GOSPEL OF LUKE CHAPTER 20 - 24

LUKE 20

1 It happened on one of those days,
As he was teaching the folk ways
Inside the temple, and preaching
The good news, the chief priests in ring
And the scribes came to him along
With the elders to show him wrong.
2 They spoke to him and said “Tell us,
By what authority and fuss
Do you do these things? Or who's he
Who gave you this authority?”
3 And he replied and said to them,
“I'll also ask of you a gem,
And answer me by stratagem.
4 “The baptism of John, was it
From heaven or merely of men fit?”
5 And they thought to themselves and said
“If we say from heaven, instead
He'll say why did you not believe.
6 “But if we say that men deceive,
The people will all stone us here.
For they believe a prophet's near
In John.” 7 So they responded that
They could not tell where it was at.
8 And Jesus told them, “Neither then
Do I tell you by what power's yen
I do these things by you again.

The baptism of John by every word
Of Gospel is baptism not deterred
By You, Beloved, but for hearts truly stirred.
Repentance and the miqwe are well known
To Jew and Gentile here before Your throne.
As preparation day arrives, the man
And woman come to cleanse themselves by plan
In the sweet waters set in cor and fan.
Beloved, the water's not enough for me,
Although I took the baptism in fee
Before I stepped upon Hijaz in sand.
I donned the garment white at Your command.
I rather raise petition of a hand
To take Your own baptisms where I stand.

9 Then he began to tell the folk
This parable. A certain bloke
Planted a vineyard, and let it
To workmen, and went out to sit
In a far country for a time.
10 When the time came he sent to prime
The workmen, that they should give him
The produce of the vineyard trim,
Then the workers beat the servant,
And sent him far away with scant.
11 He sent another servant then
And they beat him too once again,
And treated him most shamefully,
Also sent him away empty.
12 Again he sent a third, and they
Wounded him too, and cast away.
13 Then the lord of the vineyard said
“What shall I do? I'll send instead
My loved son, it may be that they
Will have respect for him when they
See him coming out to them led.”
14 But when the workers saw him, they
Said to themselves, “This is the heir.
Let's kill him now and take his share.”
15 So they threw him out at the gate
And killed him. And so by what rate
Shall the lord of the vineyard do
To them when he comes into view?
16 He'll come destroy these workers and
Give the vineyard into the hand
Of others. And when they heard it,
They said “May God forbid the fit.”

The Pharisees say may God forbid that
Destruction fall upon the vineyard flat.
They knew the story from the prophet's pen,
And did not have to realize again
That Jesus was repeating warning set
By inspiration of the Bible met.
So God forbid indeed destruction come.
And yet the decades future in their sum
Brought grief beyond the punishment foretold.
The killing of a son out in the cold
Itself could merit not such sorrow taught
By Titus and his men in tragic plot.
Beloved, let every vineyard stand to yield
The fruit to join the bread of every field.

17 He looked at them and said “What's this
Then written Scripture that the stone
The builders set aside to miss,
Has become the head cornerstone?”
19 The chief priests and the scribes that hour
Tried to arrest him in their power,
Yet they feared the folk, for they knew
He'd told this tale against their crew.

Your sent one, my Beloved, had at his rear
The populace to protect him from fear.
That's why they could not take him in the seat
Of temple teaching those around his feet.
Your sent one, my Beloved, could speak aloud
Against establishment of faith and crowd,
Knowing the public place was safe for him.
Beware the night, I say with warning grim.
I speak against establishment like he,
But have no faithful bulwark of the free
Behind my words to stand protecting me.
I am alone before the awful crowd
That transgresses Your law as they're allowed
By church and priest. And yet I am unbowed.

20 They watched him and sent out their spies,
Pretending to be just men's guise,
To take hold of his words and make
A case to bring him in their wake
Before the governor's assizes.
21 They asked him saying “Master, we
Know you speak and teach righteously,
Neither do you accept the face,
But teach God's way truly with grace.
22 Is it lawful to give tribute
To Caesar or no, what's the fit?”
23 But he saw through their cunning way,
And asked them, “Why tempt me today?
24 “Show me a penny. Whose image
And superscription's on its page?”
They answered saying “Caesar's wage.”
25 He said to them, “Give therefore to
Caesar the things to Caesar due,
And to God things of God in view.”
26 And they could not take him with words
Before the people in their herds,
And they were amazed at what he
Answered and held their peace sweetly.

The persecuted and the good and fair
Can speak no message on the craven air,
Because the words they speak are shaken there
By those out to twist hope and force the dare.
What glories might Your sent one have expressed
Had he not had to deal with those addressed
With questions subtle merely to intrude
A doubt upon a beauty and a brood!
Because of that today the millions give
To Caesar what they ought to keep to live,
And recognize the state as true and just,
When it is really broken in the dust.
Show me the day when all look at the light
Blinding and overwhelming every sight.

27 There came some Sadducean men,
Who deny resurrection then,
And they asked him a thing again.
28 They said “Master, Moses wrote us
If any man's brother in muss
Die having a wife, but without
Offspring, his brother without doubt
Should take his wife and raise up seed
To his brother left in his need.
29 There were seven brothers and the first
Took a wife and died for the worst
Without spawn. 30 And the second took
Her as wife and died like a crook
Without a child. 31 The third took her
And in the same way every fer
Of the seven, and left no spawn but
They all died when they kicked the butt.
32 And last of all the woman died.
33 So in the resurrection tide,
Whose wife shall she be who became
The wife of seven without shame?

