GOSPEL OF LUKE CHAPTER 14 - 19

LUKE 14

1 And it came to pass, as he went
Into the house of one chief gent
Of Pharisees to eat bread on
The Sabbath day, they watched him drawn.
2 And see, there was a certain man
Present who had dropsy in pan.
3 And Jesus answered speaking to
The lawyers and Pharisees' pew,
Saying “Is it a lawful thing
To heal on Sabbath day in spring?”
4 As they said nothing, he took him
And healed him and let go for whim.
5 And he gave answer to them saying
“Which of you with a donkey straying
Or ox fallen into a pit,
Will not straight off come rescue it
And on the Sabbath day for fit?”
6 And they could not reply again
To these things, though they were wise men.

Why did Your sent one enter in conflict,
And answer with a midrash gone and tricked?
He might have said the Sabbath day's grown old,
And tattered with abuse in Israel's fold.
But in the new and lovely kingdom found
Upon the earth as well as sacred ground,
We need not keep the Sabbath in the round,
But rejoice on Mithraic day of sun
In celebration of the things I've done
In conquering death and bringing true life
After the Sabbath questioning and strife.
In other matters he looked forward to
The brightness of the coming and the true.
He missed his chance to show he wasn't Jew.

7 And he set forth a tale for those
Invited and the ones who chose
The best seats for themselves and told
Them, 8 “When you get an invitation
To any wedding, don't be bold
To sit in the best seat and station,
For fear a nobler man than you
Has been invited, 9 “and the crew
Inviting you and him to come
Will tell you, 'Give this man his sum,'
And you be shamed to take the last
Seat in the banquet hall avast.
10 “But when you are invited, go
And sit down in a seat that's low,
And when the one inviting you
Comes, he may tell you without rue,
'Friend, go up higher,' and then you
Will be respected in the view
Of those at the table with you.
11 “For whoever exalts himself
Shall be abased, and who on shelf
Humbles himself, shall be raised high.”
12 Then he said to the one who had
Invited him, “When you are glad
To make a supper or a feast,
Don't call your friends, brothers increased,
Nor kinsmen, nor rich neighbours in;
Lest they invite you back again,
And you get your reward to spin.
13 “But when you make a feast, call poor,
The maimed, the lame, the blind in store.
14 “And you shall be blessed, for they can't
Pay you back, so your pay shall plant
On resurrection of the just,
Come back to life out of the dust.”
15 When one who sat at meat with him
Heard these things, so he said to him,
“Happy is he who shall eat bread
In the kingdom of God where led.”

The grand beatitudes of those who hear
Your sent one telling stories in the ear
Contrive to get attention, as I fear.
Blessed is the womb that carried him, say some,
And blessed also the one to eat the crumb
Within Your kingdom before he is numb.
I don't suppose that Luke meant by this word
Your kingdom was the Eucharist in herd.
It happened that the man was eating when
The thought came into head and heart and wen.
I'm blessed, Beloved, though not a womb or slice
Of bread or eater of anything nice,
And find a seat both soft and low so none
Come chase me out and throw me on my bun.

16 And he said to them, “A man made
A great feast and to the feast bade
Many to come, 17 “and sent his slave
At supper time to give the wave
To those invited, 'Come, for all
Is ready for who heed the call.'
18 “And everyone made an excuse.
The first said to him, 'I have use
Of a piece of ground and I must
Go tend to it, I beg your trust
To have me excused from the hall.'
19 “Another said 'I've bought five yoke
Of oxen, and must try at stroke.
Please excuse me too from the call.'
20 “Another said 'I've got a wife,
So I can't come, not on your life.'
21 “So the servant came back to tell
His master it did not go well.
The master of the house in wrath
Told his servant to find the path
And lane of the town and bring in
The poor, maimed, halt, and blind within.
22 “And the servant said 'Sir, it's done
As you commanded, and by gun,
There's still room there to have some fun.'
23 “The master said to the slave then,
'Go out in the highways and fen,
And make them come in, that my room
May be filled up to chase the gloom.
24 “For I say to you, none of those
Men I invited will come close
To tasting of the meal I chose.'”

The parable is rightly divined when
I think the chosen are among lost men,
And those that You accept are the poor found
In lanes and byways on infertile ground.
The dervish race is heir to the lost creed
Of Ebionites who kept Your word in seed,
The love of Jesus though without the claim
Of deity to win or lose the game.
The bishop said my faith was destitute,
Despite my going back to sit on root,
That I should rather follow king and priest
To find my show and welcome thus increased.
Instead I stay in my own poverty
Before the throne of sky, before the sea.

25 And there went great crowds with him, and
He turned and said to them in band,
26 “If anyone comes to me and
Does not hate father, mum, and wife,
And children, brothers, sisters' strife,
And even his very own life,
He cannot join disciple band.
27 “Whoever does not bear his cross
And come after me for the loss
Cannot be my disciple planned.
28 “For which of you, to build a tower,
Does not first sit down for an hour
And count the cost, whether he's got
Enough to finish on the spot,
29 “Lest by chance after he had laid
Foundation he could not have paid
To finish it and all would laugh
Who saw it undone under staff,
30 “Saying 'This man began to build,
Not able to finish fulfilled.'
31 “Or what king going out to war
Against another king on shore,
Does not sit down first and consult
Whether he can meet with result
If he has ten thousand to meet
Army of twenty thousand feet?
32 “Or else, while the other is yet
A great way off, he sent to get
Ambassadors in peace to treat.
33 “So likewise, whoever he be
Of you not to forsake for me
All that he has, he cannot be
One of my disciples in fee.

