GOSPEL OF MARK CHAPTER 14 - 16

GOSPEL OF MARK 14

1 It was the Passover, and Feast
Of Unleavened Bread as released
After two days. And the chief priests
And the scribes sought how, at the feasts,
They might arrest him secretly
And have him killed by Roman spree.
2 But they said, “Not during the Feast,
Lest the mob make trouble increased.

Whether for fear of trouble or the eye
To desecration of the holy sky,
The fond establishment would carefully
Make human sacrifice without a spree.
The attitude is still around today
Where every man and woman comes to pray
Before the sacred tent and see the host
Raised in sublime worshipfulness for toast.
Beloved, I have not come here so to boast.
My eye is not on feasts nor fasts to find
The way to Your heart though my eye is blind.
Instead I leave the bread, the leaven too,
And flee from all faith to come back to You,
Unchastened and unhastened at the view.

3 And he being in Bethany
In the house of Simon the leper,
As he lay there, a woman, see,
With alabaster pot to pep her
Filled with pure and costly nard’s ointment.
She broke the stone vial by appointment
And poured it on his head to help her.
4 And some were outraged in their hearts
And said “What a waste in these parts
Of ointment! 5 “For this could be sold
For three hundred dinars cash cold,
And be given to the poor’s fold.”
And they were angry with her arts.
6 But Jesus said “Leave her alone.
Why do you make her sad and groan?
She’s done a good work here for me.
7 “You have the poor eternally,
And when you will, you can make free
To help them. But you do not get
To be always with me as pet.
8 “What this one intended, she did.
She took beforehand what she hid
Anointing my body at last
Before the grave where it is cast.
9 “Truly I tell you, where indeed
This gospel is proclaimed to feed
In all the world, what this one did
Will be spoken of too in bid
Of a remembrance of her need.”

I pour the ointment out in wasteful draught,
Beloved, instead of giving the alms sought
By the oppressed and drunken in the plot.
The tonnes of child that die each day without
My aid or help of others in the pout
Might stay my hand, but no, I raise no doubt,
But still keep at my writing without shout.
One day, Beloved, You’ll stop me, I’ll be caught.
Then in surprise perhaps or fearful hush
I’ll hear Your proclamation in a rush,
Either to condone my lack in the bray,
Or offer me the glories of Your day.
In either case, Beloved, I bow to pray
To You alone while others die away.

10 And Judas Iscariot, one
Of the twelve, went away and spun
To the chief priests, so he’d betray
Him to them for truth or in play.
11 When they heard they were glad to give
In promise silver for his sieve.
And he looked for a chance to come
To betray him for just that sum.

When Judas saw the waste of fine perfume
Poured all at once on Jesus, he would groom
Until he had recuperated all
The silver that such a bottle and tall
Was worth to give to the poor wherewithal.
It was his concern for the poor that made
Good Judas come out to the world’s parade
As a betrayer of the divine braid.
Beloved, go easy on the man who stayed
To think about the poor and reprimand
A woman for her wastefulness in hand.
It was a lesson taught that still may stand.
The poor are with us yet, and men as well
As women buy perfumes to beat the bell.

12 On first day of Unleavened Bread,
When they’d killed the Passover spread,
His disciples asked him, “Where do
You want to make Passover due?”
13 He sent two disciples and said
To them, “Go in the town as led
And you’ll meet a man in whose hand
A pot of water comes to stand.
Follow him to see where he planned.
14 “And wherever he goes in, say
To the house owner as for pay,
‘Where is the guestroom where I may,'
Says the teacher, 'come in to eat
Passover with my friends in treat.’
15 “And he’ll show you an upper room
Of great size, spread, prepared to boom.
Set up for us there in the gloom.”
16 And his disciples went and came
Into the town and found the same
As he had told them. They prepared
The Passover. 17 When evening bared,
He entered with the twelve who came.
18 As they lay eating, Jesus said
“Truly I tell you, one of you
Will betray me, one eating too
With me at the same plate of brew.”
19 They were offended at the word
And starting saying as each stirred
“It is not I indeed, is it?”
And each one replied in like wit.