The Sadducean question on the law
Was cunning and erudite in the paw.
But by that token of reason and power
Of revelation on the trysting hour,
It was an abuse of the word just by
The suppositions of a priori.
Let me not be a man, Beloved, to find
Your word a mere excuse to make me blind.
I'm blind enough beneath the veils I see.
I need no greater blindness of degree.
Who is the wife in resurrection's spree?
A better question is for now and near,
And how to keep the purity with fear,
The faith with true obedience in stake,
The heart sincere and without sin to make.

34 And Jesus answered them and said
“The progeny of this world led
Do marry and give wives to bed,
35 But those accounted worthy of
The resurrection's world above,
Do not marry or give of wives.
36 Neither can they die in their lives,
For they are like the angels there,
And are children of God in care,
As resurrection's sons to share.
37 But that the dead are raised is seen
By Moses even on the bean
At the bush when he called the Lord
The God of Abraham restored,
And God of Isaac, Jacob's Sword.
38 For He's not a God of the dead,
But of the living: all are led
To life before His throne instead.
39 Then certain of the scribes replied,
And said “Master, well said beside.”

The answer Jesus gave the Sadducee
To show the resurrection's Your decree
Is subtle, far too subtle one for me.
That You are God of living and not dead
And yet of Abraham and his sons spread,
Does not prove anything beyond the fact
That Jesus meditated it unslacked.
The burning bush does not enlighten me.
Is resurrection implied in the word
Of Moses that You are a God who's stirred
By generations past? Perhaps it does.
But that's not convincing to one who was.
Beloved, raise me to life today and here.
Do not wait for a future day of fear.

40 And after that they did not dare
To ask him anything or share.
41 And he told them, “How do they say
That Christ is David's son in sway?
42 “But David himself in the Psalms
Says 'YHWH said to my lord of palms
To sit at My right hand in pay,
43 “Till I make your foes in their way
Your footstool where to rest today.'
44 “So David called him lord, and so
How can he be his son in row?”

The promise once prophetic was that You
Would resurrect King David in our view,
And set him once to reign again as due.
And yet another promise has been made:
That he should not lack son on throne's parade
Throughout eternity. The promises
Are contradictory and flash with fizz.
That Jesus noticed that is no surprise.
He was the son of David in some guise
As all the people shouted in his praise.
Both David and his son require some stays.
Beloved, I seek both David and his son,
And enter in the kingdom they have won,
And for my part they're both lords when I'm done.

45 Then in the hearing of the folk
All there, he said to his friends woke,
46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire
To walk in long robes and require
Greetings in the markets, high seats
In synagogues, and the chief place
At feasts, 47 “and who devote the trace
Of widows' houses, and for show
Make long prayers, the same shall receive
The greater damnation on sleeve.”

The scribes praised Jesus when he spoke a word
Against the Sadducean question blurred.
But that does not make Jesus join with them.
He rails on them in further stratagem.
Your sent one separates himself from all
Sects in the faiths lined up along the wall.
Beloved, I too rail on both foe and friend,
And though the gale blow, I refuse to bend.
Proverbial as grass upon the soil,
I'm neither tree unbending nor such coil.
Instead I am a dandelion sans stem,
Blooming beneath accustomed cutting down:
I feel no more the raging of the town.
I bloom pressed to the earth, beneath the frown.

LUKE 21

1 He looked up and he saw the rich
Throw in the treasury to pitch
Their gifts. 2 And he saw coming too
A certain poor widow who threw
In there two mills without a hitch.
3 And he said “Of a truth I say
To you, that this poor widow's way
Was putting in more than they all.
4 “For all these others from the store
Of their abundance have poured more
Into the offerings of our God,
But she of her poverty's prod
Has cast in all her living's stall.”

The great corrupt of all the preachers find
This tale an excuse further and inclined
To say that even poor ought to support
Their ministries to keep them in the sport.
Because temple establishment back then
Was a corruption and a thieving den,
Jesus in praising the poor widow's fare
Confirmed that support ought to be their share.
Beloved, the lesson to be taken is
That behind such a desperation's whiz
There was a history of poverty,
The last meal eaten, loss of hope's degree,
The last act before hunger should aspire
To cast the fainting body in the mire.

5 As some spoke of the temple and
How it was decorated grand
With fine stones and with gifts to stand,
He said 6 “These things that you behold,
The days come when there'll not be told
One stone left on another cold,
That will not be thrown down and sold.”
7 They asked him, saying “Master, when
Shall these things be? And what sign then
When it shall happen once again?”

OK, the ancient wailing wall remains,
And it is not to be sniffed at for gains,
For it is mammoth in its standing canes.
But that is no proof that the man was wrong
In his prediction of what came along.
It was a mere expression, stone on stone,
To say destruction was complete to bone.
And so it was, despite Titus who scanned
To stay the retribution of his band.
They did not try to waste the flames at all,
And if they had, they hardly in their stall
Could manage to extinguish the fire set
By passions and by wickedness unmet.
The human soul is lost in wandered lanes.

8 And he said “Beware that you not
Be tricked, for many come in plot
Of my name saying 'It is I,
And the time promised has come nigh,
But don't go after them or try.
9 “But when you hear of wars and strife,
Do not be afraid for your life,
For these things must first come to pass,
But the end is not near the brass.”
10 Then he said to them, “Nation will
Rise against nation, and king still
Against reign of the other lass.
11 “And great earthquakes shall come to shake
In many places, and the lack
Of food and pestilences crack
With fearful sights and horrid signs
Shall come from the sky in its lines.