I count the cost of Your weight on my beam
And on my mote for rote in what they seem,
And find the temple made of Sabbath day
Expensive in amount of solar ray,
And hear the sema' sung and round and round
Wrought worthier than gold upon the ground.
The palace of the Psalms is free to speak
By day and night each day throughout the week.
I raise the palace walls of Psalm and pray
The democratic Sabbath temple's way,
And find the cost in monetary cents
Is nothing, but the wealth it represents
Is infinite in what it gives my breath,
And what it takes from me until my death.

34 “Salt is good, but if the salt's lost
Its taste, where is the seasoning's cost?
35 “It's not fit for the land, nor yet
For the dunghill, but men will set
It out. The one who has ears let
Him hear the message that he's met.

A rat's nest is the highest thing in art
For rats, though hardly noble from the start
Of human revelings in colour-form.
Men see it only a way to keep warm.
I wonder what angelic view may find
Of human arts that does not show them blind
To glories in the way men paint and sing.
Do they see art in humans' anything?
The pearl before the swine, the tasteless salt,
The water and the setting up of malt,
The sonnet and the tricking out of
Word Divine, they are all things that can be slurred.
I read my own words scribbled in response
And split the ears of wise man and of dunce.

LUKE 15

1 The publicans and sinners came
To hear his message in acclaim.
2 And Pharisees and scribes in blame
Said “This man accepts sinners' claim,
And eats with them too just the same.”
3 He spoke this parable to them,
Saying 4 “What man among your hem
Who has a hundred sheep, if he
Should lose one of them, will not see
The ninety-nine left to their fate,
And go to seek the desolate
Until he finds it soon or late?
5 “And when he's found it, he puts it
Upon his shoulders with joy lit.
6 When he comes home, he summons friends,
And neighbours, telling them no ends,
'Rejoice with me, for I have found
My sheep that was lost on the ground.'
7 “I tell you so shall be the joy
In heaven for one sinner in ploy
Repenting, more than ninety-nine
Just people without need to shine
In their repentance or resign.

Evangelists love this tale for the way
It gives proof that You love where sinners stray.
And yet it proves against the Pauline crowd
That You have dozens more of which You're proud.
There are the ninety-nine and more who need
At close of day no penance for each deed,
Who have lived by Your law and simply fed
Upon celestial wine and heavenly bread.
They may not be among the craven crew
That attains to acclaim in worldly view,
But that does not diminish from the fact
They obey where some others may have lacked.
Your law is not beyond the human hand
To do as You, Beloved, came to command.

8 “Or what woman when she has got
Ten pieces of silver in slot,
If she loses one piece, she'll light
A candle, sweep the house affright,
Look for it carefully in sight?
9 “And when she's found it, she will call
Her friends and neighbours to the wall,
And say 'Rejoice with me, for I
Have found the coin I'd lost nearby.'
10 “So I tell you, that there is joy
Before God's angels for the boy
Repenting of his sins' employ.”

The people where I live do not parade
Their gold and silver to the neighbours paid.
Instead they pretend that they haven't any,
And really ought to borrow pound and penny.
The more the neighbour speaks of poverty,
The more I know he has wealth in his fee.
Irrational is human culture's way,
And that is seen in every land I stray.
Beloved, I shall rejoice with You today
For found and lost, for hope that You may pay
The meals of the nouveau poor where they play.
The bread that once grew in abundance here
Is now the property of landed peer,
The companies that rise and take our gear.

11 He said “A master had two sons.
12 “The younger told his father's runs,
'Dad, give me my inheritance.'
And he divided up his pants.
13 “Not long after the younger son
Gathered up all the gear he'd won,
And set out for a far land fun,
And wasted all his wealth in store
Upon the feast and on the whore.

It sounds to me like he went to Beirut.
That's where the whores used to come down and loot.
That's also where they say after the run
In Mecca and Medina in the sun
The folk would go to have a bit of fun.
It must be in Beirut the fatal son
Found refuge from the love of father and
Hostility the older brother had.
Beloved, I come to take a faithful stand
Against the fun and riotous and bad.
It's better far to be Christian and sad.
The round of sacrifice upon the field
Is hopeful of a wiser, better yield.
The wilder oat is bitter when unpeeled.

14 “And when he had spent all, there came
A heavy famine in the claim
Of that land, and he was in want.
15 “And he went out and joined the haunt
Of one man of that country gaunt,
Who sent him out to keep the swine,
Raised in his fields and looking fine.
16 “He wanted to devour the husks
That the pigs ate upon their tusks,
For no one gave him bread to dine.
17 “He came to himself and he said
'How many of Dad's slaves have bread
Enough and more, while I may starve!
18 “I'll get up from this place to carve
With my dad, and I'll say to him,
'Dad, I have sinned and acted dim
Against heaven and against your trim,
19 “And am not worthy more to be
Called your son, but make me unfree
As of your hired servants to see.'

Truth was the lad was hardly worth his salt,
And so the pigs were given corn and malt,
While he stayed hungry in field by default.
It's no excuse a lad is useless though
To starve him so that pigs can take the show.
The feeding of pigs now takes more in wheat
Than to keep alive children in the heat.
The better way would be to breed no more
Hogs for the Gentile table and the store,
And keep the fodder for the poor who need
A bite to eat instead of merely seed.
Beloved, Your world has gone astray to find
That porkers are a morsel for their greed
Among the better diners when they dined.

20 “And he got up and came to where
His father was. But for his share,
He saw him way down the road there,
His dad did, and felt pity for
Him and ran and hugged him the more
And kissed him hard as he could bear.
21 “And the son told him, 'Dad, I've sinned
Against heaven and in your sight pinned,
And am not worthy to be called
Your son by hairy or by bald.'
22 “But the father said to his slaves,
'Bring the best robe right off its staves,
And put it on him and a ring
Put on his right hand, and to sing
Put shoes on his feet without sting.
23 “And bring the fattened calf and kill,
And let us eat merry to fill,
24 “For see my son was dead and gone,
And is alive again and drawn,
And he was lost and has been found.'
And they made merry all around.