The friends of Jesus need not have returned
A question for the information spurned.
Each one knew in his heart what he had learned
Of self-betrayal by temptations earned.
It was a hypocritical device
To ask whether Jesus thought each one nice.
Each knew of such betrayals that the past
Had produced in each life as like to last.
And last indeed they did, when each man fled
To hiding among the night’s black and red.
Beloved, I too join in the throng to say
I shall not come to You another day
With words and actions, deeds that would betray.
I join Jesus’ disciples as they bray.

20 But answering, he said to them,
“It is one from the twelve in hem,
The one dipping into the dish
With me as if to find a fish.
21 “The son of man goes true as it
Has been concerning him in writ,
But woe to that man through whom stayed
The son of man to be betrayed!
It would be better for him if
He never had been born a stiff.”
22 As they were eating, Jesus took
A loaf and blessed it, broke and look
He gave it to them, and he said
“Take, eat, this is my body spread.”
23 He took the cup and gave thanks too
And gave to each of them the brew,
And they all drank some of it too.
24 And he said to them, “Here’s my blood
Of the new covenant in flood
Poured out for many in the mud.
25 “Indeed I tell you, nevermore
May I drink of the vine in store
Until the day I drink it new
In God’s kingdom set down with you.”
26 They sang a hymn and they went out
To the mount of Olives with shout.

It says a hymn, but that hymn was not made
By Fanny Crosby in Christian charade.
It was the great Hallel set down in Psalms.
So this is no excuse for Christian qualms
In singing from the sacred book alone.
But many love the sensuous in tone,
The wail of heathen worship on the hill,
Gyration of sex rhythms to the fill.
They sang a Psalm, no hymn created by
A monk or priest or presbyter in sly.
Beloved, I sing my Psalm each day and find
That I am drawn to Your heart from the blind
To waste no breath in blasphemies unkind.
You know what’s needed to free and to bind.

27 Jesus told them, “All of you’ll be
Offended now tonight in me,
Because it has been written 'I
Will strike the shepherd, and the sheep
Will be scattered out of the heap.'

When Zechariah wrote those words I know
He did not have the faintest hope or show
That centuries would pass till long ago
A sect of Jews would take each word and slow
And pattern the details of life to know
According to the choice of words that glow
In the Tanach. Beloved, it’s a conceit,
But lovely in its way, and truly meet.
Let me find the days of my life in choice
Enacted by my hearing of Your voice.
Let me like Jesus and his friends make known
In act and deed the things prophets have shown.
And I shall live in peace beneath the grove
Of pine and birch to feed my winter stove.

28 “After my resurrection, I’ll
Prevent you to Galilee’s smile.”
29 But Peter said to him, “If all
Stumble, yet I will never fall.”
30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly
I say to you now tonight see
Before a cock crows twice you will
Deny me three times to your fill.”
31 But he said more vehemently,
“If I must die with you, I’ll not
Deny you ever in the plot.”
And all the rest agreed, the lot.
32 They came to a place that was called
Gethsemane by shorn and bald.
He said to his disciples there,
“Sit here while I engage in prayer.”
33 He took along Peter and James
And John with him to see the games.
And he was sore distressed indeed.
34 He said to them, “My soul in need
Is deeply grieved, as unto death.
Stay here and watch and take a breath.”
35 He went a little way on then
And fell upon the ground again
And prayed if it could be this hour
Might pass from him, bitter and sour.
36 And he said “Abba, Father, all
Things are possible from Your stall,
Take this cup from me, yet not what
I want but what You want to shut.”

When there’s a choice or seems to be a choice,
The soul draws back from death and to rejoice.
For man’s redemption it is said he came
As far as where the lost were in the flame
To give a helping hand. But at the brook
He cast a fearing glance and backward look.
What all men have to taste of death and rue
He found nearly too heavy for his stew.
Beloved, You live on high, You do not know
The trial of the human way I go.
But if You take a look at Jesus’ show,
You’ll see what all men face in death’s red glow.
More courage than the angels’ of Your power
Is found in human heart, in human flower.