It was not difficult here to predict
Catastrophe upon an earth untricked.
One only need to wait a day or two,
And somewhere death and grief will come to view.
Hope is a thing to avoid like the pest,
It squanders life while waiting for the best.
It gets no better than the hurtful claw,
The raucous music and the loud guffaw.
Beloved, across the metal grate and bell
I look to find the blossom on the knell,
The momentary colours I love well,
The breeze refreshing on the dripping slate.
I find reprieve in passing from the hate,
The disregard for life and death come late.

12 “But before all these, they shall lay
Their hands on you, oppression play,
Deliver you up to the fray
Of synagogues and prisons' way,
To bring you before kings and to
Rulers for my name's sake in view.
13 “And for witness they'll turn to you.
14 “Be certain in your hearts not to
Meditate beforehand the cue
Of what to answer them in pew.
15 “For I'll put wisdom in your mouth,
Which all your foes from north and south
Shall not be able to cast out.
16 “You'll be betrayed and without doubt
By parents and brothers and kin,
And friends, and some shall meet the din
Of execution by their sin.
17 “And you shall be hated by all
For my name's sake and for my call.
18 “But no hair of your head shall fall.

Not for the name of Jesus do men hate.
They hated before he came in the state.
The hate is born of those loves that incline
To see one's own soul as unique divine,
And thus the enemy of every cast
And every other human come to last.
Not for the name of Jesus do men cry
Down retribution from a fading sky.
Beloved, all men are enemies alone,
Each one devises his own lasting throne,
And each applauds the way to do the task,
Whether the communist or business mask,
Or late communitarian that throws
In human rights as if in helpful pose.

19 “In your patience you will possess
Your lives and keep to your address.
20 “And when you see Jerusalem
Surrounded by armies in hem,
Then know its destruction is near.
21 “Then let those in Judaea flee
To the mountains, and those who be
In the town leave it, let them not
Who are in the countryside's plot
Go in the town for refuge sought.
22 “For these are the days of judgement,
That all written there may be sent.
23 “But woe to pregnant women then,
And nursing mothers in days when
There shall be great distress at hand,
And wrath upon this folk and land.
24 “They'll fall by the mouth of the sword,
Led captive to all nations scored,
Jerusalem shall be thrust down
And trodden by the Gentiles' frown,
Until the times of Gentiles end
And they remain without a friend.

My concern's for the pregnant mothers when
The pestilences fall on sons of men.
When fair Jerusalem saw Titus' crew,
Those fled who had taken to heart the view
Of Your sent one. Some see the word come true
Not only in Jerusalem of old,
But also in the coming days of cold.
I see the bent around me closing fast,
How none will stop to reason in the blast,
And how hate unrelenting is still cast
Upon those not yet weary doing good,
Obeying Your commandments as they should.
The time of Gentiles draws near close and I
Wait looking toward the grey and lowering sky.

25 “There shall be signs in sun and moon,
And in the stars, on earth for boon
Of nations in distress to know
Why sea and waves are roaring so.
26 “Men's hearts fail them for fear, and for
Seeing those things come on the shore
Of earth, for powers of heaven shall shake.
27 “They'll see the son of man in stake
Come in a cloud with power and great
Glory. 28 And when these things await
No more, but come to pass, look up,
And raise your heads, redemption's cup
Is drawing near, and is not late.

The signs of sun and moon have long since come.
The crucifixion shall in ready sum
The darkness overreach the land and stay
To veil the reaches of that fateful day.
The moon has risen red, the stars still fall
Upon the atmosphere to burn and all.
Beloved, I raise my head and search the heath
For my redemption's coming and the wreath
Of glory on the crown of that man made
The son of David and king on parade.
Beloved, I raise my head to hear the call
Re-echoing about a world in thrall,
Bending the branch of aspen shuddering
Before the warning of the coming king.

29 He told a parable to them.
See the fig tree in all trees' hem.
30 They bud and bloom and so you see
And know yourselves that summer's spree
Is now near. 31 And so likewise you,
When you see these things have come true,
Know that God's kingdom's near at hand.
32 Truly I tell you that the band
Of this same generation's folk
Shall not pass till all's done at stroke.
33 Though heaven and earth shall pass away,
But my words shall not pass away.

I see the bud and bloom of spring appear
And know Your kingdom waited has come near
To treat me with the scents of youngish year.
I see the new gold of leaf turn to green,
I hear the rush of grackle on the scene,
And touch the iridescence of the sheen,
Fill knowing light in splendour pales before
The promises of reawakened shore.
The year that I await is not to wane
Before autumnal happenings and rain.
And yet each time I see the sun grow less
Until I look toward winter and I guess
Another round of pale earth shall be here
Before I learn to warble and to fear.

I mentioned once before the very fact
That all the hearers of this word have lacked
Existence on this world of smoke and tears
For centuries and centuries of years.
The word may not have passed away, it's true,
Because it's written here and still in view,
But the prediction falls flat on its face
Before the lengthening of divine grace.
Beloved, I had not been born if the sign
Had not been once reversed from human line,
And so I do not raise Your mercy's trace
Against You for false prophecies in race.
Let generations go or come for me,
I take the world today for what I see.

34 Beware, lest any time your hearts
Be overcharged with surfeit's arts,
And drunkenness and cares of life,
So the day unexpected rife
Come on you. 35 For as a snare it
Shall come on all of them that fit
On the face of the whole world's kit.
36 So watch and pray, so you may be
Considered worthy then to flee
All these things that shall come to pass,
And stand before son of man's mass.
37 And in the day time he would teach
In the temple, and at night reach
The mount called Olives to stay there.
38 And all the folk came in the share
Of morning to him in the place
Of the temple to see his face,
To hear him say his words of grace.