It's like fathers in general to see
Them dote upon the children who in spree
Indulge themselves and waste the wealth in fee.
There's hardly any fathers on the earth
Who do not spoil the younger son from birth.
And that was the occasion for the fall
In the first case, when he climbed over wall.
As only son, I have no rule to follow,
And do not need to go outside and wallow.
I'm both the elder and the younger here,
And I have neither joy nor pain to fear.
Beloved, they say You too have just one son,
The Christ Messiah come to join the fun.
So how You cope is a way better done.

25 “And now the elder son was in
The field, and he came near the din
In the house and he heard within
The music and the dancing's sound.
26 “And he called one of the slaves round,
And asked what these things meant profound.
27 “And he told him, 'You're brother's come,
And your dad's killed the calf in sum,
Because he's got him safe and sound.'
28 “And he was angry, and would not
Go in, and so his father sought
Him out and begged him to be caught.
29 “And he replied and told his dad,
'See, all these many years I've had
To serve you, and not disobey
In anything you came to say,
And yet you never gave to me
A kid to feast with friends on spree.
30 “But just as soon as this son comes,
Who has consumed his wealth on bums
And whores, you kill the fattened calf,
So which of us has the last laugh?'
31 “And he told him, 'Son, you're with me
All the time, and all wealth in fee
That I have is yours. 32 “It was right
That we come celebrate in sight,
For your own brother had been dead,
And here he is alive instead,
And he was lost, but now is led.'”

The elder son, he has a valid point,
His father's ungainly around the joint.
He should have reckoned with the simple view
That looking down the road each day or two
Without a word of praise or thanks done to
The elder son was diplomatic brew.
The elder son is right, Beloved, I know,
And fathers ought to act well here below.
But this dad is not near insane as You,
Who by the story sent a son to do
The strangest thing on earth: to die instead
Of guilty partners who made their own bed.
Such action does no good at all to men,
But only makes You look stupid again.

LUKE 16

1 He spoke to his disciples too.
There was a certain rich man who
Had a steward at once accused
Of wasting his wealth and abused.
2 He called him and asked him, “What's this
I hear about you I would miss?
Give me account of what you've done,
For you are out upon your bun.”
3 The steward said within himself,
“What shall I do like dwarf or elf?
My master takes away from me
The stewardship. I cannot see
Myself digging in poverty,
And I'm ashamed to beg for delph.
4 I know what I'll do when I've lost
My job, so they will take the tossed
Out in their houses to set free.
5 He called his master's debtors in,
And said to the first, “What's your sin,
How much do you owe master's bin?”
6 And he said “One hundred in oil.”
He told him, “Take receipt in foil,
Sit down fast and write fifty's spoil.”
7 He asked another, “How much do
You owe?” He said “A hundred too
Of wheat.” And he replied to him,
“Take your receipt and write down dim
An eighty's weight and make it trim.”
8 The owner praised the unjust steward,
Because he'd done wisely in cueward,
For the sons of this world are in
Their ways more cunning than their kin,
The children of light without sin.

If anyone desires to see the man
You sent as faulty in the divine plan,
This is the text to take. He seems to think
Admirable the cunning at the brink
Manipulating debts to let some sink
And others rise upon the wealth and stink.
The owner praised the man who used his wealth
To buy the good will of debtors in stealth.
If the dishonest of this world can take
By cunning the profits for their greed's sake,
Then You would have Your own in cunning spree
Claim of Your wealth for others not to see.
I lay my thieving hand on heaven's gate
And plunder grace in infinite estate.

9 I tell you, make yourselves friends by
The mammon of unrighteous guy,
So when you fail, they will take you
In permanent houses on cue.
10 The one who's faithful in the least
Is also faithful in the feast
Of much; and the one who's unjust
In little's unjust in the worst.
11 So if you've not been faithful in
Unrighteous mammon, who will win
To trust you with the true to spin?

They say the most effective killers in
The battle are the ones who with a grin
Take over companies and win the race
Of gain for mere lust of the running pace.
The prize in killing is the same in peace:
The famous are just killers in release.
The quality of leadership is just
Capacity to eat immoral dust.
Beloved, let me not be successful here,
Neither in dress of peace nor in the fear
Of battle between those who join their gear
To take advantage of the oil and steer.
I flaunt Your grace among the ragged weeds,
The magpies and the goldenrod in seeds.

12 If you've not been trustworthy in
What is another's store and bin,
Then who will give you what's your own?
13 No servant can serve as in loan
To two masters, for one he'll hate
And love the other, or in state
Will hold to one despising late.
You cannot serve both God and mammon.
14 The Pharisees too, who with stamin
Were covetous, heard all these things,
And they derided him in rings.

This anti-semitic word is beneath
Your sent one to have murmured with his wreath.
The Pharisees are the ancestors of
Rabbinical in Judaism's glove,
And surely not all of them were the kind
To be so grasping of riches behind.
He must mean that the few among that folk
Who were the greedy type came in and spoke
Against the lord for what he said for broke.
The truth is by the dervish law and state,
A man cannot serve wealth and still relate
To You as to the Master of his life.
To do so is to bring on inner strife.
Relinquishing all, I come to Your fate.

15 And he said to them, “You are those
Who justify yourselves in rows,
But God knows your hearts, for that which
Is loved by men is in the ditch
In sight of God and at a pitch.
16 “The law and prophets were till John,
Since then God's kingdom's drawing on,
And every man runs in as drawn.”

