GOSPEL OF LUKE CHAPTER 10 - 13

LUKE 10

1 After these things the Lord appointed
Seventy others more anointed,
And sent them two by two before
His face into each city’s door
And place where he Himself intended
To go. 2 Then he said unoffended
To them, “The harvest truly’s great,
But the labourers few in state,
Therefore pray YHWH of the harvest
To send out labourers and blessed
Into his harvest. 3 “Go your way,
Indeed, I send you out as gay
As lambs among wolves. 4 “Carry not
Money bag, knapsack, nor the plot
Of sandals, and greet no one by
The wayside. 5 “But whatever house
You enter, first say to the spouse,
‘Peace to this house.’ 6 “And if a son
Of peace is there, your peace begun
Will rest on it, if not, it will
Return to you to fit the bill.

A son of peace, now is that not the same
As son of Islam, or if name’s a name,
A son of God? I turn my head for shame
To hear the quibble arise in such blame.
Peace to the house, if son of peace is there.
How can peace have a son, that has no hair
Or arms or legs not to mention the fair
And hidden parts when siring is done there?
Beloved, You sent one to the world to speak
And he was called both son of man and bleak
The son of God, and that makes right nor wrong
But he was also prince’s of peace song.
You bear no sons at all, no, and not daughters.
But still You have Your sons full at the slaughters.

7 And stay in the same house to eat
And drink the things they give as meat,
For the worker is worthy to
Take his hire. Do not move from view
Of one house to another's pew.
8 Whatever city you go in
And they receive you without sin,
Eat the things set upon your tin.
9 And heal the sick in it, and say
To them, “God's kingdom's come in sway.”
10 But in whatever town you go,
And they do not receive your flow,
Go out into its streets and say
11 “Even the dust on us to stay
From your town, we shake of today
Against you. Yet know this indeed,
That God's kingdom came near your seed.”
12 And I tell you that on that day
It shall be more fun in the sway
Of Sodom that for that town's way.

I might think that my preaching has been heard
And set aside by mouse and hare and bird,
To say no word at all of humankind.
And yet the ego of man is thing blind.
More like the Gospel of the ant and fly
That I neglect to see as I pass by
On my trips up the wooded hill to take
A wondered glance at tree and sky and lake
If worthy of the dust to shake at me
From wing and foot of crusty bumblebee.
I see, Beloved, Your message in all things,
My own heart and the voice of nature's springs,
And so repent at last most bitterly
That just this morning I began to see.

13 Woe to you Chorazim! And woe
To you Bethsaida! If the row
Of wonders which were done in you
Had been in Tyre and Sidon's view,
They would have repented long since,
Sitting in sackcloth, ash to wince.
14 It will be more fun for Tyre and
Sidon in Judgement than that planned
For you. 15 And you, Capernaum,
Were you not lifted up to hum
Toward heaven? “To hell you'll be cast down.”
16 The one who hears you too hears me,
The one rejecting you in fee
Also rejects me, and the one
Who rejects me rejects when done
The One who sent me on the run.
17 The seventy came back with joy,
And said “Sir, even demons employ
Submitting to us by your name.”
18 And he said to them, “I then saw
Satan fall out of the sky's trough
Like lightning. 19 “See, I've given you
The power to step on serpents too
And scorpions and over all
The power of enemy in thrall,
And nothing shall hurt you at all.
20 “Refrain however from rejoicing
That evil spirits in their voicing
Submit to you. But rather do
Rejoice that your names are writ too
In heaven among celestial crew.”

The glimpse of joy and hope that comes at times
Between the rows of prose and price of rhymes
To share my life and day with lighter tone
Distract me, my Beloved, from divine throne.
What seems important here where I repeat
The motions of sleep, exercise, and eat
Would keep me from the nobler share and meet:
Remembrance of the name inscribed above,
The heavenly remembrance taught in love.
Though evil spirits do not oft submit
To my commands though given strong and fit,
Their counterparts in daily rounds are fleet
Pretending to be all the flesh of treat.
I turn from shadow to the thing complete.

21 Right then Jesus rejoiced in mind,
And said “I praise You, Father kind,
Sovereign of heaven and earth, that You
Hid these things from the wiser crew
And cunning and revealed them to
Mere babes. Indeed, Father, to You
It was a pleasure as one due.”

The effort to define the Deity
In any sort of grand theology,
The worst of which produces Trinity,
Is founded on grand scheme philosophy.
The effort may be honest, but misplaced,
And so sophisticated join the waste.
The truth is in the simple declaration
Before the folk of each and every nation
That You are One and You alone are God.
All else is speculation on the sod.
A tiny child knows well the difference
Between one and three tottered on the fence.
And like a babe I choose the one I wish,
And that is You, Beloved, not bone or fish.

22 All things were delivered to me
By my Father, and no one, see,
Knows who the son is in degree
Except the Father; and who be
The Father but the son, and he
To whom the son wants to make see.

Some would have Your sent one to be
God almighty Himself upon the tree,
Because all things are given to him free.
But if he were indeed God, surely he
Would already have all authority,
And nothing could be given, added, or
Delivered up to him to keep in store,
Because he'd have all things and naturally.
Beloved, I love You for the things You are
Above creation’s wonders, stone and star.
I love You for the glittered gifts You give
To humankind or even one to live,
The power and the authority that You
Bestow on Your sent one, a man in view.

23 He took the disciples alone,
And said “Blessed are the eyes in tone
That see what you see here in bone.
24 “For I tell you that prophets and
Kings many wished to see at hand
What you see, and did not see, and
To hear what you hear and did not
Get to hear what you hear in plot.”