Avoiding drunkenness is not too much
For me here just because I do not touch
The alcoholic drinks that come to clutch
Society with a grip like the steel.
I shatter glass and bottle under heel.
But watching here and praying is a thing
I do neglect in my gross wandering.
The sonnets that I write do not count there
Since they are far to cynical for prayer.
I've been to tread the temple floor to hear
The teaching of Your sent one in his gear,
And I have looked to Mount Olives to find
The shadow of his night dreams on my mind.
Head clear, I watch and pray for the divined.

LUKE 22

1 The feast of unleavened bread came
Near, which is Passover of fame.
2 The chief priests and the scribes sought how
They might kill him, though they would bow
To their fear of the people. 3 Then
Satan came in Judas again
Named the Iscariot, who was
Of the number of the twelve's buzz.
4 He went off and put heads together
With the chief priests and captains' tether,
How he might betray him to them.
5 And they were glad and promised gem
Of money to lay in his hem.
6 He promised and looked for a chance
To betray him outside the glance
Of the crowd with a wrong and prance.

O my Beloved! How does the human face
Face ritual and dance beneath Your grace
And move and breathe in You from light to light
And still slumber in dark of the mind's night!
While sweeping out the leaven of the store,
They plan to kill another man on shore
Of earth's existence, one precarious,
Like every human thing this fabulous
Creation hosts. The very slightness of
Our life should awaken us to its love.
Beloved, there is no I but You and I
Would see no other in the face and eye
Of every human touched with life below.
Beloved, put Your divinity on show.

7 The day of unleavened bread came
When the Passover should be slain.
8 And he sent Peter and John, saying,
“Go set the Passover belaying,
So we may eat it in acclaim.”
9 They said to him, “Where do you wish
Us to prepare the spoon and dish?”
10 And he told them, “See, when you go
Into the city in a row,
A man will meet you carrying
A pot of water on his wing,
And follow him into the house
Where he goes in to delve and douse.”
11 “You'll tell the house owner the lord
Says to you, 'Where's the chamber scored
Where I'll eat the Passover meal
With my disciples in my keel?'
12 “And he'll show you an upper room,
Large and well furnished, without gloom
Make ready for what we'll consume.”

How did Jesus know that the man would come
To show the way with a water pot glum?
This fostering of superstition rises
From background planning out of his surprises.
So he agreed beforehand with the man
To show the way with water pot by plan.
Or then, Beloved, You did reveal the thing
To Your sent one, as though by magic ring
You could impress his friends to faithfulness
By knowing that You know and do not guess.
I've seen the unexpected, unexplained,
But keep my mind pure from the unprofaned,
And still reserve my judgement when the air
Is filled with miracles and answered prayer.

13 And they went and found as he said
And readied the Passover spread.
14 And when the time had come, he sat
With the twelve apostles on mat.
15 And he told them, “With great desire
I've wished to eat Passover pyre
With you before I suffer fire.
16 “For I tell you, I'll not eat more
Of it before the fulfilled store
Of the kingdom of God require.”
17 He took the cup and he gave thanks,
And said “Take this, divide the shanks
Among yourselves. 18 “For I tell you,
I will not drink the vine's fruit true
Until the kingdom of God come.”
19 He took the bread and he gave thanks,
And broke it and gave them the yanks,
Saying “This is my body which
Is given for you in the ditch,
Do this in remembrance of me.”
20 The cup too after dining took
He saying “This cup is the brook
Of the new testament in my
Blood which is shed for you nearby.
21 “But see the hand of the one that
Betrays me is here on the mat.
22 “And truly son of man shall go
As it was once decided so,
But woe to that man by whose hand
He is betrayed to evil band.”

There are those who wish to read every word
Here as a literal thing and inferred.
They want the bread to be the human flesh
And the wine to be human blood spilled fresh.
The clear impossibility of such
Remains the sign of faith that such folk touch.
Since You can do all things, You do as much.
You only hide the meat beneath the treat
Of bread and grape juice in former form sweet,
But in reality the folk become
True cannibals ingesting life in sum.
I see there are ways to betray Your word
And still find literal in the absurd.
Keep me both humble and with meaning stirred.

23 They started to question themselves,
Which of them who should from their shelves
Do this thing as though by command.
24 And there was also argument
Among them about which was spent
To be the greatest one to stand.
25 And he told them, “The Gentile kings
Take rule over them in their things,
And those who rule are held to be
Their benefactors in degree.
26 “But you shall not be so: the one
That's greatest among you when spun,
Let him be as the younger one,
And the one that is head as he
Who is a servant faithfully.
27 “Which one is greater, the one that
Sits eating or the one unsat
To serve? Is not the one that eats?
But I'm among you in my feats
As one who serves to you your treats.

The lost disciples at the meal protest
To know which of their number is the best.
They do not notice prodigies of God
That turn the bread to human flesh in sod
Before the flesh is struck with Calvary's prod.
If God can turn bread into flesh in days
After the sacrifice of crossly haze,
Then surely He can do it before it
Has been nailed to the tree in trembling fit.
But if salvation’s caught in such a wit
Of divine doings, there's no need a whit
For Jesus' death at all upon the cross.
You create ever new flesh at a toss.

28 “You are the ones who have stood fast
With me in my trials to last.
29 “And I appoint to you a kingdom,
As my Father gave me in wingdom.
30 “So you can eat and drink beside
My table in my kingdom's ride,
And sit on thrones to judge the twelve
Tribes among Israel and delve.”