The ones who look for kingdom in the scent
Of future will not know where kingdom went.
The kingdom came the very day that John
Spoke up and pointed to Jesus on lawn.
There is no kingdom but that once set down
To David in the Middle Eastern town,
Jerusalem. And that kingdom remains
Today for loss or for eternal gains.
Beloved, I do not wait for You to come
Again upon a mountain with the sum
Of law for Your great kingdom on the earth.
The first one that You gave for David's worth
Is good enough. It has been rarely tried,
But when it has, it shows it can abide.

17 Faster shall heaven and earth go down
Than one jot of the law from town.

You think that heaven and earth will fall before
One tittle from Your law will fail on shore.
You did not reckon with the Christian church
That leaves the world to founder in the lurch.
The law that You are one is turned to three,
Your invisible form to imagery,
Your name is given to such pagan gods
That reject Your Sabbath to eat their pods.
If that is not enough, parents go blind
While children steal and kill and go behind
The barn for their adulterous acts and shows,
While liars and the covetous in rows
Sing praises in contemporary pose.
I hope, Beloved, that You simply don't mind.

18 Whoever puts away his wife
And marries another for strife
Commits adultery, and the one
Who marries the divorced one done
From her husband commits a tonne.

Fact is the law gives the right of divorce,
So this word is in conflict and perforce
Shows that the Gospel is not valid here,
Unless there is an explanation near.
Matthew notes that porneia is excuse,
No doubt the marriage that is an abuse
Of incest law. Your sent one has no right
To drop the Torah law. His great insight
May well be that the Middle Eastern style
Of marriage for a few hours and a smile
To cover prostitution is so mad
A circumvention of your law and sad,
That You Yourself stand in astonishment
To see the lengths that humans represent.

19 There was a certain rich man who
Was dressed in purple and in hue
Of finest linen, and ate well
From day to day and for a spell.
20 A certain beggar who was named
Lazarus lay at his gate tamed
And full of sores and uncomplained.
21 He wanted to eat the crumbs that
Fell off the place the rich man sat,
And dogs came and licked his sores flat.
22 It came to pass the beggar died,
Carried by angels to the side
Of Abraham, the rich man died
Too and was buried large and wide.
23 In hell he lifted up his eyes
From torments as he sees in skies
Abraham far off, on his breast
Was Lazarus there come to rest.
24 And he cried saying “Father mine,
Abraham, have mercy in sign,
And send our Lazarus, so he
May dip his fingertip for me
In water and cool my tongue, for
I'm tormented in this flame's store.”
25 But Abraham said “Son, now mind
How you had in your life resigned
Your good things, and by the same token
Lazarus had the marred and broken.
But now he's comforted and you
Are tormented as is your due.
26 “Besides that there's a great gulf fixed
Between us and you so unmixed
Those who would come from here to you
Cannot, and neither can your crew
Pass over to us from your view.”
27 Then he said “I beg you to send,
Father, to my father's house tend
Him, 28 “for I've got five brothers there,
So he may witness of the share,
So they'll not also come to bake
In this place of torment and stake.”
29 Abraham told him, “They indeed
Have Moses and the prophets' seed,
Let them hear them, and hear in need.”
30 And he said “No, father Abram,
But if one went to them from damn
Of death, they will repent a dram.”
31 And he said to him, “If they'll not
Hear Moses and the prophets' plot,
Neither will they be convinced though
One rose up from the dead to show.”

The Hellenistic belief that the dead
Are live in hell arises here instead
Of the Semitic shade of Sheol led.
It's just a tale, and its purport is not
To describe paradise of hellish plot.
I do not know the future, nor would I
Understand it if it were written sly.
And yet I know bosom of Abraham
Is still the place I flee in life for dram
And shall be pillow in my death if grace
Lead me away from every awful place.
Beloved, I tip the gulf and drink the drop
That Dives covets instead of the sop,
And thirst the more until You come to stop.

LUKE 17

1 He said to his disciples, “There's
No way to avoid the despairs
Of coming offences bewares,
But woe to one who brings the tares.
2 “It would have been a better thing
If a millstone were hung like ring
Around his neck and he thrown in
The sea, that he should make a din
Offending one of these wee fers.
3 “Watch out, if your brother trespass
Against you, rebuke such an ass,
And if he repents forgive him.
4 “If he sins against you so grim
As seven times a day, and then
Comes back seven times to say again,
'I do repent,' you'll forgive him.”

While I have none who sin against me much,
At least not seven times in the day to touch,
It's rare that any sins against me and
Returns repenting at all as You planned.
Since none sin against me more than a few
Times at most, I remember what to do,
And forgive them without repentance due,
Since Your sent one said You forgive the true
In just the way that they forgive the ones
Who sin against them on their toes and buns.
So keep his word and forgive all I write
Without me doing penance in Your sight,
And I'll rejoice to find a ray of light
Here in this world that bashes when it stuns.

5 And the apostles told the lord,
“Increase our faith and make restored.”
6 And the lord said “If you had just
As much faith as a mustard dust,
You might say to this sycamine
Tree, 'Be uprooted by the spine
And be planted in the sea's brine,'
And it would have obeyed you fine.
7 “But which of you with slave to plough
Or feed the cattle anyhow
Will say to him, when he's come from
The field, 'Go sit and eat and hum?'
8 “Will you not rather say to him,
'Get supper ready and be trim,
And tighten your belt and serve me
Till I have eaten and drunk free,
And after that you'll eat and drink?'
9 “Does he thank that servant and wink
Because he did what he was told?
I trow not, may I be so bold.
10 “So you too, when you've done the things
All that were in your commandings,
Then say 'We're just poor slaves and we
Have only accomplished duty.'”

