GOSPEL OF LUKE CHAPTER 6 - 9

LUKE 6

1 It happened on the second great
Sabbath, he passed along with mate
Through the sown field to demonstrate.
And his disciples plucked the ears
And ate them as it then appears
By rubbing in their hands the ears.

Who knows what the great Sabbaths of the year
Might have been among festivals and gear?
Some think the seven Sabbaths that came late
After the Passover are indicate.
Some think three Sabbath in the year once past
The higher holidays are those to last.
If so, this was one after Pentecost
When the disciples worked to eat and lost
The favour of the folk that had been tossed
Under the duty to provide a meal
For visitors upon the Sabbath heal.
Beloved, the prohibition on the fast
Might have justified reaping grain to steal,
While the inhospitable rant and reel.

2 “Some Pharisees said to them, “Why
Do you commit unlawful spy
To be done on the Sabbath days?”
3 And Jesus answered them and said
“How is it you have never read
What David did when hungry, and
Those who were with him in his band?
4 “He went into the house of God,
And took the shewbread in the pod,
And ate it and gave those to eat
Who were with him some of the treat,
Which is unlawful that we taste
Unless we're priests and do not waste.”
5 And he said to them when he scored,
“Son of man's also Sabbath's lord.”

I'm glad to hear that Jesus is the lord
Of Sabbath and not Sunday unrestored.
I would not want to follow in disgrace
The footsteps of a Mithra sort trace.
I'm glad that Jesus follows David's lead
As though born of the one anointed's seed,
In line of those upon whom promise lies
Until eternity reaches the skies.
Beloved, I come upon the Sabbath day
Into the temple that still bears the sway,
The praises of Israel where You dwell,
The Psalms of David instead of the bell
Of pagan faith. I find the bread still there
As on the day that David ate his share.

6 It happened on another day
Of Sabbath, he went on his way
Into the synagogue to teach.
A man was there who could not reach
With his right hand withered away.
7 And the scribes and the Pharisees
Kept close to him if by degrees
He might heal on the Sabbath day,
So that they too might find a way
To bring a charge against his sway.
8 But he knew all about their thoughts,
And said to the man with the rots
Upon his hand, “Get up and stand.”
And he stood right up in the band.
9 The Jesus said to them, “I will
Ask you one thing, can you fulfil
The law by doing good or ill
Upon the Sabbath day, to save
Life or to send it to the grave?”
10 He looked around at them and said
To the man, “Stretch your hand outspread!”
And so he did. And so his hand
Was healed just like his other hand.
11 But they were filled with wrath and spoke
Together how to lay a stroke
On Jesus before he awoke.

The Sabbath You established, my Beloved,
To give pause to the ones who work ungloved.
You made it a sign and a tool concrete
To dispel the powers of the indiscreet.
But see how quickly men can take Your grace
And turn it to destruction of the race.
Luke fails to mind that Jesus spoke in wrath
To scribes and Pharisees blocking his path.
Refusal to admit reason made him
Flair up in temper fit for trim and dim.
Beloved, I too am angry here to find
That those I speak to choose now to be blind.
The choice is every man's and woman's too.
It matters, my Beloved, what people do.

12 It happened in those times that he
Went out into the hills a wee
To pray, and he spent the night there
With God alone and sought in prayer.

Beloved, I sleep at night. Those nights that I
Lie wakeful, I do come with prayerful sigh
To whisper in the dark the Psalms. I try
To mind the Hebrew words and then if not
I stake the French or English in my plot.
Poor Huguenot! The centuries resound
With life outside that fertile birthing ground,
And yet a man or two like me is bound
To say the night prayers in Genevan round.
Beloved, I join Your sent one on the hill
For just a moment of prayer to fulfil
Before I turn from trundra out of sight
Behind my firs and pines toward morning light,
Within the quiet darkness of the night.

13 When day came he summoned his friends,
Choosing out twelve to make amends,
Whom he also appointed to
Be his own sent out ones in crew.
14 Simon, whom he also named Peter;
And his brother Andrew, no cheater,
James and John, Philip all in crew
Not last or least Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son
Of Alpheus, Simon the one
Called Zealot, 16 Judas James's brother,
And Judas Iscariot another
Who also was a traitor won.

The only twelve in Scripture that contains
A traitor by the story that remains
Is that group of apostles that the Christ
Sent out to cure the world of diced and sliced.
All others are a righteous brood and met
In kindness or at least in goodly set.
But now a few cast doubt on all the rue
That Judas made for generations' view.
Beloved, I count the many twelves and find
Them all illuminating the consigned
Commandments from Mount Sinai in the wake
Of the transmission of their beauty's lake.
I see them whirling with the forty's band
Invisibly in blessing on the land.

17 He came down with them and he stood
On a plain, and a crowd of would-
Be disciples and others there
From all Judaea and the fair
Jerusalem, coast country bare
Of Tyre and Sidon. These came to
Hear him and then to be cured too
From their diseases, 18 also those
Who were troubled by demons' woes.
And they were healed from all their throes.
19 And all the crowd tried to touch him,
Because power went out of him trim
And healed everybody who chose.

The sermon on the mount of Matthew comes
Here as the sermon on the plain for sums.
From Tyre and Sidon people come to claim
The healing of Your sent one for his fame.
Disease and demons flee before Your name.
I too reach out to touch the seamless dress
And only find before me dreamless guess
Unless You enter in the humble word
Of bird and beastie on my mountain stirred.
Beloved, I turn from Sabbath light to dim
Sweet comforts of the night filled to the brim
With sounds of Psalm and with the multitude
Of hopes before Your throne set on the brood
Of churrigueresque firs to make my mood.

20 He raised his eyes up to his friends
And said: Blessed are the poor at ends,
For God's kingdom is yours to pose.
21 Blessed are those who are hungry now,
For you will be filled up somehow.
Blessed are those who weep now, for you
Will laugh to see another view.
22 Blessed are you when men shall hate you,
And when they put you out with rue
Reproaching, and cast out your name
As evil, for the sake and blame
Of son of man, 23 rejoice that day
And leap for joy, for see the pay
Is much in heaven! For their ancestors
Did so to the prophets and questers.