Your sent one claims he is fulfilment sure
Of promises that prophets and kings pure
Delighted in and hoped for in their time.
He claims he's both the melody and rhyme.
Your sent one tells the secret of his race,
His coming and his planning in Your grace,
Revealing the good news then face to face
To those so fortunate to be in place.
Beloved, I am a doubter, but I take
The message of Your messenger in wake
Of thought and search and hope and find the way
He teaches does not depart from the ray
You spoke on Sinai on another day.
I rejoice in the promises You make.

25 And see, a certain lawyer stood
And tested him and said as should,
“Rabbi what shall I do that I
May have eternal life in sky?”
26 And he told him, “What has been writ
In the Law? How do you read it?”
27 He answered, he replied and said
“You shall love YHWH your God instead
With all your heart, with all your soul,
And with all your strength, and in goal
With all your mind, and finally
Your neighbour as yourself to see.”
28 And he told him, “You answered right.
Do this and you shall live in light.”
29 But he wanted to make a show
Of himself so Jesus would know,
So he said “Who's my neighbour Joe?”

Leave well enough alone's a lesson that
No man seems to learn while he's still a brat.
Islamic law would be so simple if
So many questions had not jumped the cliff.
Why ask who is my neighbour, if I do
Not wish to accept all the human crew?
The danger is that I shall hear a sound
I would rather not meet upon the ground.
The hope that Your brief laws, though easy done,
Might be made easier under the sun
Still keeps men questioning if this or that
Might not be better hidden under mat.
There's always the chance some Rabbi might say
We do not need to keep Your law today.

30 Jesus took of the tale and said:
A certain personage was led
To go down from Jerusalem
To Jericho and fell in hem
Of robbers, who both stripped him and
With blows left him half dead to stand.
31 By a coincidence a priest
Was going down that road at least,
And when he saw him, he passed by
Along the other side to spy.
32 In the same way a Levite came
To the same place and saw the blame,
And passed on the other side's shame.
33 But one Samaritan came there,
And saw him filled with pity's share.
34 And came near and bandaged him up,
Poured oil and wine from his own cup.
He put him on his own beast and
Brought him to an inn, care at hand.
35 He left the next day, and he took
Out two dinars and gave the look
Of them to the innkeeper and
Told him, “Take care of him by hand,
And whatever more you may spend,
When I come back, I'll pay the lend.”
36 Who then of these three seems to you
To have become the neighbour true
Of the one fallen at the hand
Of the marauding robber band?

The whole world knows the blessèd story, but
No one knows the name forgotten and shut
Of sympathied Samaritan who came
To help his neighbour and thereby found fame.
The name and fame of what men do may go,
But the effect of a good deed will show
A thousand generations in the glow
Of ten commandments promising the claim.
Beloved, let what good I may have done here,
Though I cannot remember now with fear
Much in the way of charity or hope,
Still let it carry on from rope to rope
A thousand generations, while my name
And words are lost in seas of Your acclaim.

37 And he said “The one who performed
The deed of mercy” So informed
Jesus told him, “Go do the same.”

It was a bit much for sweet Jesus to
Tell questioners to act like one in view,
Samaritan to top the pill with gall.
I think the man just likes to show the call.
He wants to scandalize his hearers' crew.
The scandal that Samaritan and Jew
Make between themselves was caused by the way
The Persians acted to keep folk in sway.
They sent the Jews back to Jerusalem
To keep an eye on Samaritan hem.
In the same way they relied on the hope
Samaritans would tell tales on the slope.
Divide and rule devised by Cyrus once
Helped Persians to plague every sort of dunce.

38 As they went on, it happened he
Went in a certain village wee.
A certain woman who was named
Martha received him in hearth famed.
39 This one had a sister they called
Mary, who also sat enthralled
At Jesus' feet and heard his word.
40 But busy Martha ran and stirred.
And then she came and said “Sir, do
You not give a care that it's due
My sister should come help me too
And not leave me alone to serve?”
41 But Jesus answered her with verve,
“O Martha, Martha, you take care
And trouble with many a share,
42 “But there is need of only one,
And Mary chose the good and won,
Which shall not be taken from her.”

The cares of life seem basic and the most
Important, how to find a fine pig roast
And wine to sweeten it in gullet ground.
But Jesus says that only Mary found
The needful thing, to stop and hear his word.
That was a strong statement, clear and unblurred.
But what word did she hear? Luke does not say.
It may have been the same in Matthew's way,
That Your law shall not pass till earth be moved,
And universe be unhinged and ungrooved.
Beloved, I hear Your sent one always saying
To turn to You alone when I am praying,
And keep Your ten commandments every day,
Like Mary come to find the better way.

LUKE 11

1 And it happened as he was praying
In a certain place, when allaying,
One of his disciples asked him,
“Sir, teach us to pray true and trim,
As John taught his disciples swaying.”

The human heart is totally depraved
According to the way that Beza saved.
And it is true that even here I see
In the petition such iniquity.
They do not want to learn to pray so they
Can come to worship You and properly.
They want to be like John's folk for a day,
Conforming to a model's symmetry.
Beloved, let no man teach me how to pray.
I want the fruit of wicked heart to stray.
I want You only with my wordless plaint,
And let my sonnetry try even saint.
I want You with praise, penance and petition
Within my silent heart, Your recognition.

2 And he said to them, “When you pray,
Say: Our Father who's come to stay
In heaven, hallowed be Your name,
Let Your kingdom come, let Your claim
Be done on earth as in heaven's fame.
3 “Give us the bread we need each day;
4 “And forgive us our sins, for we
Also forgive iniquity
Of everyone who's in our fee.
And lead us not in trials' way,
But save us from the evil sway.”