Jesus himself is satisfied to be
Merely a servant while his friends in spe
Must be kings of kingdoms cast on the lea.
The quickest way to power is to cast lot
With Jesus who leads in the divine plot
Of setting up his own in royal fare.
It is a wonder and a sightly ware
I find promised to Jesus' friends in air.
Beloved, appoint me to the kingly post
Of my own head and life before the roast
Of hell fire, and I shall switch on the toast.
I'll sit with Jesus at the heavenly feast
If You let me inside the gates increased,
The open gates of pearl for godly boast.

31 And the lord said “Simon, Simon,
See, Satan has desired a tonne
That he may sift you like a bun.
32 “But I have prayed for you, so that
Your faith shall not fail where you're at;
And when you are converted, then
Strengthen your brethren among men.”
33 And he said to him, “Sir, I am
Ready to go with you in gramme
Both into prison and to death,
To serve you until my last breath.”
34 And he said “I tell you a thing,
Peter, the cock shall not take wing
To crow this day before you will
Deny you know me three times still.”

Again Your sent one shows and with a will
That he knows future events in the bill.
And yet it is no hard task to infer
That such a hard night would cause in the blur
All the disciples to cast in the cowl
And join the displaced monks upon the prowl.
After denying Jesus for a while
I come to rake the coffers with a smile.
That's all there is of priestly efforts left.
The whole religious world is one bereft.
Beloved, I trust that Your sent one once prayed
For Peter, and yet Peter's hand was stayed.
Let him pray for me with much greater force
So I may deviate not from the course.

35 And he told them, “When I sent you
Without a purse and scrip and shoe,
Did you lack for a thing in view?”
And they said “Not a thing, it's true.”
36 Then he said to them, “But now he
Who has a purse, let him make free
To take it, and likewise the scrip,
And he who has no sword at hip,
Let him sell his cloak and buy one.
37 “For I tell you that this in pun
Is written and must come to be
Accomplished totally in me,
And he was counted among those
Who transgressed, for the things in rows
About me have an end that rose.”
38 And they said “Sir, see here two swords.”
And he told them, “Enough accords.”

How many cohorts of imperial train
Do they intend to meet with two swords vain
And what's the use of swords at all when they
Are commanded to desist from the fray?
I know the literal is always meant,
If meaning can be found in what is sent.
And still I like to think two swords are there
To represent the things come from Your share.
There was no testament then but the old,
So two of testament's out in the cold.
Of course we could see rather that the one
Is sign of Torah while the other done
Is sign of the Zabur under the sun.
Both are swords of the word when they've begun.

39 He came out and went as he did
To mount of Olives where he hid,
And his disciples followed him.
40 When he arrived, he said to them,
“Pray that you enter not trial's hem.”
41 He went away from them about
A stone throw's distance without doubt
And knelt down, and prayed, 42 and he said
“Father, if it's Your will as led,
Remove this cup from me: and yet
Not as I wish, but as You've set.”
43 And angel came from heaven to be
A strengthening comfort's degree.
44 And as he was in agony,
He prayed all the more earnestly;
And his sweat was as it were great
Drops of blood falling from his pate
Down to the ground both soon and late.

Both angel coming down to lend a hand
And sweating drops of blood as by command
Seem quite miraculous in contraband.
The miracles that Jesus came to do
Are all caught up within the cry and hue
Of his disciples, who are also true.
It is a miracle that they could sleep
Out in the fresh air with excitement's heap
About them all, that they could sleep a peep.
Instead of praying that they not be taken
By Roman soldiers when they come and waken,
They slip into a calm and peaceful slumber.
Their mettle's up to spar and tough as lumber,
And their faith's holding tight and found unshaken.

45 And when he got up from his prayer
And had come back to his friends there,
He found them sleeping sorrow's share,
46 And said to them, “Why do you sleep?
Get up and pray, lest you should weep
In your temptation, so beware.”
47 And while he still spoke, see, a crowd,
And the one called Judas allowed,
One of the twelve, went before them,
And came near Jesus at his hem
To kiss him by greeting and bowed.

Despite the knowing of the water pots,
The showing of the upper room in lots.
The recognizing of the priests and scribes,
The screening of their plans and subtle bribes,
Their coming at that moment's a surprise,
A glance as unexpected from the skies.
Just when he exhorts them to prayer again,
It is too late to man the bridge of men.
Beloved, my days are filled with my due care,
Foreboding of what I know is my share,
And yet the simple theft of time and place
Comes in surprise, an unexpected face.
The tempest and the calm look on to see
Uniqueness in each moment of the free.

48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas,
Why betray son of man with kiss?”
49 When his followers saw the state,
They asked him, “Sir, shall we give rate
With the sword so we cannot miss?”
50 And one of them struck the servant
Of the high priest and in the rant
Cut off his right ear not to hiss.
51 And Jesus answered and he said
“Let it go this far.” And he sped
To touch his ear and healed his head.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests,
And captains of the temple feasts,
And elders who had come to him,
“Have you come out as for a thief,
With swords and staves to cause some grief?
53 “When I was with you every day
In the temple, you did not stay
Extending any hand on me:
But this is your time in the spree
Of darkness without light or ray.”

The healing of the ear's surreal plot
That should have taken all aback like shot.
Instead they all ignore the miracle
And focus on the arrest and the pull.
Why did they not arrest him in the day?
They feared the people and the people's sway.
The swords are bared on every side by night
And flash in the gleam of the torch alight,
But little meets the flesh, excitement rife
Is the watchword of human sort of life.
Beloved, I neither teach upon the floor
Of lovely red Al-Aqsa by the door.
I do not find the garden in the dark,
Nor meet the Roman soldiers in the park.