The sweeter sort of Christian always takes
This word with lumps of salt in the waves' wakes.
If anybody fails to steal or lie,
They're happy as a mark upon the sty.
But if a person keeps the Sabbath day,
They cry foul for abuse of legal way.
Of all commandments Sabbath is alone
A legalistic sight for such a drone.
And yet, Beloved, to rest upon that hour
Is to acknowledge You upon Your power,
And is but duty done, not for reward
Nor for the fear of lightnings or of sword,
But sign of poor slaves or of children won
To Your account before the battle's done.

11 It happened as he went up to
Jerusalem, that he passed through
The middle of Samaria
And Galilee. 12 And as in draw
He came into a certain town,
There met him ten men of renown
As being lepers standing far.
13 They raised their voices up a bar
And said “Jesus, sir, have mercy
On us.” 14 And when he saw them be,
He said to them, “Go show yourselves
To the priests. And as the time delves,
As they were going faithfully,
They all were healed of leprosy.
15 And one of them, when he saw that
He had been healed, he turned back flat
And loudly praised God off the bat.
16 He fell down in prostration at
His feet and thanked him on the mat.
He was Samaritan at that.
17 And Jesus answered, said to him,
“Were not ten healed, where are the trim,
The other nine, I see none dim?
18 “The only one who came to praise
God was this foreigner in ways.”
19 And he said to him, “Get up, go
Your way, for your faith made you so.”

The point was sharp that Jesus came to make
According to Luke in the hardened stake.
He stuck the Jews to say Samaritans
Were better in their kindly manners' plans.
The miracle was not the men believed
And went off to the priest when they received
The promise only, which had come about
While they were busy walking on the route.
The miracle was not that Jesus could
Heal leprosy among wicked and good.
The miracle was that one man turned back
To say his thanks. Very few have that knack.
Beloved, let me be wiser than the store,
A genius, having learned thanks given more.

20 When Pharisees asked him about
The time God's kingdom should come out,
He answered them and said “The king-
Dom of God is not seeing's thing.
21 “Neither shall they say 'See now, look!'
Or 'Over by the other nook!'
For see, God's kingdom's here with you.”

Those who pretend to spirituality,
And lecture to New Agers in a spree,
Say that the kingdom's in the heart, within
Where silence meets to greater sort of din.
The kingdom's not within a man of sin
Or in a righteous heart. It is a man
Who was seen there before their eyes in span.
The kingdom was with them that very day
In the figure of flesh and blood and clay.
I reckon though I cannot see his day,
He hides in occultation on the way,
And stays before Your throne, Beloved, to pray.
I enter in the kingdom of the son
Of David and invisibly have won.

22 He said to his disciples then,
“The time will come when you again
Will wish to see one of the days
Of son of man, and not to raise.
23 “And they will say to you, 'Behold,
It's here or there,' but when you're told,
Do not go or follow the sold.
24 “For as the lightnings from one end
Of the sky to the other bend,
So shall too be the son of man
In the day that he comes to span.

My mind seem rational to think the earth
Must go on as it is in faith and mirth.
But the apocalyptic sort of berth
Is found in Luke and other gospels' worth.
Beloved, send out the son of David when
The colder shoulder turns among such men
As seek or not Your justice come again.
I hear the news of peace made here and there,
Of human rights proclaimed among the fair,
But do not go to see them take their share.
I wait for lightning from the east and west
To shine upon the coming of the best,
And find the waiting short despite the pain
Of rival runs and stuttering of rain.

25 “But first he has to suffer much,
Rejected by this people's touch.
26 “And as it was in Noah's days,
So also shall be in the days
Of son of man coming for praise.
27 “They ate and drank and married wives,
And gave in marriage all their lives,
Until the day Noah went in
The ark, and then the flood in din
Came and destroyed all in their sin.
28 “So also it was in the days
Of Lot: they ate and drank for stays,
They bought and sold, planted and built,
29 “But the same day at a full tilt
That Lot went out of Sodom it
Rained fire and brimstone in a fit
From the sky and destroyed them all.
30 “Just so it will be in the day
When son of man appears to stay.

I recognize the markings of the time
In which I live like Noah in his prime,
Like Lot and Lot's wife looking back on crime,
Because I see the hovering of the climb.
Beloved, the days have spilled about the hill
That captivates my gratitude and still
Sleeps under sun and cloud or frozen rill.
The son of man may come for all I care
Tomorrow or today to give the share
Of punishment or reward to the fair.
My penance is enough to sleep and wake
Beneath the firs and pines and birch's stake.
The roll of snow that tumbles from the roof
Is din enough, apocalyptic proof.

31 “Then the one on the rooftop who
Has his belongings in the pew
In the house, let him not come down
To rescue it about the town,
And the one in the field, let him
Not go back to save gear and trim.
32 “Remember Lot's wife, it was grim.
33 “The one who tries to save his life
Shall lose it, and the one in strife
To lose his life will save from knife.
34 “I tell you, in that night there'll be
Two in one bed, and one go free,
And yet the other will be left.
35 “Two shall be grinding till bereft
Shall be the one and yet the other
Shall be taken up not to smother.
36 “Two shall be in the field, and one
Shall be taken, the other spun.”
37 They answered and said to him, “Where,
Sir?” And he said to them, “Forbear,
Wherever the corpse lies, then there
The eagles gather for their share.”

If all days are alike in evil share,
Then how can eagles give a clear sign there?
The nearness of the coming is not seen
In wars or famines on the fat or lean,
In hopes or desperations of the great
Or of the smaller people in their fate.
The circling of the buzzards in my youth
Told me as well then as now of the truth
That time goes on without a sign of end
Except it tatters where the knots would blend.
Beloved, I trust the coming. Let me be
Upon the housetop, bed or field to see
Arrival of the waited and Mahdi,
The coming of Your Christ to end the spree.

