way I walk with You a mile.
The coin is sound or not, but it discloses
A better lesson than the church imposes:
By wily in the way I answer those
Who question what I may or not oppose.

23 On that day, Sadducees, who say
There’s no rising from death to play,
Came to him to question his way,
24 Saying “Rabbi, once Moses said
If any should die having wed
Without issue, his brother must
Marry his wife and raise up lust
Of seed to take his brother’s crust.
25 “Well seven brother were with us.
The first one married marvellous
But died straight off without a child,
And so left wife to brother wild.
26 “In the same way the second one
And the third through the seven done.
27 “And last of all the woman too
Died, and so then died all the crew.
28 “Now in the resurrection who
Of the seven will take her true
To be his wife? All were her due.”

The Levirate is something that I find
Intriguing, though I am as one born blind,
Not having any brother so confined.
There are some tribes of people who relate
To marriage to all brothers in one gate
As the ideal or if not any rate
The possible. And so I give the mate
The answer that in Paradise or in
The northern hills from India for sin
All seven brothers can be husbands of
One wife and still maintain the lady’s love.
If the Levirate is a case to be,
Then surely any lady is set free
To make her choice among the progeny.

29 Jesus replied and said to them,
“You err not knowing Scriptures’ gem
Nor power of God to raise the hem.
30 “For in the resurrection they
Do not get married nor in sway
Give in marriage, but they are like
The angels in God’s heaven to strike.

The Sadducean question comes alive:
Then what are angels like if they don’t wive?
Both resurrection and angelic fare
Seem to the Sadducee imaginaire.
I’ve never seen a human being raised
Up from the gloomy trough to see unfazed
The light of day again. I’ve never seen
An angel picking squash or corn and bean.
So what’s the marvel of the answer here?
Jesus will silence one question in ear
By raising one more issue that cannot
Be demonstrated beyond being taught.
Beloved, I will believe or not believe,
It makes but little difference to Your sleeve.

31 “As for the resurrection of
The dead, have you not read above
What God spoke to you in the shove,
Saying 32 'I’m Abraham’s God and
The God of Isaac, understand,
And Jacob’s God?' But God is not
God of the dead but of the lot
Of living people in their spot.”
33 When the crowd heard these words, then they
Marvelled to hear his teaching’s way.

The book of Jubilees makes it quite clear
That Abraham died on the bosom dear
Of Jacob, which means You are in the steer
By saying You’re the God of living three.
There was a time out from eternity
When Abraham and Jacob knew Your face,
Though veiled behind the sunrise and its trace
Of ruby and of amber to the race
Of sunset by the sea, the rolling sea.
Beloved, Your deity depends not on
The life of anyone, not Jacob’s spawn
Nor of their fair ancestors in the dawn.
You are the God of all, living and dead,
Of animate and inanimate spread.

34 But when they heard he’d stopped the tongue
Of Sadducees, Pharisees hung
Together on the lower rung.
35 And one of them, a lawyer, came
To question him and tempt the same,
And said 36 “Rabbi, which is the great
Commandment of the law you rate?”
37 And Jesus answered him, “You’ll love
The Lord your God with all the shove
Of your heart, soul and mind above.
38 “This is the first command and great.
39 “The second’s like it and to state:
You’ll love your neighbour as yourself.
40 “These two commandments are the shelf
On which all Law and Prophets hang,
The commandments with a big bang.

Love for You and for all my fellowmen
Does not exclude the women too, I ken.
And yet both man and woman make the claim
That since love fulfils all of the law’s game
I need not keep the Sabbath day at all.
Love is enough upon the earthly brawl.
If that be true, then I am free to kill
And steal as well, if only love instil
My motives for the both. It’s right to slay
Any of fellowmen if I can play
That I love each and every one I slit
Open at throat or heart or where they sit.
I can commit adultery too, if
I love the gal, not just because I’m stiff.

41 But when the Pharisees came by
Jesus began to question why,
42 By saying “What now do you think
About Messiah on the brink?
Whose son is he?” And they replied,
“He’s son of David to abide.”
43 He said to them, “Then how indeed
Does David when inspired to heed
Call him lord, saying “YHWH said to
My lord, sit at my right hand’s view
Until I put your enemies
As a footstool for your foot’s ease?
45 “For if David calls him his lord,
How is he then his son adored?”
46 And nobody could answer him
A word, nor did anyone dim
Dare from that day to question him.

The point that Jesus makes about the king
Calling his son sir is not hard to ring.
First off, it’s merely supposition that
David himself penned those words where he sat.
The Psalm is one ambiguous to say
“To David.” If some other writer’s sway,
He may report what You spoke on a day
To David, who was lord of him who wrote.
If You gave David then dominion’s boat,
It does not follow that Messiah’s float
With all the hoped-for promises implied
Is therefore ready to come and abide.
Jesus has demonstrated only that
It’s messianic hopes that still fall flat.