54 Then they took him, and led and brought
Him to the high priest's house and plot.
And Peter followed far behind.
55 And when they'd kindled fire in blind
In the middle of the hall and
Had sat down together in band,
Peter sat down among their kind.
56 But a maid saw him as he sat
Beside the fire, looked closely at
Him and said “This man's one of those.”
57 And he denied him on his toes
And said “Woman, I don't know him.”
After a little while another
Saw him and said “You are a brother.”
And Peter said “Man, I am not.”
59 An hour later in the plot
Another confidently said
“Truly this one was also led
With him, a Galilaean spread.”
60 And Peter said “Man, I do not
Know what you're saying.” And straightway
While he still spoke, the cock's dismay.
61 And the lord turned and looked down on
Peter. And Peter then was drawn
To mind the word of the lord, when
He had said to him, “Before then
The cock will crow and you'll deny
Me three time underneath the sky.”

It was no penetrating look divine
That struck good Peter to the core and line.
That Jesus knew what Peter in that place
Would do and say to save his naked face
Was not a prophecy sent down from You.
It simply was a very human view.
The astute human watcher of the ward
Soon learns the thrust and nature of the sword.
He knows his man much better than the man
Himself can mind or even hope to scan.
It was a sorrowed sort of thing to say
To Peter earlier upon that day,
But better to be warned on both counts of
The coming storm and any lack of love.

62 And Peter went out and he wept
Sorely. 63 And so the men who kept
Jesus mocked him and hit him hard.
64 They blindfolded him like a bard,
They struck him on the face and asked
Him, saying “Prophesy as tasked,
Who was it who struck you now, pard?”
65 And many other things blaspheming
They spoke against him in their scheming.

The questioning of searchers for the truth
Is often no more avid than these youth
Proposed to Jesus to predict the one
Who would hit him next on the face or bun.
Sincerity of search is a thing rare,
More rare than faith or charity to share,
More rare than hope of heaven on the stair.
All men or many have that trinity,
But laying aside pride of unity
And stepping out in lone humility
Is not for the soul timid of its fee.
Beloved, though I may feel the sting and toil,
I follow with an avid sort of spoil,
Content misapprehension's in the coil.

66 As soon as it was day the elder
Of the folk and the chief priests held a
Meeting with the scribes and brought him
Into their council, saying dim,
67 “Are you the Christ? Tell us out trim.”
And he told them, “If I tell you,
You will not believe, though it's true.
68 “And if I also ask, you'll not
Reply nor let me go as sought.
69 “In days to come the son of man
Shall sit on right of God's power's plan.”
70 They all said “Are you then God's son?
He told them, “You say so for fun.”
71 And they said “What need is there now
For further witness anyhow
For we ourselves heard what he said.”

The priests themselves know well the pagan king
Of Babylon coined the word with the ring,
The son of God for the Messiah's sting.
But now, like serpent in the park that time,
They want to play deceit with word and rhyme.
That serpent mixed the cunning and the bare
And thus took Madame Eve as unaware.
The priests mix son of God, a term that meant
The promised one, Messiah, the one sent,
And turned it to the literal to be
A witness of their fonder trickery
To claim he fell into gross blasphemy.
Now the church itself echoes demons' touch
And teaches that You really are three such.

LUKE 23

1 The whole crowd of them got up then
And led him into Pilate's den.
2 They started to accuse him, saying
“We found this one wicked gainsaying
Among the people and forbidding
To give tribute to Caesar kidding,
Saying he is himself the Christ,
The King of Israel compliced.”
3 And Pilate asked him saying then,
“Are you the King of the Jews' den?”
And he replied to him and said
“You say the thing as you were led.”
4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests
And to the people from the feasts,
“I find no fault in this man spread.”
5 And they clamoured the more and said
“He stirs up the folk teaching all
The Jews from Galilee in thrall
To this place backed against the wall.”
6 When Pilate heard Galilee said,
He asked if the man to him led
Were Galilaean as by call.
7 As soon as he found out he came
Under Herod's great power and game,
He sent him to Herod who stayed
Then in Jerusalem waylaid.

The trick of civil servants who are not
Always so civil is a common plot.
They sent you from one office to another,
Knowing how to disturb a fellow brother.
So Pilate sent off Jesus to the court
Of Herod to irritate him in sort.
As soon as civil servants start their game
You know you've lost the battle and the flame.
They'll crucify you soon or late and share
The flesh and blood to gain a living there.
Beloved, if I'd been You, I'd never made
A civil servant in this world's parade.
I'd have invented some society
Without the middle level of the spree.

8 When Herod saw Jesus, then he
Was very glad. He wished to see
Him for a long time, because he
Had heard the rumours on the spree,
And hoped to get a chance to see
A miracle performed in spe.
9 He asked him many things, but he
Replied not a word in degree.
10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and
Loudly accused him in a band.
11 And Herod with his soldiers made
Fun of him, in gorgeous arrayed,
Sent back to Pilate on parade.
12 And the same day Pilate got back
In the good grace of Herod slack,
For before that they were not friends,
But now they both had made amends.

Pilate was the one in the end who had
A hankering for truth, but not too bad.
Herod preferred the circus track instead,
A miracle if you please on the bread.
The one's sunk in cynic philosophy,
The other in entertainment's degree.
And both of them agree that Jesus should
Be beaten by the officers of good.
Beloved, save me from those who keep the order
As well as from those who cast up the mortar.
The round of civilized address is made
Of contained violence put on parade,
To entertain the ruling faction and
To keep the rag-assed folk under command.