The words quoted by Luke are somewhat changed
From those that Matthew six had once arranged.
That shows they must not have prayed out in rote
The prayer as Pater Nosters now would gloat.
It is no set prayer at all then, but just
A list of subjects that we take in trust.
Beloved, I pray al-fatihah and find
The rote is still good for my meagre blind.
So why not let the monk and nun get on
With praying their hail maries on the dawn?
You penetrate the wicked veils of will,
So much the greater than the flesh is still,
And give the heart each tune that stays to thrill,
Or leave in calm remoteness on the hill.

5 And he said to them, “Which of you
May have a friend and so come to
Him in the middle of the night,
And say to him, 'Friend, before light
Lend me three loaves of bread, please do.
6 “A friend of mine just came to me
Returning from a long journey,
And I have nothing to serve right.'
7 “And the one inside answers him
To say do not cause troubles dim.
'The door is shut, my children fast
In bed with me. I can't avast
Get up to give you bread and trim.'
8 “I tell you, if he won't get up
For friendship to extend the cup,
Still because he knocks long and loud,
He'll get up and give in a crowd.”
9 And I tell you, “Ask and it will
Be given you; seek also, still
You'll find; and knock and it will be
Opened to you abundantly.
10 “For everyone who asks receives,
And those who seek bring in the sheaves,
And to the one who knocks the door
Will open on abundant store.
11 “And what father among you, when
The son asks for bread will again
Give him a stone? And if a fish,
Will he give a snake in the dish?
12 “And if he should ask for an egg,
Will he give him a scorpion's leg?
13 “Then if you who are evil know
How to give good gifts to the row
Of your children, how much more then
The heavenly Father will give when
The holy spirit comes to those
Who beg of Him the thing they chose?”

The children's trinity is bread and fish,
And after fish an egg fulfilling wish.
The devil's trinity is stone and snake
And scorpion to share for goodness' sake.
But You alone, Beloved, are like Dajjal,
With single eye to give party and ball
The blessings of good things, promise to make.
You are no trinity at all, but You
Consistently know what to bring in view
Of sweetmeats for the spirit and the mind,
The human heart that stays to sleep behind.
Beloved, while tasting three abundances,
I learn what is Your will and what is fizz,
Your promises by serpents unconfined.

14 He cast out a demon and it
Was dumb. It happened in the fit
As the demon went out the dumb
Spoke, and the crowds amazed the bum.
15 But some of them said “He casts out
The demons by Beelzebub stout,
The chief of demons and with clout.”
16 And others tempted him and sought
A sign from heaven to be taught.
17 But he knew their thoughts and told them,
“Each kingdom divided in hem
Against itself's fated to fall,
And so a house against the wall.
18 “So if Satan's divided too
Against himself, his kingdom's crew
Cannot stand either, what to do.
Yet you say I cast out the brew
Of demons by Beelzebub due.
19 “And if I cast out demons by
Beelzebub, by whom then do try
Your sons to cast them out foreby?
They'll be your judges, and that's why.
20 “But if I cast out demons by
The power of God, then upon you
Has come God's kingdom, it is true.”

The miracle is sign perhaps to some,
To every brainless churl and careless bum.
Performance of such tricks proves naught at all,
Not that Beelzebub is still on the ball,
Nor that the power of God holds earth in thrall.
They only distract people from the scent
Of truth, Beloved, that always came and went.
It was not smoke and lightning, thunder, fire
That proved You right on Sinai of desire.
It was the first commandment spoken there,
The Unity come crashing through the air.
If humankind can once accept the fact
That You are one alone and not retract
That oneness seen in humankind, we're fair.

21 When a strong man is armed and takes
Guard of his dwelling, so he makes
His property in safety's wakes.
22 But just as soon as stronger men
Come, they will overcome him then,
And take away his armour fast
Which he depended on and cast
Out his arms broken in the blast.
23 The one who's not with me has passed
Against me. And the one who does
Not gather scatters where he was.

When Jesus set his friends back in their place
Forbidding a man from the healing race
By using Jesus' name though he was not
One of the disciples upon the plot,
He meant that others outside his own sect
Could be about Your work, Beloved, select.
Now here the man denies his own word by
Insisting those who are not writ in sky
Among his own disciples are a threat.
So inconsistency is something met.
Beloved, I'm neither with nor against any
Except on the criterion of many
To keep or not the ten commandments true.
Let me be against all, but be for You.

24 When unclean demon leaves a man,
He goes through desert parts to fan.
But he does not find rest, so he
Says “I'll return to my home wee
From which I came out by decree.”
25 He comes and finds the place is swept,
Embellished, washed, painted, and kept.
26 Then he goes and takes seven more
Spirits more wicked than his score,
And comes back in to stay, so that
The last state of the man's out flat
Worse than the first for gear and store.

The seven spirits that dwell in my heart
To rend the veils that would keep us apart,
Beloved, are seven spirits from Your throne.
I care to bow to You, Beloved, alone.
The seven spirits that see all the earth
From the celestial haven of Your berth
Flame hotly in my breast, though floor may be
Unswept, ungentle and unsightly scree.
Beloved, sweep where You will, I'm at a loss
To be the cleaner of Your temple toss,
And yet the best job I've had in this state
Has been the cleaning of the toilets' rate,
The scrubbing down of the floors and the tiles,
The chasing of foul smells for miles and miles.

27 It happened when he said these things,
A certain woman in the wings
Of the crowd lifted up her voice
And said to him, “Blessed is the choice
Womb that has borne you and the breasts
That gave suck in your interests.”
28 But he said “No, rather are blessed
Those who hear Word of God confessed
And keep it thoroughly and best.”

The blessed Virgin Mary is a saint,
Among the best to whom comes such complaint
Of every human in the Roman nest,
And in the eastern church too to invest.
I do not think that it's exclusive thing,
This blessing on the womb and well as wing.
Why cannot Mary be blessed in her way
As well as those who live here in the sway
Of Your commandments to keep them, I pray?
Beloved, bless virgin Mary and bless me,
Both to keep Your word faithfully and see
That if the womb is empty and the manger
Of Bethlehem and Your sent one's in danger,
He may dwell in my heart abundantly.