MATTHEW 23

1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd and
To his disciples on the land,
2 Telling them: The scribes and the brand
Of Pharisees sit in the seat
Of Moses as to gain a treat.
3 So everything they tell you to,
Keep carefully and try to do,
But do not do as they themselves
Do, for they command on the shelves
But do not carry out like elves.
4 For they bind heavy burdens there,
Burdens too heavy there to bear,
And lay them on men’s shoulders too,
But they do not want to come through
To move them with one finger’s cue.
5 And they do all their works to be
Seen by their fellows. They make free
With broadest of phylactery,
And make large the borders of clothes.
6 They love the highest seat they chose
At suppers, and the first seats in
The synagogues of their own sin,
7 And greetings in the market place,
To be called Rabbi to the face.

The word of Jesus is ambiguous
Here, which is nothing new to them or us.
He says to follow verdicts of unjust,
And then complains they’re too harsh in the dust.
The only sense I make of this is that
Some verdicts are right and ring in the vat,
While others are undue, without foundation.
But how to know the difference in their station?
Beloved, I follow Decalogue as written
And every law that comes after to sit on,
If it is there to bolster and explain
The Decalogue caught sunning in the rain.
That does not make me Rabbi, no, nor brother.
At least it keeps me live and not to smother.

8 But you, do not be yourselves called
Rabbi, for one’s your chief installed,
The Christ, and you are brothers called.
9 And call no one your father here
On earth, for One comes to appear
In heaven, your Father, One to hear.
10 Do not be called leaders, for One
Is your leader, the Christ when done.
11 But the greater among you must
Be the servant the others trust.
12 “And whoever exalts himself
Will be humbled upon the shelf,
And he who humbles himself will
Be exalted upon the hill.

There are among the priests folk now call father
Who are both humble and before the slaughter
Take bullet before letting the flock fail.
Mechanical of word’s no way to flail.
Besides that, my Beloved, it’s just the way
We are made up today and yesterday
To call the man who begot us our dad.
Does Jesus think that is too vain and bad?
Refusal to call him our father would
In my book constitute an act of hood
Against the one commandment that we should
Keep for the promise given to the good.
Jesus is not a Rabbi, no, nor teacher,
But riddle-teller instead of a preacher.

13 “But woe, you scribes and Pharisees,
Hypocrites! You shut up with ease
The kingdom of heaven for men,
For you neither go in again
Yourselves, nor do you allow those
Who are entering where they chose.
14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
Hypocrites! For you come to squeeze
Widows’ houses, and for pretence
Make long prayers and devoid of sense.
Therefore you will receive the greater
Condemnation. 15 “Woe to you later,
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
You travel land and sea where sits
One to proselytize, and when
He’s won, you make him twice again
A son of hell as yourselves then.

Your blessed Messiah came to compare You
Who have comparison to none nor few.
If he’s a son of God, then truth to tell,
His opponents are set as sons of hell.
So he compares, it seem, Your beloved frame,
If frame You be or have beyond the name,
To hell. Now I suppose it may be true
That hell has as long pintle as You do
To beget sons. That quiet implication
Is found in every Trinitarian ration.
Indeed, it may well be that You abide
And hell as single one, not side by side.
In You all move and have their being wide,
Some for the bliss and some for being tried.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, you who say
'Whoever swears by temple sway,
It does not hold, but who shall swear
By the gold the temple may wear,
He is bound by the word that day.
17 “Blind fools, which is the greater thing,
The gold or the temple whose wing
Makes the gold holy? 18 “Who shall swear
By the altar has naught to bear,
But who swears by the offering brought
Is bound in everything he thought.
19 “Blind fools, which is greater, the gift
Or the altar that for its shrift
Makes the gift holy when it’s caught?
20 “Whoever then shall swear by altar
Swears by it and without a falter
By all that’s on it, bit and halter.
21 “Who swears by temple swears by it
And by Him who lives in it fit.

I look, Beloved, upon the Kaaba drawn
In stone and beauty on the face of dawn,
Remembering whose birth hallowed the place
And whose first cry lent emptiness its grace.
I look, Beloved, upon the Kaaba where
I find Your house and home, yet know the share
Is slight to hold eternity and all.
You are not made of matter in a wall.
You are not found in stone and mortar nor
Even within the infinite in shore
That seems the human heart. You are beyond,
Below, within, without, all but a frond
Of hope and faith releases You to be
The God of my heart and eternity.