Not poor in spirit but the very poor,
Not hungering for righteousness but sure
The very starving without hope to find
The bread among the better drunk and dined,
Are blessed by Lucan quotation refined
Of what Your sent one spoke beyond the cure.
I hardly live to hunger in the way
I meet my meals in line day after day,
And poverty may seem to be my pay,
But wealth beyond my need is mine to stay.
If I am not pleased with the lacks of men,
At least I can rejoice I'm shunned again
By bishop and by king set up to call
The glories of the marketplace and stall.

24 But woe to you, rich men, for you
Have your comfort now in your due!
25 Woe to you who are filled, for you
Will hunger! Woe to you who laugh
Now, for you will mourn for your gaff.
26 Woe to you when all men speak well
Of you, their ancestors cast spell
On false prophets in Israel.

I think that Matthew hid a word or two
Because he could not bear to curse the crew
Of folk before him in the neighbour pew.
If blessings blow, then blow also the woes,
Despite James doubting that they both in rows
Might come from the same lips if not from toes.
The Deuteronomic in blessing finds
The counterpart and point between the blinds,
The light and shadow of both day and night
Require the ebb and flow of love and spite.
Beloved, I take the blessings and the weight
Of woes upon my thinning, near-bald pate
And with the word increase the wondered state
Of dwelling in Your temple soon and late.

27 But I say to you, those who hear,
Love the hostile and those who steer
Their hate on you, 28 Bless those who curse
You and pray for those who do worse.
29 To those who strike you on the cheek,
Turn the other too, don't be weak.
And from those who take your coat off,
Do not keep back your shirt to doff.
30 To everyone who asks, then give.
Don't ask for return from the sieve
From those who borrow, but let live.

Truth is, Beloved, I have no enemies
Despite my plaints sent out upon the breeze.
The wicked pass me by and hardly note
That I stay here reciting Psalms by rote
Until the morning light turns toward the night,
And light upon the cobblestones of might
Turns toward the dances and the songs of spite.
Truth is, Beloved, no man requires my coat,
And no one strikes my cheek however slight.
If one or two have cursed, my prayer remains
To follow them beyond their spending pains.
There's hardly anyone who asks of me
A mite to pile upon the beggar's fee.
Of life and death, Beloved, I'm almost free.

31 What you want men to do to you,
Do the same to the others too.

The golden rule is clad for every fool,
And set out in delight beside the pool
Of alabaster. All around the streams
The alcoves bring their shades filled up with dreams.
The golden rule, what I may want of men
Let me bestow upon them all again,
Peeks from the armpit of all faiths to find
The world of men already knows the kind.
Beloved, Your sent one seems richly inclined
To wisdom and propensities refined,
But his originality in show
Is little more than Jewish mama's glow,
Without which he would be no more in row
Than any goy philosopher in tow.

32 And if you love those who love you,
What thanks is there to come to you?
For even sinners love those who
Love them. 33 And if you only do
Good to those who do good to you,
What thanks is there to you? For so
Even the sinners do for show.
34 And if you lend to those from whom
You hope to get profit and room,
What thanks is there for you to get?
For sinners also lend to those
Who sin to get profit they chose.
35 But love the ones hostile to you,
And do good and lend without view
Of gain, and your reward will be
Great, and you'll be sons of degree
Of the Most High, for He is kind
To unthankful and bad resigned.

If lending without hope of some return
Is hall mark of Your sons and what they earn,
Then few on earth would covet state and name
Of being Your own son, even for fame.
I do not say I am of that crass lot,
Although I understand the act and plot.
Fact is I too am just a sinner here
Before the Decalogue I fail to fear.
Beloved, if You insist on taking me
To be Your child now or eternally,
I submit to the notion with will free,
But let you know that as I live today
I still feel the sting of reward and pay,
And know the difference that comes to play.

36 Therefore, be merciful, just like
Your Father's a merciful tyke.

Good Luke would have me merciful instead
Of perfect as fair Matthew's table spread
Indicts upon my willing and bowed head.
If choice is between perfect and the grace
Of mercy, I know enough of my place
That my perfection is clearer to trace.
The challenge of perfection is addition
Where mercy requires multiplied condition.
All men know in their heart of hearts that they
Are perfect in their words and work and play.
But none of us is willing to requite
With mercy instead of justice and spite.
Luke is too hard, Beloved, let me return
To Matthew, simple in the things to earn.

37 Do not judge others and don't let
Others judge you. And do not set
Your condemnation on the crowd,
Nor let them condemn you unbowed.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and good measure will be given
To you, packed down, shaken and driven
And spilling over on your breast.
For the same measure that you wrest
Will be measured back in your vest.

The fact is every man is here to judge
And be judged by his neighbour come to fudge.
There's no avoiding one or other here,
And Jesus should have known that without tear.
I cannot help or not how I am judged,
But I can decide never to be budged
From judging others only by Your law,
And never by the rule of heal and claw.
It matters not what colour skin or eye,
Or how one dresses under a clear sky.
It matters rather that one does not steal,
Nor kill nor commit uncleanness in keel.
I judge the other with the least I can
And turn a deaf ear to the judgement’s ban.

39 He spoke a parable to them:
A blind one cannot take the hem
Of a blind one by stratagem
And guide him. Will they not both fall
Into the ditch instead of stall?
40 The student is not better than
His teacher, but then every man
Who's been perfected will in plan
Be like his master come to scan.
41 But why do you dwell on the speck
That your brother's eye may reflect,
But do not notice the great beam
That spoils your own eye, it would seem?
42 Or how can you make your remarks
To your brother, “Brother, let sparks
From me take the speck from your eye,”
Not seeing the beam in your eye?
O hypocrite! First take the beam
Out of your eye, and then you'll seem
To see clearly to take the speck
Out of your brother's eye select.

This slapstick humour does not make me smile.
The contrast of the speck and beam for guile
Is too gross for my sensitivity.
I prefer humour of slighter degree.
But to each prophet his own sorcery.
I'd just point out that no one acts like that.
No one has a beam in his eye out flat.
And if there is a speck, no one stands by
Forgetful of the pain to wonder why,
But takes it out himself or finds a friend
With steady hand and magic wand to wend.
Beloved, the art of parables is cheap,
But often far too difficult to keep
The interest bound with lessons not to weep.