37 He came and found them fast asleep,
And asked Peter, “Simon asleep,
Could you not watch an hour and keep?
38 “But watch and pray, so that you may
Not enter in temptation’s way.
The spirit’s willing, but the flesh
Is weak before temptations fresh.”
39 He went away again and prayed,
Saying the same things as waylaid.
40 He then came back and found again
A little group of sleepy men.
And they had no answer in den.
41 And He came a third time, and said
To them, “Sleep on now, in rest led.
It is enough. The hour has come.
See, son of man’s betrayed by bum
Into the power of sinners’ drum.
42 “Get up and go. See, the one who
Betrays me has come near with crew.”
43 And straight away as he yet spoke,
Judas comes up, being a bloke
Of the twelve. And with him a great
Multitude came with swords and hate
From the chief priests, and scribes, and old.
44 And the betrayer was so bold
To give a sign, saying “The one
I kiss is he, take him and lead
Him off in safety and in speed.”
45 He came and straight away drew near
And said “Rabbi, Rabbi my dear”
And kissed him in greeting with tear.

Kiss of betrayal is no rarity.
It’s more common today in every tree
Than in days when it was less mockery
To place a blade in back literally.
I’ve been kissed by the members of each church
I’ve entered to leave me out in the lurch.
Kiss me, Beloved, betraying to Your way
And so take me from out of foreign pay.
The solitary road of Your command
Is sweet to me, though dark before the band
Of Roman cohort here to rule the land.
Beloved, I touch the night dews and return
To my own fire and hearth to see them burn
In peace with sacrifice of life and urn.

46 And they laid their hands on Him and
They seized him working by command.
47 But one of those who still stood by
Took out his sword and was not shy
To strike the high priest’s servant’s ear
And cut the thing off clean and sheer.
48 And in response Jesus told them,
“Have you come out with sword and hem
To take me like a robber gem?
49 “I was with you daily to teach
In the temple, but you’d not reach
Me there. But it is what was writ
That is fulfilled and so made fit.”
50 And leaving Him, all fled to wit.
51 One certain young man followed him
With a linen cloth thrown as trim
Around his naked body grim.
Then the young men grabbed him in wrath.
52 But he forsook the linen cloth
And fled nude from them life and limb.

Mark makes a habit of appearing nude.
For him I guess it is not something rude.
For most who read his book, the tried and prude,
It is a thing he never ought to doed.
I too am naked as I come by night
And day in secret to imbibe the light
Of truth from Your sent one hidden from sight.
Like Adam and like Eve before the fall,
Mark and I come unashamed to the ball.
The secret teaching set out for the few,
The ones who leave all masks and things to do,
The vulnerable in their hermitage,
Is never lost but goes on age to age.
It’s still found shining on Mount Sinai’s page.

53 And they led Jesus away to
The high priest. All the chief priests’ crew
And elders and scribes came there too.
54 And Peter followed him afar,
Into the inner court of star
High priest. And he was sitting there
With the under officers’ share,
Warming himself by light and fire.
55 And the chief priests and the whole lot
Of the Sanhedrin witness sought
Against Jesus, to sentence death.
And they found just a waste of breath.
56 For many falsely testified
Against Him, but the witness pried
Was not consistent on that side.
57 And standing up, some testified
Falsely against Him, saying 58 “We
Heard him saying, 'I’ll throw this wee
Temple down that is made with hands,
And in three days I’ll build on sands
Another one not made with hands.'”
59 But their witness was also not
Consistent with each other’s plot.

Each witness that men make against Your law,
Beloved, is made with hand honed to a claw.
The reason and the understanding wake
Only when Your obedience sets the stake.
One must obey first to have decent sense.
The contemplation of Your law for pence
Of how to circumvent the duty draws
Only the bloodstains on undutied claws.
Beloved, give me three days or not to show
The soul within the testament in glow,
The glory of Adam and Vatos till
The weeks pass on beneath the clouded hill.
I climb my Sinais ever and anon
And meet the hope in desperation’s dawn.