13 And Pilate, when he summoned all
The chief priests, rulers, folk in thrall,
14 Told them, “You brought this man to me
As one perverting the folk, see,
I've questioned him before you and
Found no fault in this man as scanned
Of those issue that you demand.
15 “No, nor did Herod, for I sent
You to him, and see, nothing bent
Worthy of death is done by him.
16 “So I will beat and release him.”
For he had to release to them
For the feast one by stratagem.

It's rare the rulers find one brought to them
For judgement innocent, unless the gem
Is one of their own. But it can occur,
As it did with dear Jesus on the fur.
But what do judge and justice then concur
About? To beat the innocent to show
Their clout. A man set on a throne's not slow
To learn the hopes of wielding power's flow.
Beloved, what of the guilty in the hand
Of power if in a green tree such a stand
Illuminates the courtyard and the band?
I flee the state for all it stands in awe
Of law of crook and power, of hook and claw,
And look out for the pretence of the paw.

18 And they shouted at once and said
“We all want this man to be dead,
Give us Barabbas now instead.”
19 He caused a riot in the town
And for murder had been called down.
20 So Pilate, wanting to release
Jesus, spoke to them on increase.
21 But they just shouted all the more,
“Crucify him, show us the gore!”
22 And he said to them the third time,
“Why, what's he done in wicked rhyme?
I've found no cause of death in him.
I'll beat him and let him off trim.”
23 They cried aloud on every side
Demanding he be crucified.
And their voices and of the chief
Priests prevailed and without relief.
24 So Pilate gave the verdict that
It should be done there as they sat.
25 And he released for them the one
Who'd rioted and was undone
In prison for the murder's stun,
Whom they desired to save, but he
Delivers Jesus to their spree.

Given the choice to save a rogue or one
Too innocent of evil to have fun,
The crowd today as then will take their time
To choose the son of wickedness and crime.
Each day the world is given anew the choice
Between Barabbas and the Christ, and voice
Comes loud and clear for the one that is set
To keep the status quo of rage unmet.
Beloved, I too choose in this heart of mine
The one of two in everything divine:
The quester of the noble kingdom taught
In iron and stone or better in the plot
The one whose eye is single and is taught
To keep Your law in love and not be bought.

26 As they led him away, they laid
Hold on one Simon who had stayed
In Cyrenia, as he came in
From the countryside and for kin
They set the cross on him to carry
It after Jesus. It was scary.

The innocent and passer-by's the one
To carry every cross when things are done.
The rabble shouting for the gore and those
Who wield the sword fall always on their toes.
The one whose business is the field and home,
The mundane, is the target of new Rome.
Beware the secular state in whose room
The Roman adherent stands up for doom,
The ATF, the FBI, all such
Are instruments of Vatican that touch
The skin and bone of innocent in clutch.
What inquisitions were born on the day
The Roman cohorts took Jesus in sway!
The Cyrenians pay and pay and pay.

27 There followed him a crowd of folk
And women who wailed at the stroke.
28 But Jesus turning to them said
“Daughters of Jerusalem spread,
Weep not for me, but weep for you
And for your children in their pew.
29 “For see, the days are coming too
In which they'll say 'Blessed are the few
As barren and the wombs that bear
Not, and breasts that have nothing there.'
30 “Then they'll begin to tell the hills,
'Fall down on us,' and to the hills,
'Hide us from the evil that spills.'
31 “For if they do these things to me,
A green tree, what thing shall it be
Done in the dry one by degree?”

With Ruby Bridge and Wacko under belt,
Titus long dead after the brazen welt,
The rogue state that pretends to right the wrong
Still stands to hear the trumpets and the song.
The daughters of Jerusalem may weep,
But now the whole earth groans beneath the sweep
Of Roman army sent abroad to keep
The peace with guns and tanks. I fain would ask
How such are instruments to meet the task.
Beloved, the hills of Mecca still look down
Upon the milling crowd where with a frown
In days past blood was spilt in name of crown.
And every city now becomes in name
Jerusalem and Mecca for the flame.

32 Two other prisoners were led
With him to execution's spread.
And when they had come to the place
Called Calvary, there without grace
They crucified him and the two
Evil-doers, one on the view
Of the right hand, the other on
The left. 34 Then Jesus said when drawn,
“Father, forgive them, for they know
Not what they do.” They were not slow
To divide up his clothing and
Cast lots to give to each a strand.
35 And the people stood there to see.
The rulers also with them free
Derided him, and said that he
Saved others, let him save himself,
If he was Christ, and not an elf,
The chosen of God on the shelf.
36 The soldiers also mocked him and
Came offering vinegar in hand,
37 And saying “If you're the Jews' king,
Then save yourself from the death sting.”
38 A sign was put up overhead
In Greek and Latin and it read
In Hebrew: This is the Jews' king.

It's not an extremely delightful thing
To be a king of Jews in fall or spring.
The fall is great and shattering the ring
When buds burst forth on Aaron's rod to sting.
The sentence is a brief one and I make
The message out in each tongue that I take.
The Saviour could not save himself from death,
Though he was kingly to the final breath.
He could not save himself and still walk in
The path of danger once brought in by sin.
He had to meet mankind upon the plain
Where mankind stood, and come as far as pain
To relieve pain, as far as death to foil
The enemy of his unrightful spoil.