43 There's no good tree that bears bad fruit,
Nor a bad tree with good fruit's suit.
44 Each tree is known by its own fruit.
They do not harvest figs from thorns,
Nor do they harvest grapes in bournes
Of brambles. 45 The good man will bear
Good things out of his own heart's share.
The evil man will bring out such
Evil things from evil heart's touch.
For his mouth speaks from the great share
Of what his own heart has to bear.
46 Why call me sir, sir, and yet not
Do everything that I have taught?
47 Everyone who comes to me and
Hears my words and does my command,
I'll show you what he's like to stand.
48 He's like a man who builds a house,
Digging a deep foundation's dowse
Upon the rock. When the flood lies,
The rush against that house in guise
Cannot make it tremble for it
Has been founded on the rock fit.
49 But the one who hears but does not
Do is like a man who has wrought
A house on earth without foundation,
And when comes the flood's inundation,
It falls straight off, and such a fall
Is great indeed, like to appal.

Jesus does not require the fair belief
In crucifixes carved beyond relief,
In god-men resurrected from the grave
Of gardens made fertile by wench and brave
In sacramental clench for what they gave.
No, Jesus just requires the same that You
Yourself required when You came into view
On Sinai and stood a moment or two
And left the message of what men should do.
Many call You Lord among goy and Jew,
But of that number there are very few
Who stand to obey what You said that day,
From worshiping You only in Your sway
To keeping Sabbath when it comes to bay.

LUKE 7

1 When he finished what he was saying
In the hearing of the folk staying,
He set out for Capernaum,
The home of both good men and bum.
2 A certain centurion's slave,
One dear, was sick unto the grave.
3 He heard about Jesus to save,
And sent Jewish elders to brave
Him and ask him to come and heal
His servant and put back in weal.
4 They came to Jesus earnestly
Asking him saying “He's worthy
Of this favour just 5 because he
Loves our nation and he has built
A synagogue for us from silt.
6 So Jesus went with them. But when
He was not far away again
From his house, the centurion
Sent friends to him to tell him drawn,
“Sir, do not trouble yourself now,
For I'm not worthy that your brow
Come under my roof anyhow.
7 “That's why I did not deign to come
To you myself. But say in sum
The word and my slave will be rum.
8 “For I'm a man also of power,
With soldier under me to scour,
And I tell one to go, and he
Goes. And to another to come,
And he comes. To my slave in sum,
'Do this!' And he does faithfully.”
9 When Jesus heard these words, then he
Was amazed, and turned to the crowd
Behind him, he told them aloud,
“I tell you that I have not found
Such faith in all of Israel's ground.”
10 The messengers when they returned
To the house with what they had learned
Found the slave well for what he earned.

The army teaches all men to obey,
And that is seen in what he came to say
When the centurion admired the way
Of Jesus and his power to offer sway.
Yet Jesus call the army discipline
The greatest sort of faith that came to win
In all of Israel alive that day.
My Quaker ancestry is like to think
The attitude of Your sent one doth stink.
Although Penn wore the sword as long as he
Could do so in good conscience and degree,
No one called army discipline the best
Of faith. That waits for colours of a vest
Dominionist, pariah of the West.

11 It happened on the next day he
When into another city
Called Nain. And many of his folk
Went with him, and a crowd for broke.
12 As he came near the city gate,
See one just dead was coming late
Carried upon a bier, the son
Of a mother who had just one,
And she was a widow undone.
A large crowd came with her unspun.
13 When the lord saw her overcome
With pity and told her in sum
To stop her weeping. 14 When he'd come
Up near it, he touched the bier and
The bearers bearing came to stand.
And he said “Young man, I tell you
To get up and look on the view.”
15 The dead one sat up and began
To speak. And he gave him by plan
To his mum. 16 And fear came on all
And they praised God, saying in thrall,
“A great prophet has come to call
Among us and God has returned
To His folk to see what they've learned.”
17 This thing about him went abroad
In all Judaea for a prod.

For all the blame that's been placed on the run
Of mill in Israel when the day was done
That Jesus walked the earth, they had more sense
Than Christians following in pagan tents.
When Jesus raised the dead, they did not cry
Like heathen shouting to Paul on the sly
That he is god himself. No they came clean
And shouted that a great prophet is seen.
Beloved, the futile and unfaithful roar
Of church and vestal virgin at the door
To say that Jesus is one God the Son
Still reigns and pains the world and not for fun.
They still think all's repaired by killing one
Or two in Middle East under the sun.

18 And John's disciples came to tell
Him what happened in Israel.
19 And John summoned two of his own
Disciples and sent out alone
To Jesus saying “Are you he
Whom we await, or should we see
Another to come by decree?”
20 And the men came to him and said
“John the Baptist sent us outspread
To you to ask you if you are
The coming one or should a star
Be still expected coming far?”
21 Right then he was engaged in healing
Many diseases and the feeling
Of plagues and evil spirits too.
And he gave many blind their view.
22 Jesus replied and answered them,
“Go and report to John the gem
Of what you saw and heard, the blind
See once again, the lame resigned
Walk and the leprous are cleansed too,
The deaf come hearing, the dead do
Rise up, and the poor hear anew
The gospel preached to them in pew.
23 “Blessed is the one without offense
For what I do in their presence.”

The preachers love to contrast the word of
John the Baptist to Jesus hand in glove
When he came to be baptised with the shove,
And this word of doubt as supposed he said
From prison where for faith he had been led.
That is a wicked thing to do by me.
John is a sinless creature of degree,
Which is why he was put to death in spree.
Jesus will meet the same fate, not because
Without bloodshed You cannot save Your laws
And save mankind from death's uncomely claws.
As it was then, so it remains, so still.
All good men are crucified, come what will,
By faint praise or by death on Calvary's hill.