60 The high priest stood in midst of them
And questioned Jesus, spoke in hem,
“Do you not answer? Nothing said?
What all these witnesses have spread?”
61 But He was silent and replied
Not a word at all on his side.
Again the high priest questioned him,
And asked him, “Are you the Christ’s whim,
The son of the Blessèd and grim?”
62 And Jesus said, “I am. And you
Will see the son of man in view
Seated by the right hand of power
And coming in the clouds an hour.”
63 The high priest ripped his robe and said,
“Why do we still need witness spread?
64 “You heard the blasphemy. Now what
Does it seem to you in the gut?”
And they then judged him guilty, but
Guilty even to death to cut.
65 And some began to spit at him,
And cover his face, and as grim
To beat him with a fist and say
“Now prophesy!” and those in sway
Struck him and slapped him in their way.

According to what Mark heard of that night
And what he saw before the coming light,
The sent one caught by the police and hand
Of church said nothing to that wicked band.
It is a true thing, no one should reply
To questions asked by governmently guy,
For he is there merely to give the call
Of their protection to those who appal.
Beloved, Your sent one reached the height of fame
And wisdom in that he said nary claim,
In silence listened to the clamour’s shame,
And let the theologians play their game.
After the ranting of the unbrave I
Expect they always turn a punch and die.

66 And Peter being in the court
Below, one of the high priest's short
Maids came along for fun and sport.
67 And seeing Peter warming there,
Looked at him and she told her share,
“You were with Jesus Nazarene.”
68 But he denied, and said on scene,
“I do not know nor understand
What you are saying out of hand.”
And he went out to the forecourt.
And a cock crowed to see the sport.
69And seeing him again, the maid
Began to tell those on parade,
“This man is one of them who stayed.”
70 But he denied it once again.
And after a while those in pen
Said to Peter, “The thing is true,
You are of them, you’re of the crew
Of Galilee in speech and dress.”
71 But he began to curse a mess,
“I don’t know this man in duress.”
72 A second time a cock crowed and
Peter remembered Jesus’ stand
To him, “Before a cock crows twice,
You will have denied me here thrice.”
To think of it he wept as banned.

Peter might never have known the deep dark
Of his own heart but for the flash and spark
Of a maid in employ come to the park.
The humble often turn the page and stare
Upon the awful things once written there,
The secrets unknown to one’s own heart where
The din of worship fails to lay them bare.
Peter might never have known his dark night
Of soul without the rude and bawdy slight
Of one snapping her bubblegum in play,
Her insolence not fit for light of day.
Beloved, so many people come to be
In Your employ and measure out the fee
Before the dawning of eternity.

MARK 15

1 Straightway on the morrow the chief
Priests with elders and scribes’ relief
And all the Sanhedrin together
Bound Jesus and led him off whether
To hand him over to Pilate.
2 And Pilate questioned him in state,
“Are you the king of the Jews, mate?”
And answering, he said to him,
“That’s what you say, be truth or dim.”
3 The chief priests brought strong accusations
Against him for many things’ rations.
But he did not answer in trim.
4 But Pilate questioned him and said
“Do you not answer them instead?
See how many things they bear witness
Against you, is it not a fitness?”
5 But Jesus answered not at all,
So Pilate marvelled at the call.
6 And at a feast, he oft released
To them one prisoner increased,
Whomever they asked for as fleeced.
7 And there was one called Barabbas,
Taken up with the rebels’ class,
Who in the insurrection had
Killed a man, a thing which was bad.

Just watch what the best of men and most just
In Roman employ will do in the dust.
He has the choice to release one he finds
Without fault or another to their minds
Who has committed murder on the way.
There is no question who will hit the hay.
In every time and place You can be sure
That where the government hands in a cure
They’ll praise the murderers and set the dogs
Upon the innocent who clog the cogs.
It takes a special sort of man to be
Just before the fell opportunity
To set the power of self and state above
You and Your laws, Your justice and Your love.