29 The crowds pressed round and so he said
“This is a generation led
Of evil. It seeks oft a sign,
And no sign will come in their line,
Except the sign of prophet Jonah.
30 For even as Jonah was a loner
Sign to the Ninivites, so too
The Son of Man is to this crew.

The Gospel makes the sign of Jonah be
The number of days and of nights at three,
And yet here Luke records a different staff,
One to make whale and gourd-eating worm laugh.
It's not the days and nights that are the sign,
Nor trinities of either to divine,
But the call to repentance that awaits
Each folk to hear a prophet in their states.
The sign of every prophet who is true
Is that he calls repentance from the rue.
Beloved, I am a prophet to myself,
Calling me to repentance on my shelf,
Along the paths that filled with snow today,
Among the shedding firs' brief light in ray.

31 The queen of the south will be raised
Upon the Judgement with the crazed
Men of this generation and
Will condemn them because she fanned
From the ends of the earth to hear
The wisdom of Solomon near.
See one greater than Solomon
Is here, and that's something begun.
32 Men, Ninevites will rise up in
The Judgement with this crew in din,
And will condemn it, because they
Repented at Jonah word's sway.
See one greater than Jonah's here,
But you refuse to lend your ear.

Some quote the Qur'an that all prophets due
Are equal and no one is better brew
Than any other in the divine pew.
Yet Jesus himself claims to be a greater
Than Solomon and Jonah's instigator.
The queen of Sheba is a lady ready
To drop a sentence on each John and Freddy,
While Ninevites who once repented then
Will have a thing to say to modern men.
Beloved, I trek a way to find the two,
One northward from Jerusalem in view,
The other buried in the drowsy south,
Waiting with milk and honey in the mouth,
Waiting for faithful judgement's residue.

33 But no one lights a lamp and sets
It in a hidden place nor gets
A corn measure to hide it in,
But sets it on a lampstand's tin,
So those who come in see the light.
34 The body's lamp is the eye, so
When your eye's sound, body also
Is all light. But when it is bad,
Also your body's dark and sad.
35 Watch then so the light in you's not
A darkness where you wander sot.
36 If then your whole body is light,
Without any darkness in sight,
All will be light, as when the lamp
Enlightens you shining through damp.

But if the light and lamp is a fair gem,
A jewel of love from Jerusalem,
Then the one who gains it may keep it where
Its holy scintillating is the share
Of his eyes only. The light of the crowd
Is merely darkness of the vain allowed.
But if the light of love is set for all
To see and to extinguish at a call,
Then it will flicker and in pain will fall,
If the light of love is not safely kept.
Beloved, I've squandered light and I have wept.
Yet I may never learn to keep the sweet
And truthful to myself as for a treat.
I may forever shed what should be swept.

37 As He spoke came one Pharisee,
Inviting him to lunch freely.
He went in and lay down to see.
38 The Pharisee watched most surprised
That he did not first wash apprised
Before the dinner undisguised.

Your sent one should have washed his hands when he
Came to the table for hygienic spree.
The point is taken well that he will not
Conform to oral law that has been taught
Outside the written Torah. But the germs
That multiply beneath his nails in terms
Might override the making of the point.
I do not follow oral law in joint,
But still I wash my hands before the meal,
At least after a visit and appeal
To toilets. But the dirty hands of Christ
Seem quite unnecessary to unliced.
Beloved, the argument of washing still
Meets baptism in every sort of pill.

39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you
Pharisees cleanse the outer view
Of the cup and the dish, but leave
You inside full and to retrieve
Of robbery and evil sleeve.
40 Fools! Did not the one who once made
The outside also in parade
Fake the inside and so it stayed?
41 But give alms of the things within,
And see, all things are clean from sin.

Actions that cleanse are giving alms, it's true,
The most basic of such actions in view.
But fasting also cleanses and the bath
Of head and hand and foot upon the path,
Immersion of the body at a time
Determined by intimacy in crime.
The washing of the outside is enough
To make hypocrisy of smooth and rough,
When robbery and extortion remain
To hide beneath the washing of the vain.
Beloved, let alms lead in the way of right,
The path that leads out of the frozen night
Of life upon the planet made of dust
To show me all the joys of what man must.

42 But woe to you, you Pharisees,
For you pay tithes of mint's degrees,
And rue and every herb, and miss
Justice and God's love not to kiss.
It is right to do those things too,
But not to leave aside the true.
43 Woe to you, Pharisees! For you
Love platform seats in synagogues
And greetings of the demagogues.
44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees!
You hypocrites! For you are like
The inside of the tombs to strike,
And those who walk above them do
Not know what's in your heart of rue.

Imagination is Christ's favourite word,
Activity in heart and might that stirred
Him to think how the tombs beneath his feet
Are hardly thought of by the folk who meet.
The beds are green with ferns and purple flowers,
The leaves dripping alive after the showers,
While underground the vaults are silent where
The slow decay wins over faint and fair.
Beloved, may my open heart overflow
In actions that reveal what is below,
And let the hidden chamber of my life
Be far removed from scandal and from strife,
Be filled with Your Self only in the way
I think and speak and act as well as pray.

45 One of the lawyers answered him,
“Rabbi, what you say's a thing grim,
And is an insult to us dim.
46 And he said “Woe to you also,
You lawyers! Because you're not slow
To burden men with weights too hard
To bear, and you yourselves are starred
Not to touch the burdens with one
Of your fingers to lift the tonne.
47 “Woe to you! Because you construct
The tombs where the prophets are tucked,
And your ancestors killed them trucked.
48 “So you bear witness and consent
To the acts of ancestors bent,
For they indeed killed them, and you
Fabricate their tombs for the view.