24 When John's messengers went their way,
He said to the crowds in their sway
About John, “What did you go out
Into the wilderness redoubt
To see? A reed shake in the wind?
25 “What did you go out winged or finned
To see? A man dressed in fine cloth?
Behold, those dressed in splendid froth
Are in the luxury that's found
In royal palaces around.
26 “But what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yea, I say freely,
A prophet and yet more truly.
27 “This is the one of whom he wrote:
Behold, I send out one to tote
My message before your face, who
Will prepare your way before you.
28 “For I say to you, among those
Born of a woman, none arose
A prophet greater that is John
The Baptist. But the least upon
The kingdom of God's greater than
He is in kingdom's final plan.”

John was the greatest of prophets because
He saw with his own eyes the hopes of each
Of ancient prophets come alive to preach
In that salvation prepared from the jaws
Of time eternal to meet Roman claws.
John was the least after the ripened peach
Of the Messiah, son of David's reach,
Because he did not live to see its laws.
Beloved, the days are long past since arose
The rushing of the spirit's wind that chose
The fair apostles on a far-off day.
Beloved, the years are long since peace would close
The canon with Islam in final ray,
The heart of man with You alone in sway.

29 The folk and tax collectors heard
All this and justified God's word
For having been baptised in herd
Of John the Baptist with heart stirred.
30 But Pharisees and lawyers set aside
God's counsel for their part and to deride,
Not being baptised by him in the hide.

Are You best pleased, Beloved, by sinful ones
Who are moved by a preacher from their buns
Because he has a following with noise?
Or are You pleased with scholarship and poise?
I tend myself to have respect more for
The latter. Rank emotions for their score
Are easily manipulated more.
It's not the guru cult or popular
In John that makes of him the greater star,
But the fact that he called repentance' bar,
Forsaking of such sins that were and are.
Beloved, neither the charismatic gift
So-called, nor scholarship can ever lift
The soul into repentance without rift.

31 The lord said “To what shall I now
Compare the men alive somehow?
And what are they like anyhow?
32 “They are like children where they sit
In market calling out in fit
To one another, saying too,
'We piped to you, you did not dance,
We were lamenting for your lance,
And you did not weep at the chance.'
33 “For John the Baptist came in view
Eating no feast nor drinking wine,
And you say a demon in fine.
34 “The son of man came eating and
Drinking, and you say out of hand
See a man gluttonous, a drunk,
A friend of tax-collecting skunk
And sinners who in sin are sunk.
35 “But wisdom's justified of all
Her children settled in their stall.

This bit of folklore Jesus has preserved
From ancient times is just what they deserved
Who would not be satisfied with the rate
Of either John or Jesus in their state.
But that is neither here nor now for me,
Who am so stuck on anthropology.
What game went along with the words they sang
In Nazareth’s small streets with shout and clang?
None knows today perhaps, but I think back
Upon those golden days of Jesus track
And figure he must have played with a will
Upon the green of Nazareth's near hill.
Beloved, my own play is as long ago
It seems as Jesus' games all in a row.

36 A certain Pharisee invited
Him home to lunch at his house cited.
And he went in and lay at table.
37 And see, this woman who was known
As a sinner in town of stone,
When she found out as she was able
That he reclined there at the table
In the house of the Pharisee,
She took an alabaster wee
Bottle of perfume and sweetly
38 Stood at his feet and wept behind,
Washing his feet with tears made blind,
And wiped them with hair of her head.
She kissed his feet with heat and poured
Perfume upon them from unstored.
39 The Pharisee who had invited
Him saw that as though so incited,
Said to himself if this one truly
Had been a prophet, he unduly
Would have known and well what this wench
Who touches him is, sinful stench.

The sins of sex in other time and place
Were thought the worst among the human race,
Perhaps because a woman can be blamed
In most of them, if not the men inflamed.
It does not take a prophet here to know
Who is or who is not a wench in show,
So that the Pharisee erred in the way
He thought to make Jesus Christ come to pay.
Beloved, I too shed fervent tears of love
Upon the memory of Jesus dove,
And wipe the perfume from his feet where I
Bend to pour out on them the costly dye.
The past is past hope, and the future ray
Is certain for just this portion of day.

40 Jesus answered the man and said
“Simon, I have a bone to spread.”
He said “Rabbi, speak out instead.”
41 There were two debtors to a man
Who lent money, the one in span
Owed five hundred dinars in can,
The other just fifty in plan.
42 As neither had wherewith to pay,
He freely forgave both that day.
Then which of them now would you say
Will love him better in his way?
43 In answer to that Simon said
“I guess the one to whom was spread
The greater sum forgiven by.”
He told him, “You chose the right guy.”
44 He turned to the woman and said
To Simon, “Do you see this head?
I came into your house and you
Did not give water for the due
Washing of my feet, but she came
And washed my feet with tears of shame
And wiped them with hair of her head.
45 “You gave me no kiss, but she did
Not stop kissing my feet, the kid,
From the time I came at your bid.
46 “You did not anoint my head here
With oil but she came with her tear
Anointing my feet with perfume.
47 “That's why I tell you in her room
Her many sins are loosed, that's why
She has loved much without a try.
But to whom little is forgiven,
He loves but little having striven.”
48 He told her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who lay nearby with him
Said to themselves, “And by what whim
Does this one claim to forgive sin?”
50 But he told the woman come in,
“Your faith has saved you, go in peace.”
That's how Jesus came to release.

No one is ever saved in Jesus' eyes
But by their own faith risen in disguise.
It's never by Your grace or power or hope,
Nor by his purity or golden rope.
No one is ever saved but by the way
She lays hold on the love of just today,
And touches heaven while working night and clay.
No one is ever saved by other's grope.
Beloved, I may be saved, I may be not,
It is not mine to grasp within Your plot,
But better than salvation is the love
I bear to You while in the push and shove
Of market and of worship where the sun
Illuminates the birds of Mecca won.

LUKE 8

1 It happened after that he went
In every town and village sent
To preach and proclaim gospel meant
Of God's kingdom. And the twelve came
Along with him to share his fame.
2 Also certain women who had
Been cured of ill and spirits bad:
Mary called Magdalene from whom
The seven demons had left room,
3 And Joanna wife of Chuza,
Herod's steward, and Susanna,
And many others who served him
With their possessions' gear and trim.
4 And a great crowd gathered with those
In every town he came and chose.
He spoke a parable, suppose.
5 The sower went to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, one fell indeed
Beside the road and trampled down,
The birds of the sky gobbled down.
6 Another fell upon the rock,
And sprouted, but dried up in stock,
Not having water from the dock.
7 Another fell amid the thorns,
And growing up in the thorns' bournes,
They choked it with crowding and scorns.
8 Another fell on the good earth,
And grew up to produce of worth
Fruit hundredfold. Saying these things
He shouted, “The one in whom rings
His ears let him hear my teachings.”