8 And crying aloud, the crowd started
To ask him to do as imparted
Always before. 9 But Pilate said
To them in answer of their spread,
“Do you want me to give you back
The king of the Jews without slack?”
10 For he knew that the chief priests had
Delivered him through envy sad.
11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd,
That rather he should set allowed
Barabbas to them as endowed.
12 But answering again, Pilate said
To them, “What do you want instead
That I should do to him whom you
Call sovereign monarch of the Jew?”
13 Again they cried out suddenly,
“Crucify Him and by decree!”
14 But Pilate said to them, “For what
Evil did He do?” But they strut
And cry the more, “Crucify him!”
15 Then Pilate decided as dim
To do the easy thing and trim
For the crowd. So he had him beaten,
Delivered up Jesus to sweeten
The torture stake or cross as meeten.

The ruler ages past was one who knew
The culture and the literature of few,
And was fastidious in his design.
Such kings today are rare, and so we pine.
It’s priests who egg the masses to revolt
Against Your word and law and act the dolt.
The crowd is after drink and tart and pussy,
Not caring much for blood and gore and mussy.
Beloved, if You would just remove the priests,
The populace would get on with their feasts
And only take occasional relief
In murder or in stealing to their grief.
The crowd clamours for what the newsmen say,
Those priests and priestesses of modern day.

16 And the soldiers led him away
Inside the court, praetorium’s sway,
And called the whole cohort to bray.
17 And they put purple on him, and
They plaited and placed a crown band
Of thorns on him. 18 And they began
To greet him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”
19 And they struck his head with a span,
And spat at him. And on knees’ ruse
They bowed to him each one to choose.
20 And when they’d mocked him, they took off
The purple and put what he’d doff
Of his own clothing, led him out
To crucify him with a shout.

When Pilate gave the man over to be
Crucified, he let soldiers in their glee
Do what they will. It’s no excuse to see
We must follow our orders in the spree.
The soldiers could have comforted him and
Given him the best in a troubled land,
A ride out to the execution hill,
A last meal and a comfort for the bill.
But no, their orders were at last to kill,
And so they showed their relish with a will.
Beloved, the common soldier in the track
Is just as guilty as commander’s flack,
And so deserve Your judgement for the slack.
There are so many common soldiers still.

21 And they forced one there passing by,
Simon, a Cyrenian, come nigh
From a field, Alexander’s dad
And Rufus’s, to carry clad
The cross. 22 And they brought him out to
Golgotha, which translated to
Place of a Skull based on its view.
23 And they gave Him wine spiced with myrrh
To drink. But he’d not drink the stir.
24 They crucified him and divided
His clothing, casting lots provided
For whom and what each one should take.
25 And it was the third hour at stake
They crucified him as decided.
26 And the inscription of His charge
Was written over Him quite large,
THE KING OF THE JEWS the words chided.
27 They crucified two robbers too,
One on the right and one in view
Upon the left hand of him too.
28 The Scripture was fulfilled which says,
"He was counted with lawless strays.”

They say the odds the prophecies by sleight
Of chance fulfilling in the dark of night
Are so slim that they could not meet the past.
Abuse of such statistics is a blast.
What happens is not chance in any case,
But the reality of trebled bass,
And chance that it were different is the more
Than calculations of the sandy shore.
But that one thrust onto the torture stake
Would meet there others in same sort of make
Is no chance nor fulfilment in the least.
There’s always food and drink at every feast.
So he was counted with wicked increased,
And left to drink the bitter, eat the cake.

29 And those passing by blasphemed him,
Shaking their heads, and saying grim,
“Aha! You tear the temple down
And build it in three days’ renown.
30 “So save Yourself then and come down
From the cross, do not fear a frown.”
31 And also the chief priests and scribes
Mocking each with their diatribes
Also said “He saved other men,
He cannot save himself again.
32 “The Christ, the king of Israel?
Let him now come down from the fell
Cross, that we may see and believe.”
And the two crucified on sleeve
With him defamed him too to grieve.
33 It happened the sixth hour that dark
Came over all the land and park
Until the ninth hour, it was stark.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried
With a loud voice, saying beside,
“Eloi, Eloi, lama” he cried
“Sabachthani?” (Which translated
Is “My God, my God, why now did
You forsake me?”) 35 And hearing, some
Of those standing by said as dumb,
“See, he calls on Elijah’s bum.”