The fact is Jesus twists the common word.
The people who built up the tombs were stirred
To do so because they believed that they
Were doing what they could to right the way
Their fathers wronged the prophets in their sway.
But Jesus takes their witness turned around,
And makes them also guilty on the ground.
That is not reassuring if the man
Is given power of judgement by Your plan.
I'd rather be condemned in justice well
For what I did, than for such unjust spell.
If Jesus hoped to convict men of sin,
He went about it in an unwise din.
But who am I to notice or to tell?

49 “Because of this, God's wisdom said
“I'll send prophets, apostles led
To them, and they will kill and drive
Them out of land and home and hive.
50 “So the blood of all prophets shed
From the start of the world till now
Shall be required of this crew's brow,
51 “From the blood of Abel until
The blood of Zechariah still
Who perished between altar and
The sanctuary in its stand.
Indeed I tell you, it will be
Required from this crew in degree.
52 “Woe to you, lawyers! Because you
Took key of knowledge, and then you
Yourselves did not go in, and you
Kept out those who would enter too.”
53 As he said these things to them then,
The scribes and Pharisees again
Were filled with rage and they began
To plot against him as by plan,
54 And lie in ambush for him too,
And tried to catch him saying new
Things they could use in accusation
Against him to their own elation.

It may seem an exaggeration here
That men planned to kill Jesus for their fear.
But I can believe that, since I have seen
The missionary way to rout and preen.
The missionary teacher was warned well
Not to give native children better gel
On their reports than children of those sent
As missionaries in the heathen tent.
When he judged by performance rather than
The whiteness of their skin, they formed a plan
To crash his plane and tell the widow that
It was the will of God in mercy sat.
The lesson is that chiefs of church and state
Cannot be trusted with sword soon or late.

LUKE 12

1 The meanwhile a great multitude
Of folk had gathered to the dude,
So many that they trampled down
The people come out from the town,
He started telling first of all
His own disciples of the call,
“Beware the yeast of Pharisees,
Which is hypocrisy to please.
2 “For there is nothing hidden that
Will not be revealed where it’s at,
Nor hidden that will not be known.
3 “Therefore whatever you have shown
In the dark will be heard in light,
And what you’ve spoken in the night
Ear and in inner rooms will be
Proclaimed on the housetops to see.
4 “And I say to you, my friends, do
Not be afraid of any who
May kill the body, after that
There’s nothing they can do with bat.
5 “But I will show you whom to fear:
Fear him who, after he has killed,
Has power to cast in hell, as willed,
Indeed I tell you he’s to fear!

Beloved, give me a glimpse of inner hell
That I may realize the house and well
And plot and company where I’m today
Is paradise, there is no other way.
The faces I see all around are those
That reflect Your face in the way You chose.
Behind my shoulder twitter in a cloud
Ten thousand angels in psalmody loud
Who hide like fables if I turn my head,
And then start up again their songs instead.
Beloved, give me a glimpse of hell in sight
That I may see my paradise’ full light
And know the hidden treasure of Your will
Beyond the veiling shadows and the hill.

6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two
Copper coins? And not one or few
Of them’s forgotten before God.
7 “But the very hairs of your pod
Are all numbered. Do not fear then,
You’re of more value, you as men,
Than many sparrows. 8 “Also I
Say to you, whoever comes by
To confess me before men, him
The Son of Man will not hold dim,
But confess him upon the sod
Before all the angels of God.

Ah, what did I just say about the crowd
Of angels pattering about out loud?
My senses doubt the truth of Jesus’ word
That says a man is worth more than a bird.
Worth more in what market, I undeterred
Ask brashly. At Thanksgiving time a turkey
Brings higher price than unemployed and quirky.
They build their nests like men, and care for young
As do those who inherit human lung
Instead of beak of sparrow or the strung
Hearts of angels. My own democracy
Would rather men, birds, angels all should be
Of one price and the same, infinity
Beyond the silver and the golden rung.

9 But the one who denies me in
The presence of men for his sin
Shall be denied before the face
Of the great angels in their race.
10 Whoever speaks a word in blame
Of son of man and to his shame
It will be forgiven, but he
Who blasphemes against spirit's fee
Of holiness, it shall not be
Forgiven him before the flame.
11When they bring you to synagogues
Before magistrate demagogues,
Take no thought how or what to say,
Or of what answer that you may.
12 The holy spirit will teach you
In the same moment what to do.
13 One of the crew spoke up to him,
“Rabbi, speak to my brother grim,
So he'll divide the goods with me.”
14 And he told him “Man, do you see
Who made me a judge in degree
Over you for your gear and trim?”

From the days that the elders sat in gate
Of town and village to give justice rate
To this day in the Middle Eastern plot
It has been expectation to be taught
And given verdicts for the way men ought.
The questioner had every right to ask
The same of Jesus who took up the task
Of one expounding law and faith aloud.
Jesus was impolite not to say proud.
But it goes further. If he could not lend
A verdict then in judgement on the mend,
Then how can he be judge of all things when
You set him on a throne to judge all men?
It's inconsistency that makes me fend.

15 He said to them, “Take heed, beware
Of covetousness. For man's share
Does not consist in abundance
Of things he possesses in glance.”
16 He spoke a parable to them,
And said “The field that lay in hem
Of one rich man produced in full.
17 “Thinking he was comfortable
He said ‘What shall I do, because
I have no room to store my braws?’
18 ‘And he said ‘This thing I shall do:
I'll pull down my barns, build a few
With more room to store produce and
The many goods I have on hand.
19 “’And I will say to myself, “Man,
You have enough for years in span.
Just take it easy, eat and drink,
And have a good time on the brink.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You're a fool,
Tonight your life ends at the rule,
Then who shall have the things you've got?’
21 “So is the one who gets a lot
Of wealth for himself, but is not
Rich in the things that God has taught.”