The parable's a form of poetry,
And those who hear it judge by imagery,
Or rhyme's or metre's regularity.
They want the levels of thought to increase,
As though the round of seasons must release
The contemplation of cycle of birth
And life and aging on the puckered earth.
But fie upon the expectations that
Determine the views of the thin and fat.
The art of poetry is simply flat
Expression in words the experience
That may or may not make someone some sense.
It parts from prose in being more direct,
The exclamation that I might select.

9 And his disciples questioned him,
Saying “What is this parable?”
10 And he said “To you it is trim
To know the mysteries of God's
Kingdom, but to the rest in full
Are parables among the clods,
That seeing they might never see,
And hearing they might come to be
Without understanding in fee.
11 And this is the parable, see:
The seed is God's word by decree.
12 Those by the roadside are those who
Hear, and then the Devil comes to
Take away the word from their heart,
Lest they might believe for their part,
And be saved. 13 And those on the rock
Are those who, when they hear the stock,
Receive the word with joy, and these
Are without root, but in their ease
Believe for a time, and in time
Of trouble, they reverse the climb.
14 And those that fell in the thorn bush
Are those who hear but then the push
Of care and riches and the rife
Pleasures of their own earthly life
Choke them and they do not bear fruit
In their maturity to suit.
15 And those in the good ground are those
Who with right and good heart they chose
To hear the word and keep and bear
Fruit in their patience in full share.

Four portals guard all life: the gate of law
Where Satan comes to steal the work of straw;
The way of love, a moment's joy to pass
And leave the soul withered upon the grass;
The way of full awareness of all things
In heaven and earth, which ends in riches' stings;
And finally the portal of truth where
There is no self competing with Self's share,
But where the word of Decalogue bears fruit
In law and love and awareness to boot.
Beloved, I grasp the hidden explanation
And look out on the world of expiation,
The road, the rock, the thorn, and the good earth,
The fourth gate where I come to take my berth.

16 But no one who lights a lamp sets
A pot over it or then gets
It under a canopy, but
Sets it on a lampstand unshut,
So those who come in see the light,
And are not left out in the night.
17 For nothing's hidden which will not
Be revealed in the mystery's plot.
18 So watch how you hear, for the one
Who has may be given for fun,
And the one who does not have may
Have taken from him his last ray.
19 His mother and his brothers came
To him, and could not for the claim
Of the crowd get near him for fame.
20 And they told him and said “Your mum
And your brothers stand there and strum,
Hoping to see you in the hum.”
21 And he replied and said to them,
“My mother and my brothers' hem
Are these: the one who come to hear
The word of God, and do with fear.”

Two choices lie before me in the wood,
Two roads to quote Jack Frost as if for good:
I can keep on with sinning and just take
Belief in Jesus' name for saving's sake,
Or then I can become his brother dear
By keeping Your commandments in my ear
And in my hand to do them in Your fear.
I'd rather be a brother to the man,
The Christ, than be saved by his blood in plan,
And remain outside obedience clan.
To each his own. I walk and talk with him
Along the Sabbath and the hill's stone rim
And call him brother, something I've not had,
Rather than breaking Your law like a cad.

22 It happened on one of the days
That he and his disciples' maze
Entered into a boat. And he
Said to them, “Let's go over, see,
To the other side of the lake.”
And they put out to sea in wake.
23 And as they sailed he fell asleep.
And a windstorm came up to sweep
Across the lake, and they were filled
And were in danger to be spilled.
24 They came and woke him and they said
“O master, master, we are dead!”
And he woke up then to rebuke
The wind and water, for a fluke
They ceased and there was a calm spread.
25 And he said to them, “Where's your faith?”
And they were afraid and amazed,
And said to one another crazed,
“Who then is this one who commands
Even the wind, water on sands,
And they obey him as though dazed?”

The rocking of the boat made some to fear,
While to another as it would appear,
It was the lulling into sleep and dreams.
The universe is never what it seems.
Reality has myriad faces known
To myriads more before the divine throne.
I lie asleep within the rocking boat
In which some find their wealth is still afloat
And others meet the spectre of despair,
The scythe of hunger and the threat of care.
I look on both as dreams and far away,
Hung here between the life of power and sway
And life of dying before hope and ray.
The fate of men is hanging on a hair.

26 They sailed down to the Gadarenes'
Country, which is opposite scenes
Of Galilee. 27 And he went out
Into the country, and a stout
Man from the town met him, who had
Demons for a long time and bad.
He did not dress in clothing nor
Did he stay in a house or store,
But lived among the tombs on gore.
28 He saw Jesus and he cried out,
He fell down before him with shout,
And said “What's for me and for you,
Jesus, son of God, Most High true?
I beg you, don't torment me too.”

I'd ware of calling Jesus son of God,
Since that's the favourite title in the prod
Of demons in Luke's testifying pod.
I'd flee the more from saying God the Son,
A formula that's not found under sun
Of Scripture, but only where heathen run.
I'd take Your sent one for just what he is
And's said to be exactly in the whiz
Of Scripture, and no more and if not less.
You have not left Your people here to guess.
Beloved, if I'm a Biblicist at heart
And in the practice of my humble part,
That sets me off from every church and creed
And leaves me all alone before Your need.

29 For he ordered the unclean fiend
To come out of the man unbeaned.
For oftentimes it had seized him,
And he was bound with chains and grim
Irons under guard, but he would tear
The fetters off and go somewhere
Into the wilderness cast out
By demon powers showing their clout.
30 And Jesus asked him, “What's your name?”
And he said “Legion” for in blame
Had many demons laid their claim.