22 And he who swears by heaven above,
Swears by the throne of God of love,
And by Him who comes there to sit.

Beloved, I fail to swear indeed as I
See how the word of man is a far cry
From truth, and blindness also touches eye
Of even souls who cling to You alone.
And yet I come to You upon Your throne,
Despite the fact that I see nothing there,
Nor even any throne above to share.
You have no sight or sound upon the air,
Nor any form nor edge in my compare
By which I might distinguish Your own face.
And yet I find You in this howling place.
Beloved, You are too close to me to see
Despite the throne that towers above me,
Despite the emptiness my heart would trace.

23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
You hypocrites! For you pay fees
Of tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
And you have left aside from humming
The greater issues of the Law,
Judgement, mercy, and faithful awe.
It was right to do these, and not
To have left those aside unsought.
24 Blind guides, you strain out the gnat, but
Swallow the camel in your gut.

Beloved, Your buddy makes, it would appear,
Distinction between the laws in Your gear.
Out of the six thirteen, it’s said, I fear,
That all are equal in their share of sheer.
I join the Lord Jesus to make distinctions
Between some laws and others in their pinktions,
By saying that the Decalogue alone
Is absolute before the divine throne.
All other laws are set in time and place
According to the needs of human race,
And may change with the change of human face.
If right or wrong, I humbly take my stand
And keep the straight path between shore and sand.
It’s far too narrow for a plane to land.

25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
You hypocrites! You wash the frieze
Outside of cup and dish, but leave
The inside full of things to thieve.
26 Blind Pharisee! Wash first the in
Side of the cup and dish for din,
So the outside of them may be
Clean also from your robbery.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
You hypocrites! For at your ease
You’re like the whitened sepulchres,
Which outwardly as it occurs
Seem beautiful, but then inside
Is where bones of the dead abide,
And all corruption for the ride.
28 So you too seem outside to be
Righteous to men, but inwardly
Full of lawless hypocrisy.
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
You hypocrites! You build degrees
Of tombs for the prophets and bring
Adornments for the tombs to sing
Of the righteous. 30 And then you say
”If we’d lived in our fathers’ day,
We would not have helped them to slay
And shed the prophets’ blood that way.”
31 So you bear witness to yourselves
That you’re the sons of all such elves
Who murdered prophets where they lay.
32 So what your fathers started then
You bring to its completion’s den.

Beloved, your sent one is insane to think
That any human beings on the brink
Could be consistent in each word and deed.
We always speak ideals before we heed,
And then fail to measure up to the creed.
It’s simply our humanity in need,
And not hypocrisy now gone to seed.
And yet, Beloved, I do admit the share
Of very human in the word laid bare
That Jesus speaks. We all expect the other
To do as spoken by, despite the mother.
I too learn with the years not to be rash
In what I claim to do when I am brash,
And give no credit but stick to bold cash.

33 You serpents and you vipers’ breed,
How shall you escape hell indeed,
And hellish judgement on your greed?
34 Because of this, see now, I send
To you prophets and sages bend
To scribes, and some of them you’ll kill
And crucify, and some you will
Flog in your synagogues and will
Persecute from town to town still,
35 So that should come on you at last
All the righteous blood that’s been cast
Out on the earth, from the blood of
Righteous Abel to the blood of
Zechariah-ben-Berechiah,
Who was a man a faithful crier,
Whom you slew twixt the Holy Place
And the altar and left the trace.
36 Indeed I tell you, all these things
Fall on this generation’s wings.

To call a man a snake is just too much,
Beloved, although I see there is a touch
Of pride in what my father says of such
Who’re born in West Virginia without crutch.
They’re snakes and proud to be so on a day
When the outsiders come along to play.
Perhaps the ethnic pride itself comes in
Corrupting long ago believers’ din
And so calls down on righteous pates to win
The condemnation of Christ to their skin.
Beloved, the serpent race in viper’s hue
Is in each heart and head of every crew,
But can be quelled by Your sent one in view
Who bears each heart a witness of You true.

37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Who kills the prophets in her hem,
And stones those sent to her, how oft
I wanted to gather undoffed
Your children like a hen calls up
Her chicks to wing because of tup,
And you did not desire the cup.
38 See now, your house is left to you
In desolation, in plain view.
39 For I say to you, in no way
Shall you see me here on out gay
Until the time that you will say
“Blessed is he who comes in the name
Of YHWH and shall complete His claim.”

I know the feeling, my Beloved. I see
The infinite of dawn peek out to be
The love of every face come around me,
And when I cry with joy to see Your own,
The face turns hard and shatters my faith’s bone.
You are present in every human face,
And yet You flee in ignorance to trace
The selfish hope, the crass reward, the beam
Of taking for the true the things that seem.
I know the disappointment, Love, and turn
From every eye to the sky’s eye to burn
My sorrow in the leafy margin where
Your ever-fleeting image comes to bear
Lightly upon my breath, upon the stair.


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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