Live for today as if it were the last
Is good advice handed from those who've passed.
Live out today as though a thousand years
Spread out in hope before the joys and tears
Is good advice that's spoken by the wise.
Put both together and it's no surprise
That health and wealth and status in its guise
Will bless and distract from the coming fears.
Beloved, let me build barns and fill them up,
And still drink from the proffered heavenly cup.
The wisdom of providing set aware
That just one breath is each man's only share
Both hand in hand wisely come to prepare
The heart and hand to live without a care.

22 He said to his disciples then,
“That's why I tell all of you men,
Take no thought for your life and what
You'll have to eat nor for the glut
Of body and what you will wear.
23 “The life is more than food, the fair
Flesh is more than clothing to bear.
24 “Consider ravens which do not
Sow or reap, neither have a plot
In store or barn, and yet God's sought
To feed them. How much better are
You than birds flying towards a star?
25 “And which of you by taking thought
Can add an arm-length to the lot
Of his height? 26 “If then you cannot
Do simple things like that, why take
Thought for the rest come in their wake?
27 “Consider how the lilies grow,
They do not toil or spin a row,
And yet I tell you, Solomon
In all his glory was not spun
Like one of these, no single one.
28 “If God so clothes the grass today
Upon the field, and which by ray
Of morning is cast out, away
Into the oven, how much more
You of such little faith in store?
29 “And do not seek what you will eat,
Or what you'll drink to be complete,
And do not doubt in your mind's seat.
30 “For all these things earth's nations do
Seek after, and your Father too
Knows that you need such things in view.
31 “But rather seek God's kingdom and
All these things will come in the stand.

When Matthew quotes these words, his context runs
Among the pillars of Islamic duns:
The fast, the alms, the prayer, and it would seem
That these words touch excuses that men beam
Upon the pilgrimage. But Luke does not
Seem to recognize such a narrowed plot.
When I went on the pilgrimage, You did
Not provide for me on the open lid,
But the Shirazi Foundation came in
Inviting me to share in the Hajj din.
I thank You, my Beloved, and I thank them
Providing such a splendid, precious gem.
I did not lack for anything in store,
But ate and drank beside Your open door.

32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it's
Your Father's pleasure where He sits
To give you kingdom in the land.
33 “Sell what you have and give in alms,
Provide yourselves with bags for balms
That do not age, a treasure in
The heavens that will not fail for din,
Where no thief comes, nor moth unspin.
34 “For where your treasure is, there will
You heart be also to the fill.
35 “Buckle your belt and light your lamp.
36 “And be like men that stamp and champ
To see their lord coming back from
The wedding, so when he does come
And knock, they may open the door
Receiving him for evermore.
37 “Blessed are those servants whom the lord
When he comes shall find watching horde;
Truly I tell you, he'll put on
His belt and make them sit well drawn
To eat and he'll come out to serve.
38 “If he comes in the second watch,
Or in the third watch not to swerve,
And finds them there and not to botch,
Then those servants are blessed with verve.
39 “Know this, that if the owner of
The house had known when thief would shove,
He would have set a watch to keep
The house unbroken in his sleep.
40 So you be ready too, because
The son of man comes in the claws
Of a time when you least expect.”
41 Then Peter asked him, “Sir, do you
Speak this tale to just us select,
Or even to all in the crew?”

Beloved, I do wish that the lord would come
And put an end to this infernal hum.
The fact that I enjoy my hermit's vale
And sit beneath the pines smarty and hale
Does not diminish from the lack of ease
That plagues the most of men as by Your please.
I too take up responsibilities
Of keeping a house safe from robbers and
The cold that creeps anon upon the land.
I do not ask to know the day or hour,
But only that You keep it in Your power,
That You will send out at the moment shown
Best on the earth for all the powers flown
To come at last repentant to Your throne.

42 And the lord said “Who is the one
Who is faithful and wise when done
As steward, whom his lord shall make
A ruler in his household's sake,
To give share of food in the wake?”
43 “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord
When he comes shall find acting scored.
44 “Truly I tell you, he will make
Him ruler over all in stake.
45 “But if that servant in his heart
Says 'My lord has delayed his part,'
And so starts beating men and maids,
And eats and drinks to drunken spades,
46 “That servant's master will come on
A day he least expects the drawn,
And will cut him in pieces and
Will give him share in wicked band.
47 “And that servant who knew the will
Of his lord and prepared no bill,
Nor did according to his will,
Shall be struck many times by hand.

The faith of Jesus Christ's apocalyptic,
Even though the world's end is very cryptic.
Establishment of faith is dubious
Of end-time prophecies to make a fuss.
The former seems a madness and the latter
A system to make preachers all the fatter.
My own grandmother hoped until the day
She died to see Your sent one on the ray
Of clouds and coming back to save the pay.
And yet she died in disappointment then.
Was she wrong when she thought the times of men
Were numbered and the world should end again?
Though disappointed it seems she was right
Always to wait for coming of the light.

48 But the one who did not know and
Committed things of contraband
Shall be punished with a few licks.
For the one to whom's given tricks
Shall be held accountable for
The greater amount in his store.
49 I have come to send fire on earth,
If it's already in its berth
Kindled, then what is it I'm worth?
50 But I've a baptism for me,
And I grieve to accomplish, see.
51 Do you think I've come to bring peace
On earth? I tell you, no, release
Of a division on increase.