When Jesus asks the demon now his name
Before the great establishment in claim,
He answers still and ever as the same
A legion of sects risen to their shame.
The Christian soul is now infested with
Denominations all founded on myth
And human efforts to circumvent what
You once proclaimed on Sinai in a nut
Shell to be the criterion of all,
Of faith and life and person in the stall,
Of church and mosque and synagogue come late.
Beloved, the clamour of the demons' call
Is still with me, but I turn back the pall
And find Your throne, Your love, Your safety's gate.

31 And they begged him not to command
Them into the abyss to stand.
32 There was a passel of swine there
Feeding upon the mountain's share.
And they begged him that he'd allow
Them to go into them somehow.
And he gave them leave if they dare.
33 The demons came out of the man
And entered in the swine by plan,
And the whole herd rushed down the cliff
Into the lake and all drowned stiff.
34 The herdsman saw the thing and fled,
Reported in the town and said
To all the farms about them spread.
35 They went out to investigate,
And came to Jesus to relate,
And found the man from whom went out
The spirits sitting at the feet
Of Jesus, clothed and in mind stout,
And they were afraid to repeat.
36 And also those who had seen it
Described how the one with a fit
Was healed. 37 And all the multitude
Of the neighbourhood of the brood
Of Gadarenes were filled with fear.
And they begged him to leave his gear
And go from them. And he got in
The boat and left that place of sin.

What did Jesus expect after he chose
To destroy so much property and those
Beasts that the Torah gives no right to slaughter?
His hopes were drowned with the swine in the water
If he thought Gadarenes would come to hear
His teaching and his preaching without peer.
Of course it could be argued that the swine
Were not by Torah legal tender tine,
Not property at all, despite the way
Their guardians had come to make them pay.
The argument both theological
And legal notwithstanding, final sal
Was Jesus had to leave. Beloved, let pigs
Not keep me from Your sent ones in their digs.

38 The man cured of the demons prayed
Him to be with him. Jesus stayed
To send him on his way and said
39 “Go back to your house and tell all
That God has done for you in stall.”
And he went off proclaiming through
All the town what Jesus could do.

Most people under the sun wonder why
Jesus did not let the healed man stay by
Him and become a pillar in the church.
Instead he left him alone in the lurch.
The fact is the lone dervish has the best
Of portions. He does not have to invest
In wranglings and in quarrels. He's a guest
In every court and highway on the way
Through the four gates of heaven and earthly sway.
Beloved, I had tried the locks on the doors
Of every temple You have in Your stores,
And in Your grace abundant all turned me
Aside and out into eternity.
Your praises are my temple and Your fee.

40 It happened when Jesus came back,
The crowd was glad to get him back,
For they all waited for his share.
41 And see, a man named Jairus came,
And this one was ruler of fame
Of a synagogue. And he fell
At Jesus' feet and begged him well
To come into his house a spell,
42 Because his only daughter born
Of about twelve years, it was sworn
That she was dying. As he went,
The crowd pressed all about him bent.

The contrast between the centurion
And the chief of the synagogue when done
Was not so much in faith but modesty.
I've often thought a soldier in degree
More modest than the preacher on his spree.
The pattern is almost an absolute,
Despite the fact that soldiers to the root
Are killers in their way. But so are men
Of the cloth when they turn around again.
But all men are united in the face
Of death and the fear of it that they trace.
I contemplate the evidence and wonder
That I too fear the lightning and the thunder.
It's life I choose each day as well as grace.

43 A woman having haemorrhage
For twelve years and spent heritage
On the physicians all in vain,
44 Came up behind him, she was fain
To touch the fringes of his cloak,
Though not neglecting what he spoke,
And straight away the haemorrhage
Stopped. 45 Jesus then said at that stage,
“Who touched me?” All denied the charge,
Peter and those with him at large
Said “Master, the crowds press and barge,
And jostle you. And do you say
'Who has now touched me on the way?'”
46 But Jesus said “Someone touched me,
For I felt virtue leaving me.”
47 And seeing she had been found out,
The woman came trembling in rout
And fell prostrated before him
And told him before all the grim
People why she touched him and how
Straight off she had been healed somehow.
48 And he said to her, “Daughter, be
Comforted. Your faith made you free.
Go in peace and without a row.”

Which is it, my Beloved? The virtue that
Jesus felt leaving body where he sat,
Or the faith of the woman in her touch,
And in her hoping and awaiting much?
Both superstition and the sacred tale
Combine here to make up the tended whale
With scientific convention that hope
Is healer with a sixty per cent scope.
Reality is too complex by far
To be attached to any sort of star,
The supernatural or scientific,
Neither suffice to explain the specific.
The mind of man continues to the end
To wonder and find explanations friend.

49 As he still spoke, someone came out
To tell the synagogue chief stout,
“Your daughter's dead. Do not think more
To trouble the teacher from door.”
50 But Jesus heard and answered him,
Saying “Do not fear and be grim,
Only believe and she'll restore.”
51 He came into the house and he
Did not allow anyone free
To go in except Peter and
James and John and the father and
The mother of the girl to stand.
52 And all were weeping with a wail.
But he said “Stop the weeping's tale.
She has not died, but is asleep.”
53 They mocked him because they knew well
She had succumbed to dying's spell.
54 But he put them all outside and
Took hold of the young daughter's hand
And called out saying, “Child, get up.”
55 Her breath returned and she got up
Straight off. And he commanded then
That she be given food again.
56 Her parents were amazed, but he
Commanded them not to agree
To tell anyone of the spree.

Just raising people from the dead does not
Prove that the one You sent to earthly plot
Is God Almighty. After all, there were
Elijah and Elisha to concur.
He did the thing by the power and the grant
You gave him to uproot as well as plant.
If You had given me such power to choose,
You would see how many in this world loose.
I'd raise up every child that goes to sleep
Until no coffins were made small and deep,
But only double-sized for those who share
The extra-large sizes in Western wear.
Beloved, consider what such powers might do
Before You grant me such to stir the stew.