LUKE 18

1 He spoke a parable to them,
That men should always pray a dem
And not just wither on the stem.
2 He said “There was a judge in town
Who feared neither God nor the crown.
3 “There was also a widow there
In that place, and she came to share,
Saying 'Avenge me of my foe.'
4 “But he would not and he was slow.
But in time he said to himself,
Though I fear neither God nor elf,
5 “Yet because this widow's a pest,
I will come to avenge her, lest
By always coming she'll tire me.”
6 “And the lord said “Listen to what
The unjust judge said in his gut.
7 “And shall not God avenge His own
Chosen, who cry day and intone
In the night to Him, though He wait
A long time to repair their state?”
8 “I tell you He'll avenge them fast.
Still when the son of man at last
Shall come, will he find faith on earth?”

Beloved, I do implore You day and night
To spread my book in many people's sight.
But not to buy alone, Beloved, but read,
And not to read alone, Beloved, with greed,
But to turn to You only in their need.
I do implore You night and day to bring
My sonnet prayers to ears to hear them sing,
But not to hear alone, but to reject
The futile and remember to select
What tends to goodness, truth, and beauty here.
Beloved, turn my small efforts to good cheer,
And multiply the good and bend the chaff.
I turn around the slaughter ground and laugh
To find Your answer sounding proud and clear.

9 He spoke this parable to those
Who trusted in their righteous pose
And despised others in their rows.

The remnant righteous is a class that's set
Since Jeremiah was a prophet met.
The elite of a church or synagogue
Has always had its own admiring cog.
And everywhere that Islam speaks the word,
There is a dervish group to leave the herd.
The pinnacle of truth appears to be
Laestadians, who know they'll only see
The Finns and Swedes that make up their party
Stand straight before Your throne to get their fee.
All others will land in hell by decree.
Beloved, I join in no elite nor in
The great established throng in righteous din,
But flee to You alone and so I win.

10 Two went to the temple to pray,
The one a Pharisee to stay,
The other just a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood by himself
And prayed thus: God upon Your shelf,
I thank you I'm not like the others
Among men to extortion brothers,
Unjust, adulterers or such
As even this publican's crutch.
12 I fast two days a week and I
Give tithes of all I have in sty.
13 The publican stood to one side,
And would not even lift in pride
His eyes toward the sky, but struck
His breast and said again for luck,
“Have mercy on me, God, for I
Am just a sinner going by.”
14 I tell you, this man went back home
Put right, while the other in Rome
Did not. For every one that sets
Himself up high, shall be put low,
But every humbler one then gets
Exalted by God and not slow.

The doctrine of justification here
Demands a human sacrifice to cheer.
But the loved Gospel makes no such in claim,
But justifies repentant man and dame.
Without a cross, without a Saviour near
Besides Your lovely self, Beloved, he came
To pray the best of prayers and without shame
To beat his breast, the gesture You would steer,
And beg Your mercy infinite in fear
And make no other claim beside the same,
That he was just a sinner at Your ear.
Beloved, of all men that You have held dear,
That loathsome tax collector now of fame
Stands noble above every Christian blame.

15 And they brought him babies to touch,
But when the disciples as much
As saw it they rebuked the folk.
16 But Jesus summoned them and said
“Let little children come as led,
Do not prevent them, for of such
Is God's kingdom made up as much.
17 “Truly I tell you, everyone
Who does not take God's kingdom won
As does a little child shall not
By any means get in the plot.”

The kingdom was a personage, a man,
The son of David by eternal plan,
And not an inspiration in the heart
Within as some today would paint the cart.
The difference between the man and child
Is not that one is righteous, mild or wild,
But that the child accepts the king who comes
With joy enthusiastic and with drums,
And climbs up in his lap, looks in his face,
And asks him for a story by his grace.
Adults at best shake hands and are polite
And distant, though some days they even might
Flatter or fawn or jostle for their right.
Beloved, I come a child for Your delight.

18 A certain ruler asked him saying
“Good master, what shall I waylaying
Do to inherit life eternal?”
19 And Jesus said to him infernal,
“Why do you call me good? There's none
Who's good but God alone when done.
20 “You know the ten commandments well,
Fall not under adultery's spell,
Do not kill, do not steal, do not
Bear a false witness in a plot,
And honour dad and mum a lot.”

Jesus rejects the attributes of God,
But sets himself a man upon the sod.
His brief sermon capitulates Your own,
Beloved, spoken upon Mount Sinai's throne.
They tell me Jesus here rejects the most
Of the commandments by selection's boast,
But I say he identified the text
By quoting the briefer ones unperplexed.
In those days verse and chapter had no clue
In reference for the numbering now due.
He does not thereby imply they are few,
But rather that the whole is law in crew.
Beloved, I hear the word Jesus made true:
It shows him to have come in faith from You.

21 And he said “All these I have kept
Since I was babe in arms and slept.
22 When Jesus heard these things, he said
To him, “There is one thing instead
That you lack: sell all that you've got
And give out to the poor the lot,
And you'll have treasure in the plot
Of heaven. Come follow what I've taught.”
23 And when he heard this, he was sad,
For he was a very rich lad.

Note here, Beloved, that those who claim the man
Had not kept Your law faithfully in span,
Because all men are sinners by Your plan,
Make Jesus out a liar as well as
The man who testified for Your law's jazz.
The law is simple, made for childlike hand,
And for the foot of youth upon the sand,
And for the tottering aged in command.
It is not necessary that all come
To sin upon the shore and then to hum
Before the priest forgiveness of the sum.
Jesus would add love to the law but not
Thereby annul the law from garden plot.
Let me remain a poor man yet one taught.