Despite the fact that Jesus taught to do
The pillars of Islam in Matthew's pew:
The fasting, alms, the prayer, and it may be
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem's degree,
He did not come to bring peace or Islam.
That was the work of prophet under palm.
He came instead to send a fire and taught
No resignation to the Roman plot,
But strict obedience to Your own law
Instead of to the jungle sort of claw.
Beloved, I enter baptisms of fire
And leave the folk around to walk the mire,
While I recite the secret Psalms and blessed
And wait upon Your throne among the best.

52 From now on there shall be five in
One house, three against two and din
Of two against three for their sin.
53 The father shall divide from son,
The son against the father done;
The mother against daughter too,
The daughter against mother's view,
The mother-in-law against her
Own daughter-in-law to concur,
And daughter-in-law against womb
That bore her husband in her room.

The house of monolatry is divided
Among five sects claiming they have confided
In You alone: the Jew, Samaritan,
The Christian and the Muslim and the span
Of the Sabaean on the river sided.
The Jews and Christians of today unite
Against Samaritan for their great plight
And against Muslim and Sabaean right.
The shifting faces of plurality
Show clearly down through all their history.
Beloved, I leave all sects to their own grief
Or visions of grandeur beyond belief,
And cling to You alone and to those sent
By You to bring to light the worldly bent.

54 He also told the people, “When
You see a cloud rise up again
Out of the west, straight off you say
'There's a rain shower on the way,'
And so it is just as you say.
55 And when you hear the south wind blow,
You say 'It will be hot below,'
And so it happens and not slow.
56 You hypocrites, you can read well
The sky and earth and live to tell,
But how is it that you do not
See what the time and age have taught?
57 Indeed, why do you not yourselves
Judge what is right and wrong on shelves?
58 When you go with your enemy
Before the magistrate in fee,
While you are on the way do all
You can to escape from his thrall,
Lest he bring you before the judge,
And the judge send you off to budge
Before the officer and he
Throw you into the company
Of prison to stay wretchedly.
59 I tell you that you'll not get out
Until you pay your bill with clout.

The Scripture is sufficient for all men
To read or memorize and know again
In every case what is the wrong and right.
No need for ayatollahs in our plight,
No need for canon law in priestly sight,
No need for rabbis to say when it's night.
The ten commandments themselves give enough,
And if that's not enough when things get tough,
The Bible and Qur'an and Al-Kafi
Suffice to make known all abundantly.
Beloved, I read the word of every sect
And I still do not know what You expect
Beyond the Decalogue to set me free
To cantillate the Psalms eternally.

LUKE 13

1 At that time there were some who told
Him of the Galilaeans bold,
Whose blood Pilate had shed to mix
With their own offerings in a fix.
2 And Jesus answered them and said
“Do you thing that these Galilaeans
Were sinners by all Galilaeans,
Because they suffered such from paeons?
3 “I tell you not, but unless you
Repent you'll also wear that shoe.
4 “Or those eighteen on whom the tower
In Siloam fell down in power
To kill them, do you think that they
Were sinners above all that stay
There in Jerusalem? 5 “I say
No, but unless you repent you
Will all perish in the same rue.”

In ancient days the human mind was quick
To think that divine punishment of sick
Is in degree of their sins without trick.
They could not conceive how You might allow
Injustice in the world risen somehow.
Today we see injustice everywhere
And use that as proof, not You do not care,
But that You cannot exist here at all.
Or rather You exist alone to make
An act of God, destruction in its wake.
Beloved, Your sent one does not take these terms,
But rather focuses where human squirms,
And calls all to repentance rather than
To pondering the rights of divine plan.

6 He also spoke this parable.
A certain one had a fig tree
Planted in his own garden's lea.
And he came seeking fruit in full,
And found none growing on the tree.
7 Then he said to his vineyard man,
“See, these three years I've come to scan
Fruit on this fig tree and find none.
So cut it down and let's have done.”
8 He answered him and said “Sir, let
It stay this year too, till I set
About to dig and dung it yet.
9 “And if it bears fruit, and if not,
After that you'll cut it as sought.”

The worker is the one that brings to light
The patience of the watcher in the night.
The lovely Jesus makes You out to be
Ready to cut down root and leaf and see
The body into hell-fire for Your glee.
But his role is an interceding word
To make atonement for the lack of herd.
Beloved, I take the intercession now,
Forgetting the atonement on the brow
Of thorns, for human sacrifice is not
Permissible within Your garden plot.
And when I bear fruit or when I fail there,
Dig round my feet and dung my barren share,
And let me turn the soil to praise in air.

10 He taught in synagogue one day
Of Sabbath. 11 And see, there astray
Was a woman who had been ill
For eighteen years, and she drooped still
And could not get up on her hill.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her
And said to her, “Woman, now stir
Freed from you illness to occur.”
13 And he laid hands on her and she
Was right off made straight as could be,
And she praise God abundantly.

From my Islamic point of view I wonder
Why Jesus could not heal this one in thunder
Without the laying on of hands. You see,
It is improper to touch woman's tree
If one is a man, which was his degree.
Why could he not just say the word and she
Would be freed from affliction? Perhaps he
Was out to provoke the Jews in the way
He healed upon the blessèd Sabbath day,
And needed act of hand to give them grist
To raise up against him accusing fist.
Beloved, I too am provocation when
I'm noticed at all by my fellowmen.
Otherwise I keep to my Sabbath den.

14 The ruler of the synagogue
Answered with anger in a fog,
Because Jesus healed on the day
Of Sabbath, and told folk in sway,
“There are six days in which men ought
To work, in them therefore in plot
Come and be healed, but do not come
Upon the Sabbath day to hum.”
15 The lord then answered him and said
“You hypocrite, are you not led
Each one of you on Sabbath day
To loose ox or ass from stall's way
To take him to water and hay?
16 “And ought not this lady who's yet
A daughter of Abraham met,
Whom Satan's bound these eighteen years,
Be freed from this bondage of tears
Upon the Sabbath day and let?”
17 When he said this his foes were shamed,
And all the folk rejoiced unblamed
For all the glorious things he claimed.