LUKE 9

1 He summoned his twelve friends and gave
Them power and authority grave
Over all demons and to heal
Diseases for the woe and weal.
2 And he sent them out to proclaim
The kingdom of God and at same
Time heal the sick. 3 He said to them,
Take nothing for the way in hem,
No staff nor purse nor bread nor coin,
Nor even two coats to enjoin.
4 And into what house you go in,
Remain there, do not leave it's din.
5 As many as who don't receive you,
Go from that town not to believe you
And shake its dust from off your feet
In witness against their defeat.
6 They went out and passed through the towns,
Proclaiming the gospel with frowns
And healing everywhere the beat.
7 Herod the tetrarch heard all these
Things that happened through him at ease,
And he was wondering because
Some said John had been raised from claws
Of death, 8 and by some Elijah
Had appeared, and others a prophet
Of ancient times rose not to scoff at.
9 And Herod said, “John I beheaded,
But who is this who is unfetid,
Of whom I hear such things?” And he
Tried to meet him in company.

The preachers tell me that forgiveness and
Eternal life is something from Your hand
To give only to those who understand
That Jesus rose up from the dead as planned.
That simply is unjust, if that is true.
The first way You prepared would better do:
To keep the ten commandments in Your love,
And repent of not keeping them in glove
To have Your grace forgiving and in need.
But this rumour of John just spoils the seed.
It shows that whether Jesus rose or not,
It was inevitable in the plot
That some would say he rose up from the rot.
Set up no vague conditions, so I plead.

10 The disciples came back and told
Him the things they had done out cold.
He took them privately apart
In to a country town from start
Called Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds knew
And followed him. They came in crew
And he spoke to them all about
The kingdom of God. He was stout
To cure those in need of cures too.
12 But the day was coming to end.
The twelve came to him saying “Friend,
Let the crowd go to town and farm
To find food and lodging from harm,
Because we're in a desert warm.”
13 But he told them, “Give them to eat.”
But they said “We don't have complete
More than five loaves and two of fishes,
Unless we buy for all their wishes.”
14 For there were about five thousand
Men, but he told his friends in hand,
“Make them sit down in groups of fifty.”
15 And they did so, and all sat nifty.
16 And taking the five loaves and two
Fish, he looked up to heaven's view,
And blessed them, and broke, and gave to
The disciples to serve the crew.
17 They ate and were all filled. And twelve
Baskets of leftovers to shelve
Were taken up after the due.

Jesus gets in a fight with Pharisees
About washing his hands before with ease
Eating bread. That's because he does not take
Traditions of the elders on the make,
But only Torah to guide his life's breeze.
Then why does he go in oral tradition
Of blessing the food as if by sedition?
That's not commanded in the Torah more
Than washing hands in ritual and gore.
He's like all men I know who choose the right.
They still keep to some things they learned in sight
From their background's surroundings for a blight.
Beloved, keep me in Decalogue to last,
All other considerations outcast.

18 It happened as he prayed alone,
The disciples stayed by the throne.
He asked them, saying “Who do folk
Say that I am and at a stroke?”
19 They answered and said “Baptist John,
And others say Elijah drawn,
And others that some ancient prophet
Has risen again not to scoff at.
20 He asked them, “But who do you say
I am?” And Peter spoke away,
“You are the Christ of God in sway.”

I'm willing to believe that Jesus came
As Christ of God before the Jewish claim
Against the Roman balustrade of shame.
I'm willing to believe it with a will
And follow the man to the darker hill.
But I'm not willing to believe a man
Is God Almighty and Creator's span,
Simply because Your Torah makes it plain
That You are not a man nor son and sane
Of any man born in the earthly fane.
It does not help to say he is the son
Not of man but of woman on the run,
Because he himself claims his right to be
The son of man and not eternity.

21 He strictly warned them not to tell,
22 Saying “Son of man goes through hell
To be rejected by the old,
The chief priests and the scribes who're bold
To kill him but he shall be raised
Up on the third day and be praised.”
23 He said to all, “If anyone
Desires to come after my bun,
Let him deny himself and take
Up his load daily for my sake,
And let him follow in my wake.
24 “The one who would save his own life
Will lose it, but who in the strife
Loses his life for my sake will
Be one to save it and save still.
25 “For what profit is to a man
Who gains the whole world in a span,
But destroys his soul losing plan?
26 “Whoever is ashamed of me
And my words, son of man will be
Ashamed of that one when he comes
In his glory and Father's sums,
And with the holy angels' hums.
27 “But truly I tell you, there are
Some standing here who'll have no bar,
But shall not taste death till they see
The kingdom of God visibly.”

In every day and age, in every crowd,
There are those few that have once been allowed
To see Your kingdom come down from the sky
And settle like a dove upon the head
Of one or two who pass the pleasures by
That grate the world, who by Your law are led.
In Jesus' day a few heard what he said
And entered in the kingdom divine and
Saw the accomplishment of all at hand.
Beloved, bring down Your kingdom on me now
Today and everyday, if not in sight,
Then in Your kingdom's law by day and night.
I turn from every government and church
And rush into temples of fir and birch.

28 About eight days after these words,
It happened, taking in their herds
Peter and John and James, he went
Into the hill to pray as spent.
29 And as he prayed his countenance
Was changed and his clothing to glance
Was shining white and not by chance.
30 And see, two men talked with him there:
Moses and Elijah laid bare.

I just wonder how they knew that the men
Who stood with Jesus were Moses again
And Elijah. The two stated before
As living in celestial gate and store
Were Enoch and Elijah and not Moses.
So why assume it was Moses that chose us?
Unless he introduced himself in flame,
Or Jesus told them afterwards the claim,
Both things left unreported in the text,
I stay here reading these words still perplexed.
This presumes resurrection if it's true
That Moses appeared in body and view.
That puts the Gospel in polemics known
For the first century of Jewish groan.

31 They came in glory and spoke of
His coming entry in the love
Jerusalem. 32 But Peter and
Those with him were pressed as in hand
Of sleep. But waking fully, they
Saw his glory, and two men stay
With him. 33 It happened as they left
That Peter told Jesus bereft,
“Sir, it is good for us to be
Here, and I say let us make three
Tents, one for you, and one for Moses,
And one for Elijah's discloses,”
For he was out of his own tree.