After the centuries of Christian state
With Psalter sung by every nun and mate,
You’d think a Jew in the first century
Would recognize the Psalms in treasury
Even in Aramaic targum’s trace,
If not the Hebrew of David’s own race.
That only shows that Jesus and his men
Were house of David people in their glen,
And not the run of fill of Jewish class
That stuck to the Siddur or that day’s brass.
I follow Jesus on the cross or in
His flight from the establishment of din,
And stay reciting ever and anon
The Psalter at the evening and the dawn.

36 One ran up with a sponge in treat
Filled with vinegar on the seat
Of a reed to give him to drink.
But they said “Leave the man alone.
Let’s see if Elijah from throne
Comes to take him down with a groan.”
37 And letting out a horrid cry,
Jesus then at last came to die.
38 And the veil of the Holy Place
Was torn in two from the top brace
To bottom. 39 And standing nearby
And seeing when he came to die
How he gave up that awful cry,
The centurion said “Truly,
This Man was God’s own son to be.”

The cry is what convinced centurion.
Not silence before accusation done,
Not patience under threat and lash to stun,
Not groaning at the thrust of nail and stake,
But the loud cry he made last for Your sake.
I ponder what that could mean in the way
Of soldiers so accustomed to the bray
Of dying men. What did he hear so new
And different from the run and rill as true?
Beloved, I cannot know. I was not there.
I have no death cries round me for compare.
I trust it was not sound of pain, despair
Or even victory against the air.
What was the testimony of the fair?

40 The women also watching from
A distance, among whom in sum
Was also Mary Magdalene,
Also Mary mother of James
The less, and of Joses in claims,
And Salome before the scene,
41 Who also followed him and served
Him when he was in Galilee,
And many women who’d not swerved
From coming to Jerusalem.

So many women in the course of things
Suggest one of two prospects in the wings.
Either the man was free meat for the stings
Of marriage and these flies in their buzzings
Where hopeful of the marriage cup or then
The man was married to bevies in pen.
Jesus decries the Jewish law in fact,
But would outright polygamy attract?
Perhaps it was a case of Shi’ite lore,
The temporary marriage at the door.
Beloved, he was tempted here like all men,
So whether or not these women again
Were wives or concubines, one thing I know,
They were a great temptation in a row.

42 It became evening already,
Since it was preparation’s hem,
The day before the Sabbath gem,
43 Joseph of Arimathea
Came, an honourable councillor,
Who himself also waited for
The kingdom of God. And he took
Courage, and he went in to brook
With Pilate and begged to receive
The body of Jesus to grieve.
44 And Pilate marvelled if he had
Already died. And so the cad
Summoned the centurion and
Asked him if he’d already panned.
45 When the centurion told him,
He granted Joseph the bod grim.
46 And having bought a linen shroud,
And taken him down as allowed,
He wrapped him in the linen, and
Laid him in a tomb by command
Cut out of rock. He rolled a stone
Against the mouth of the tomb sown.
47 And Mary Magdalene, and Mary
Of Joses, saw where they would carry
Him and lay him in the tomb chary.

The act of Joseph is an act not proud,
And one that inspires men to think aloud,
And wonder what became of him at last,
The faithful councillor taught by the past.
If he went on to Britain as is said,
He took the memory with him of that bed.
If he lived to doubt not or hope a shred,
It is a thing to wonder where he’s led.
Beloved, I’m no disciple of the twelve,
I’m no scholar of Scripture’s dig and delve,
I’m not a councillor among the great,
But I do bring Your sent one in his state
To bury him within my heart not late
To praise him for his part in my own fate.

MARK 16

1 The Sabbath past, Mary the Mag-
Dalene who was no man in drag,
And Mary mother of James and
Salome, bought spices in hand,
And coming to anoint his stand.
2 And very early on the first
Day of the week, the sun had burst,
When they came to the tomb uncursed.