24 When Jesus saw that he was sad,
He said “How hard it is for cad
Of wealth to enter in the gate
Of the kingdom of God not late!
25 “It's easier a camel should
Go through a needle's eye than would
A rich man enter reign of God.”
26 And they that heard it said “Who then
Can ever be saved among men?”
27 He said “Impossible with men
Is possible with God again.”

The people that were listening to the word
That day when Jesus saw what had occurred
With the rich man, must have been rich to think
That it's impossible here on the brink.
Who can be saved if rich man fail to dine?
The answer of course is the poor in wine.
Beloved, I am a dervish in my state,
A poor man waiting at Your hearth both late
And early, instead of a man to seek
The wealth of powerful as well as weak.
Impossible or not I find the way
Of poverty in soul and power so gay
That even without sun upon the hill,
The calm of winter darkness comforts still.

28 Then Peter said “See, we have left
All and followed you as bereft.”
29 And he told them, “Indeed I say
To you, there is no man in view
That has left house, parents of pew
With brothers, or wife or his spawn,
For the kingdom of God in dawn,
30 “Who shall not get more in this age
And in the world to come the page
Of everlasting life on cue.”

The plan of Abraham was family
For church and not the Canaanites' degree.
The church of Jesus is to leave them all
And stick to one or two in secret stall.
The kingdom is among the two or three
Where Jesus is present invisibly.
Beloved, if I have two or three with me
It is a celebration at the call.
As missionary, I'm not on the ball.
Sabbath by Sabbath in the family's pose
I meet to greet Your name and smell the rose
Of divine presence on the loving shore.
I hear the beloved knock upon the door
And open all the while to read Your lore.

31 Then he took the twelve and told them,
“See, we go to Jerusalem,
And everything that's written by
The prophets of the son of man,
Should come to pass under the sky.
32 “He'll be turned over to the span
Of Gentiles to be mocked, abused,
And spat upon by the confused.
33 They'll beat him and put him to death,
The third day he'll regain his breath.”
34 They did not understand a thing
Of what he said, a hidden ring
From them, and so they did not know
The things that he had spoken so.

The lively in a later day resolved
That Jesus fulfilled prophecies involved.
No doubt for some things that was very true,
And yet, I see him taking on the view
That what the Bible says he has to do
As duty, not fulfilment of the word
Of prophecy, but burning heart now stirred.
The doing then is never something new.
Beloved, I find my punctuated days
Are met with in a world of swirled in haze,
But for the cryptic paths of Hebrew verse
That brighten my way with a song or curse.
I follow in the steps that Jesus kept
Though I'm not a messiah where I've swept.

35 It happened when he came up near
To Jericho, a blind man dear
Sat by the wayside begging cheer.
36 And when he heard the crowd pass by,
He asked about it, what and why.
37 And they told him that Jesus of
Nazareth passes by in love.
38 And he set up a cue and cry,
Saying “Jesus, David's son nigh,
Have mercy on me where I sigh.
39 The ones in the front rebuked him,
And told him to shut up by grim,
But he just shouted all the more,
“Son of David, pity my score.”
40 Jesus stopped and commanded him
To be brought before him and trim,
And when he came near, he asked him,
41 And said “What do you want from me?”
And he said “Sir, I want to see.”
42 And Jesus told him, “Have your sight.
Your faith has saved you from the blight.”
43 And straight away he got his sight,
And followed him while praising God.
And all the folk who saw the prod,
They also gave such praise to God.

Beloved, I also set my faith and store
On David and his son forevermore.
And when he passes me in my dark night,
I raise a cry to him to have the sight
Of truth and justice in a world of pain,
A world of solitude, a world of gain,
A world that cares no whit for pity's reign,
A world of dawn upon the autumn lake
In grey shine beside flames the birches make,
A world of open sky where I can fly
On things of hope resigned if I just try,
A world grown old in dusty beauty where
The strings of gold and pearls still come to share
A tawdry but endearing canopy.

LUKE 19

1 And Jesus entered Jericho
And walked right through it nice and slow.
And see, a man named Zacchaeus
Who was the top tax man to fuss,
He was a really wealthy cuss.
3 He tried to get Jesus in sight,
But could not for the press and height,
Because his own stature was slight.
4 He ran ahead and climbed up in
A sycamore tree from the din
That would pass by beneath his grin.
15 When Jesus came there, he looked up,
And saw him and addressed the tup,
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down,
Today I'll stay in your house brown.”
6 He hurried down to him with joy.
7 And when they saw it, they complained,
And said that he had gone untrained
To visit a sinner man stained.
8 Zacchaeus stopped and told the lord,
“See, sir, half of the wealth I've stored
I give to the poor, and if I
Have taken something on the sly
Dishonestly, I give him back
Four times the sum not to be slack.
9 And Jesus told him, “Today now
Salvation's to this house brow,”
Since he too's Abraham's son's stack.
10 “The son of man has come to seek
And save the lost who take a peek.”

In the case of dishonest men of state,
The tax collector and the business rate,
It does suffice merely to repent of
The stealing done and with or without love
To make the restitution that is spoken
In Torah for a pleasure and a token.
No sacrifice of lamb or human flesh
Is needed to start out holy and fresh.
Even the ones who usually come to spoil
Your sent one's day with snares and fowling coil
Are satisfied to see Zacchaeus sit
Upon the bough and like butterfly flit
Out to restore to all what he had taken.
The Roman crosses are now all forsaken.