The first thing some folk want to do when they
See visions of glory among the hay,
Is start a church and build a tabernacle.
Young Brigham did so as soon as could tackle
The desert and the salt flats lost in bay.
Beloved, I too would like a church or people,
With or without a dome or sovereign steeple,
Where I was welcomed in on Sabbath day
To sing the Psalms and hear the people pray.
But truth is not vouchsafed to brick and stone,
Nor to the hearts made hard as flinted bone
That stand around the marketplaces here,
The Roman and Genevan and the peer
Of London left in Canterbury's steer.

34 As he said these things, a cloud came
And overshadowed them in flame.
They feared to enter in the same.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud,
And said “This is My son, I'm proud
To love him, hear his word aloud.”

You called David Your son in days long past
To make against heathendom a contrast,
To topple stories of such kings whose mums
Lay with the gods and bore heroes and bums.
The human father of David's secure
In epic poetry of Ruth and sure.
He was Your son because You found him pure
And promised him eternal kingdom won.
Now You speak aloud to Jesus and show
Him son of David on the run and go.
How then does that blaspheming voice arise
To make him one among those pagan guys
Whose mothers were the whores of gods who stalk
The virgins of their people and give talk?

36 As the voice rose, Jesus remained
Alone. And they quietly gained.
And they told no one what they saw
In those days before tooth and claw.
37 It happened on the next day they
Came down from the mountain to stray,
And a large crowd met in the way.
38 And see, a man called out aloud
From the crowd, saying, “Teacher proud,
I beg you to look at my son,
Because his is the only one.
39 “And see, a spirit takes him and
Straight off cries out and puts in band
Of trembling and foaming, and then
Leaves him with sore and bruise again.
40 “I prayed your disciples that they
Should cast it out, in vain I say.”
41 Jesus replied and said “O you
Who disbelieve among this crew,
Perverted ones, how long shall I
Be with you and put up with sty?
Bring your son here another try.”
42 But as he came the demon tore
Him and vehemently in store
Convulsed him. But Jesus laid in
To the unclean spirit with din
And healed the child, and gave him back
To his father and without slack.
43 All were amazed by divine power.
And as all marvelled in that hour
At the things which he did, then said
Jesus to his disciples led,
44 “Keep in your ears these words of mine,
For son of man will soon resign
Betrayed into the hands of men.”
45 But they did not understand this,
And it was veiled so they would miss.
And they feared to ask about this.

When Matthew wrote of this warning that son
Of man would be betrayed and killed for fun,
He did not mention that a veil was set
On purpose on the heart of his friends met.
If You, Beloved, laid a restraining hand
Upon their hearts and minds and by command,
Then we today, as sweeter Christians stand,
Do not well to blame them for what we get.
Beloved, the veils of time and place lie still
Upon my ears and eyes, and so fulfil
The gesture of creation on the bill.
And yet beyond the veils I see the light
Of Your throne and Your presence shining bright,
Let say what will the enemy in sight.

46 But they began to argue more,
Which of them was greatest in score.
47 Jesus saw the argument in
Their heart, and took a child of kin
And stood him beside his own place.
48 He said to them, “The one with grace
To receive this child in my name
Receives me also just the same.
And whoever receives me too
Receives the one who sent me due.
For the one being least of all
Shall be the greatest one in stall.”
49 And John replied and said withal,
“Master, we saw one casting out
Demons in your name, and with shout
We stopped him because he does not
Follow along with us in plot.”
50 And Jesus told them, “Don't forbid,
The one who's not against us hid
In our favour under our lid.

There are a good many around today
Who are like Jesus' disciples in play.
They don't accept the charity that's done
By those of another sect under sun
As worthy of reward of thanks when spun.
The good the Catholics do, though more than all,
Is just swill in the bucket of the pall
Of independent Baptists at the ball.
And Sunnis can do no good, though they might
Fill all the world with Muhammad’s fair light.
Beloved, extinguish in me all desire
To judge another by his label's fire.
Fill up my Buddhist, Hindu, Christian heart
With Jewish, Muslim lights to do my part.

51 It happened when the time approached
For him to be taken reproached,
He turned toward Jerusalem
To go up in the city's hem.
52 He sent his messengers before
His face, and they went in the store
Of a town of Samaritans,
So as to make ready his plans.
53 And they did not receive him since
His face was toward Jerusalem.
54 James and John his friends saw to wince
And said “Sir, is your stratagem
That we tell fire to come down from
The sky to destroy every bum
As did Elijah for a gem?”
55 But he turned and rebuked them and
He said “You don't know contraband
In what spirit you take in hand.
56 “For son of man did not come here
To destroy men's lives as in fear
But to save.” And they went into
Another village still in view.

They say Jesus was a Samaritan,
But that was just a way to plague the man.
And yet he does not hate that brood as such
Who were of his own nation ought as much.
That does not make him universalist,
But only lover of those who resist
Temptation not to keep the Sabbath day.
It's Sabbath-keepers Jesus loves and may.
Beloved, Your sent one ought to be more broad
Minded upon the earthly sort of sod,
And accept equally those who keep Sunday
And leave the Sabbath for both work and fun day.
Then only can he be considered fair,
A Christian sort of gentlemen and ware.

57 It happened as they went that way
One said to him, “I will not stray
From following upon your way
Wherever you may go, sir, too.”
58 And Jesus told him, “Foxes do
Have holes and the birds of the sky
Have nests, but son of man to lie
Has nowhere to lay down his head.”
59 And to another one he said
“Follow me.” But he told him, “Sir,
Let me go bury my dad first.”
60 But Jesus said to him, “Let stir
The dead to bury the dead, thirst
To go announce God's kingdom worst.”
61 Also another said “I will
Follow you, sir, but first I still
Must take leave of those in my house.”
62 But Jesus told him, “Any spouse
Who puts his hand to the plough and
Looks back, is not fit one to stand
In the kingdom of God I've planned.”

As far back as good Tobit I can see
That virtue is in burying's decree.
The man who tells us not to bury kin
Is aiding an abetting, fearful sin.
Not only is the matter of respect,
But one of hygiene or of such neglect.
Besides that Jesus pretends poverty
Beyond degree of his reality.
He has a dozen rich women who give
Far more than he could need to thrive and live.
Beloved, the dervish following is still
The best thing that we have upon the hill,
Pretending to be poor is still the faith
To keep me from the churchly sort of wraith.

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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