This verse of love and life and song,
This phrase of light before the wrong,
Is taken by the hard of heart
To argue for the Sabbath’s part.
The words may seem strange in the Greek,
And how they express day and week,
But is the kernel not, Beloved,
Rather bare-handed and ungloved,
That the tomb was found empty then,
A wonder and grace to all men?
Beloved, I tread the path I find
Of Scripture daring to the blind
And live to thank you for the sound
That Your sent one did tread the ground.

3 And they said to themselves, “Who will
Roll the stone away from the sill
Of tomb for us, we’ve got no drill.”
4 And when they looked, they saw the stone
Had been rolled back, for it was grown
Too large to dislodge with a bone.
5 And having entered in the tomb,
They saw a young man in the gloom
Sitting on the right, being dressed
In a white robe. And they confessed
Amazement at the turn of doom.
6 But he said to them, “Do not be
Amazed. You seek Jesus freely
The Nazarene, one crucified.
He was raised. He’s not here beside.
See the place where they made him bide?
7 “But go tell the disciples wide
And Peter that he goes before
You into Galilean shore.
And you will find him there indeed,
Just as he told you in his speed.”
8 They quickly fled the tomb to fall
Into trembling ecstasy’s thrall.
And they told no one, because they
Were held in trepidation’s sway.

The failure to tell made no difference then.
No one believed the word of greater men
And women. So the angel’s message lay
Dormant before the women turned away.
I fail to give the word that he arose,
And there’s no difference for my lack that grows.
Each Easter morning and all through the year
The Orthodox, both men and children’s cheer
As well as women, raise the praise in voice,
The Lord’s arisen is their theme of choice.
Indeed, he’s risen is the answer that
Returns the joy. I remain on my mat
In doubt or faith, in joy of solitude,
Sometimes polite and silent, sometimes rude.

9 And having risen early on
The first day toward the Sabbath drawn,
He first appeared to Mary the
Magdalene, and from whom once he
Had cast out seven demons wee.
10 She went and told it to his friends
Mourning and weeping without ends.
11 They heard that he was then alive,
And had been seen by her to gyve,
They did not believe to deprive.
12 And after these things, He appeared
In different ways to two who feared
Not to go walking in the land.
13 Those ones left to report the thing
To the rest, but they in their fling
Still did not believe anything.
14 Afterward, as they lay to eat,
He appeared to eleven’s seat,
Reproached their unbelief and more
The hardness of their heart before,
Since they did not believe the word
Of those who had seen him and heard,
Since he was raised up like a bird.
15 He said to them, “Go out into
All the world preaching gospel true
To all creation in their due.

I’ve preached the Gospel word to many men
And women decked out before me in den,
And found that they more often could not set
Their unbelief aside when we both met.
I’ve preached the Gospel word in many lands,
In many languages upon the sands
Of every continent across the globe,
Without success and reason left to probe.
I’ve preached the Gospel to the birds alone,
To little creatures sitting on a stone,
And whether they believed or not, I saw
Them run away with scratch of beak and claw.
Beloved, if You gave me the task to preach,
You also put all creatures out of reach.

16 “The one who believes and is dunked
In water will be saved when plunked.
And the one who does not believe
Will not be saved, without reprieve.
17 “And signs miraculous will follow
After believers in this wallow.
They’ll cast out demon in my name,
And speak new languages for fame;
18 They will handle serpents safe and
If they drink any poison band,
It will not hurt them where they stand;
They’ll lay hands on the sick and they
Will be well when they fast and pray.”
19 Indeed, after he spoke to them,
The Lord was taken from their hem
Up into heaven to sit upon
The right hand of Ælohim drawn.
20 And they went out and preached around
And the Lord worked through them in sound
Where signs miraculous abound. Amen.

Although I do covet the gift to heal
The sufferings that around me still appeal,
I do not wish on myself such a gift
As when I see a serpent for a lift
To grab it by the tail as Moses did,
Or drink the poison bottle without lid.
I’m glad I did not live in that far day
Among that group of his disciples’ sway
Who had to perform such things in their way.
Beloved, I’m well content here in my nest
Of sour grapes when I proclaim I am blessed,
Awaiting the return of Jesus best
Beneath the sunset on the lake to west.

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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