11 As they were listening to these things,
He added a parable's wings,
Because he was near to the city
Jerusalem, and they thought witty
The kingdom of God should appear
Straight off unless it was too queer.
12 And so he said: A certain man
Of noble birth took to his plan
To go into a far-off land,
And then to come back as he planned.
13 He called his ten servants to him,
And gave them ten pounds to keep trim
Until he came back to the band.
14 His citizens hated him, and
Sent messages after him, saying
'We will not have this reign in swaying.'
15 It happened when he did come back,
Having received his kingdom's rack,
He summoned these servants to him,
The ones he gave the money trim,
To find out how much each one had
Gained by their trading on the pad.
16 The first one came and said “Sir, see,
Your pound has gained ten pounds in fee.”
17 He told him, “Good, you faithful slave,
Because you've been true with the lave,
I'll give you ten cities to brave.”
18 The second one came in to say
“Sir, your pound has gained in its pay
Five pounds more in the trading way.”
19 Likewise he said to him, “I'll set
You over five of my towns met.”
20 Another one came saying “Sir,
See, your pound which I've kept in fur;
21 “For I feared you, because you are
A harsh man taking from the bar
What you've not set down, and reap well
What you did not sow with a spell.”
22 And he said to him, “From your mouth
I will judge you and sell you south,
You wicked slave. You knew that I
Was a harsh master, taking sly
What I'd not set down, and to reap
What I'd not sowed, but got it cheap.
23 “Why did you not then give my pound
To the bank, when I'd come around
I might get my own back and sound
With interest on investment ground?”
24 And he said to those who stood near,
“Take his pound from him and with cheer
Give it to the one with ten pounds.”
25 They told him, “Sir, he's got ten pounds.”
26 “For I tell you that every one
Who has, will be given a tonne,
And from the one who has no gain,
From him shall be taken in pain.
27 “But those my foes who would not take
My reign, bring them here to the stake
And slaughter them before my wake.”

The kingdom had come soon as John had said,
As soon as he pointed to Jesus led.
But the arrival of the man to sit
On David's throne was not enough in mitt.
He had to go on a long journey still
To receive crown and sceptre with a will.
The kingdom does not tarry though the years
Amount to two millennia of tears.
The king is at Your throne to fill his hands
With all the glories of the universe,
And when his hands are full at Your commands
He shall return with blessing and with curse.
Beloved, I now invest in kingdom come,
Awaiting just the killing of the bum.

28 When he had said so, he went on
Up to Jerusalem as drawn.
29 It happened, when he had come near
To Bethphage and Bethany,
At the hill called Mount Olives dear,
He sent two disciples to see,
30 Saying “Go to the village there
Across the way, in which and where
You come in you'll find a colt tied,
On which no man has come to ride,
Untie him and bring him to me.
31 “If anyone asks you, 'Why do
You untie?' you shall tell him due,
'Because the lord needs him on cue.'
32 And those who were sent went their way,
And found it as he came to say.
33 And as they loosed the colt, the one
Who owned it came to see the fun,
And asked them why they took the colt.
34 They said the lord desired the dolt.

The king is king indeed, and not a mere
Churl on the threshing floor of Roman spear.
The stone is cut without hands and is set
Ready to crush the Roman kingdom met.
The centuries pass by and donkeys go
Out of style in the ways of royal woe,
But still the kingdom's here, and strong and near
To every heart gathered for royal cheer
Where two or three meet under donkey's rate
To find the son of David at the gate.
He rides again in every town where in
The homely hearth the minyan without sin
Is two or three of male or female kin.

35 They brought the colt to Jesus then,
And spread their coats on it again,
And set Jesus on it to ride.
36 And as he went through countryside,
They spread their clothes on the roadway.
37 And when he had come near just at
The descent of Mount Olives' mat,
The whole crowd of disciples there
Began to rejoice and to share
Their praise to God with a loud voice
For all the mighty works of choice
That they had seen and to rejoice.
38 They said “Blessed be the king that comes
In the name of the Lord in sums,
Peace in the sky and glory in
The highest, he comes without sin.
39 Some of the Pharisees among
The crowd said to him as they'd sung,
“Now master, rebuke your own friends,
And your disciples for their bends.”
40 He answered and told them, “I say,
If they should stop praising that way,
The stones themselves would shout and sway.”

The population of the earth today
Is greater by far than in that far sway
When the folk shouted hosannas in praise.
And yet the stones had better turn and raise
The shout, for now few seem to know the man
That You sent to Jerusalem in plan.
So let the stones cry out that he's the son
Of David and still reigns upon the run
Of earth before the day and night are spun.
Let stones cry out, since human voice is stilled,
Or rather turned to idols when they're thrilled,
And would make of Your own a second god,
And put You with him three peas in a pod.
Let the stones shout aloud before the prod.

41 When he got near, he saw the town,
And wept to see it glower and frown.
42 He said “If you had known, yes you,
At least in this your day in view,
The things that are of your own peace!
But now your eyes have no release.
43 “For the days come on you that your
Foes shall throw a ditch round your store,
Surrounding you in their increase,
44 “And he'll throw you down to the ground,
Your children too, and all around
They'll not leave one stone on a stone,
Because you did not come to own
The time you came before the throne.
45 He went into the temple, and
Began to throw the merchant band
Out with their customers to stand.
46 He said to them, “It's written well,
My house is a house where to dwell
With prayer, but you have turned it to
A den of thieves in every pew.”
47 And he taught every day there in
The temple. But the chief priests' kin
And scribes and elite of the folk
Tried to destroy him at a stroke.
48 They could not find a way to do,
For all the people in the crew
Wanted to hear him speaking true.

I've seen the teachers sitting in that place
With circles of disciples still to trace
Upon the carpets spread beneath the red
Stone of Al-Aqsa's house built there instead.
The centuries have changed nothing at all:
The stones still hear the blessings of the call
To prayer to summon worshippers in thrall,
The popular teachers still line the wall,
And when the generations change along,
New ones rise up to sing the ancient song.
Beloved, I take my place along the rows
Of worshipers who touch each other's toes,
And bow to You alone and find the grace
That Jesus taught long ago in this place.

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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