Note, my Beloved, You Lord of Christian State
And Church set out beneath the sun for hate,
That Your sent one did not retort to say
That he had put an end to Sabbath day.
Instead he gave interpretation fine
Of the law, and so established its vine.
Unless the law was binding, there was no
Need to make a midrash upon its show.
Beloved, I come each Sabbath day to You
With crooked heart from all the things I do,
And ask that in a moment I be made
Straight to praise You upon the Sabbath glade,
And find the recitation of Your Word
Returns me from my mingling with the herd.

18 Then he said “What's God's kingdom like?
With what comparison to strike?
19 It's like a grain of mustard seed,
Which a man took and cast indeed
Into his garden, and it grew,
And became a great tree, it's true,
And the birds of the air would perch
Upon its branches as in church.

Despite the fact that Jesus comes to say
That mustard seeds turn into trees in bay,
Which is not true, the lesson is well learned.
God's kingdom is not something men have earned,
The corporation, product, or release
Of a new franchise on the load's increase.
Your kingdom is a tiny thought or word
That incubates in one heart still unstirred,
But day by day in silence grows aloft
To be the comfort of the furthest croft.
Beloved, I take two birds found in the bush
And remain for the final blast and push
Out of the nest to fly above the tree
And see the glories of eternity.

20 And once again he said “To which
Shall I compare God's kingdom's pitch?
21 It is like leaven, which a wench
Took and put in three measures' hench
Of meal, till the whole rose on bench
Well leavened in yeast and its stench.
22 He went through the cities and towns
To teach on the way through the downs
Toward Jerusalem. 23 Then said
One to him, “Sir, are there few led
To be saved?” And he said to them,
24 “Endeavour to go in the hem
Of the most narrow gate, for there
Are many, I tell you, who dare
To make the attempt to go in,
And are not able with their sin.
25 “When once the owner of the room
Has got up and shut the door's gloom,
And you start standing outside knocking
At the door, saying, 'Sir, sir locking,
Open the door for us,' and he
Shall answer you and say freely,
'I do not know you from your tree.'
26 “Then you'll start saying 'We have eaten
And drunk before you, you unbeaten
Taught in our streets in high degree.'
27 “But he shall say 'I tell you, I
Do not know where you have come by,
Leave me, all you sinners that spy.'

It's not the fact I live before Your face
And have no breath outside that of Your grace
That means upon the Judgement Day that You
Will know me to be among fried and true.
Criterion is not the bread and wine
Dropped on the tongue or not among the fine,
But the occurrence or not of the way
Of wickedness in which I'm like to stray.
Beloved, I read the first Psalm of my choice
And heard the proposition given voice:
You know the way of righteousness indeed,
But ways of sinners are forgotten weed.
Let me do more than drink from cup and eat,
Let my hand do the righteousness in feat.

28 “There shall be weeping and the sound
Of gnashing teeth, when you have found
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob too,
And all the prophets, in the view
Of God's kingdom, while you're turned out.
29 “And they shall come from east to spout,
And from the west and from the way
Of the north and the south in sway,
And shall sit in God's kingdom's ray.
30 “And see, the last shall be the first,
And the first be the last uncursed.”

I'm one of those come from the north, I guess,
Unless the far-off ancestry's confess
From Africa is true beneath my dress.
I'm certainly among the last in view,
No leader, unrespected by the crew
Of those who rule the world by rue and shrew.
I'm among last of all as I rush in
To find Your kingdom beyond earthly din.
Beloved, I have not got used to the rate
Of first and highest in the earthly gate,
And so I should not be happy above
To lead the armoured with a push and shove.
Let me remain in Your kingdom last too.
It is my old and worn accustomed pew.

31 The same day there came Pharisees,
Saying to him, “Get out now, please,
For Herod will kill you with ease.”
32 And he told them, “Go tell that fox,
'See, I cast out devils in stocks,
And I cure folk today and yet
Tomorrow and on the third bet
I'll be perfected where I'm set.'
33 “And yet I have to walk today,
And still tomorrow on the way,
And the day after, for it's not
Meet that a prophet meets his lot
Outside Jerusalem in plot.

As representative of vulpine race,
Beloved, I take issue with Jesus' face.
He maligns me and mine to a disgrace
By comparing Herod to us in trace.
First off, he had neither the silver hair
Or russet to set him within our lair.
He was not like us, for we look to You
Obeying the instinct You told us to.
He looked for circumvention of Your law,
While we live honestly by hook and claw.
Tell Jesus to take back his evil word
Against the foxes, and we'll join the herd
Of those who praise his name on earth below,
And hope for life eternal in his show.

34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
You who kill prophets and stone them
Sent to you, how often would I
Have gathered your children with sigh
As a hen takes brood under wing,
And you would not have anything!
35 “See, your house is left desolation,
And truly I say for your ration,
You will not see me till the time
When you shall say 'Blessed is the rhyme
Of him who comes in YHWH's name's prime.'”

It seems at last Jerusalem has won
Out over Rome and Athens and when done
Over Mecca and Babylon to shun.
The paradigm of each city set out
To model for the world without a doubt,
But only that of Salem with a shout
Is found in every place and bin and bun.
There’s not a town or country on the earth
That fails to kill the prophets in their berth
And stone those sent to warn of the disgrace
That ambushes the hurtling human race.
Some kill with faint praise, stone with maddened curse,
The demonizing newsreel, or just nurse
Ignoring of the true, averting face.

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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