39 One of the evil-doers which
Were hanged reviled him and in pitch
Said “If you are the Christ, then save
Yourself and us to show you're brave.”
40 The other answering rebuked
Him saying “Are you also spooked
Not to fear God, though you're condemned
With the same one that has him hemmed?
41 “But we in justice for what we've
Done, but this one deserves reprieve.”
42 And he said to Jesus, “Sir, mind
Me too when you come in the grind
Of your kingdom.” 43 Jesus told him,
“Truly I say to you today
You'll be with me in paradise.”

All men are caught up in the two that stayed
Beside the torture stake as on parade.
All men speak to Your sent one to relate
The recesses of human heart in state.
Some spew forth bitter curses for the good,
And pay back insults for the understood.
But there are those whose hearts are touched by grief,
Who strangle hope and cling to new belief.
Beloved, as I look on the dying rood,
And pace beneath the dungeon of the crude,
Let the curse, though deserved, stay in my heart,
And let instead the loving word impart
A blessing on the Jesus left alone
By world and folk and the deriding throne.

44 About the sixth hour it was dim
All over the earth holding sway
Until the ninth hour would arise.
45 The sun was darkened, and the veil
Of the temple was torn in pale.
46 When Jesus cried aloud, he said
“Father into Your hands I spread
My spirit,” and when he said that
He died before all those who sat.
47 When the centurion saw what
Happened, he praised God from the gut,
Saying “Surely this man was good,
And lived and died as a man should.”
48 All the folk that gathered to see
The things that happened by decree,
Beat their breasts and returned sadly.
49 All his friends and the women too
Who followed from Galilee's crew,
Stood far off watching the to-do.

Too late to save his hands from blood the man
Of Rome saw the divine light in the span
Of Jesus' face and joined his witness to
The universe to say the man was true.
Too late to save his innocence indeed,
But not too late to save his soul in creed
Of Jesus' love and witness of the law
That binds all hearts to You and to Your awe.
Beloved, I have no javelin to shake
At son of man nor soldier's arm at stake,
And yet I look upon the dying gleam
Of patience and see beyond what things seem.
I stand afar off with the wifely brood
And know the choices of the great and rude.

50 See, a man named Joseph, and he
Was a counsellor, good to be
And just. 51 He had not consented
To the deed that the others did,
Of Arimathaea, city
Of the Jews, and who also he
Waited for the kingdom of God.
52 This one went to Pilate to prod
Him to give to him Jesus' bod.
53 He took it down and wrapped it in
Linen, and laid it without din
In a tomb hewn in stone, wherein
No one had been buried before.
54 And that day was the preparation,
And the Sabbath come on in station.
55 The women too, who came with him
From Galilee, followed as grim
And saw the tomb and where was laid
The body as though in parade.
56 And they returned and they prepared
Spices and ointments, and repaired
To rest the Sabbath day according
To the commandment's word affording.

The hardest Sabbath anyone has kept
Perhaps was this one when the women wept.
And yet each Sabbath in this world has taught
Some mother's heart somewhere the evil plot
Of sorrow for a dead child in the lot.
Beloved, I weep and pray for each one here
That sorrows for a lost child on the sheer
Wing of this Sabbath day though fraught with cheer.
Beloved, the hours pulse with the failing thread
Of the sweet hopes of flesh and blood now dead.
The mourners turn away, the day declines,
The aspens whisper to the stricken pines,
The birches shudder, bend and light the way
Before the firs sink in another day.

LUKE 24

1 On the first of the week at dawn
They came into the tomb as drawn
With spices which they had prepared
And certain with them, those who cared.
2 And they found the stone rolled away
From the sepulchre's light of day.
3 And they came in and did not find
The body of Lord Jesus kind.

The spices and the linen of that day
So long ago when Jesus came to pray
Have not changed in the Middle Eastern way.
It's only now that some embroider best
The name of the departed on the breast
Of the shroud, while some others always seek
To write there Ismail only on the cheek.
But all bring spices to the charmed inquest.
Beloved, I would bring spices to the tomb
Of Jesus if I found its place and room.
If it was empty then, worse is today,
When three tombs vie with each in what they say.
The trinity of resting places teach
Me not to search a dead Christ in my reach.

4 It happened, as they were perplexed,
See, two men stood by them unvexed
In shining clothing like to blind.
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed
Their faces to the earth, aloud
They said to them, “Why do you seek
The living where the dead men peek?
6 “He is not here, he's risen, mind
How he spoke to you still inclined
In Galilee, 7 and said 'The son
Of man must be delivered won
Into the hands of sinful men,
Be crucified, third day again
Rise.'” 8 They remembered then his words,
9 And returned from the tomb in herds
Told all these things to the eleven,
And to all the others by heaven.
10 And it was Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, Mary on the scene
The mother of James and the others
With them, who told this to the brothers,
Apostles. 11 And their words to them
Seemed idle tales, and to an em
They did not believe in the gem.
12 Then Peter got up and ran to
The tomb, and stooping down to view
The linen clothing laid as due,
Then left and wondered to himself
At what had happened on the shelf.

Impetuous as Peter was, it seems,
The women beat him to the tomb of dreams.
But let me not despise the women's tale,
Despite the fact that mankind often fail
To mark the truth of wenches' word and sale.
I run to the tomb with a lingered eye,
Knowing I'll find it empty as the sky,
Except for linen gathered on the stone,
And folded neatly to soften the throne.
Beloved, as I come to the chamber cut
In the stone of my heart, let it not shut
Your sent one out, but let him resurrect
Within the hopeful life that I select,
Arisen from the failures of my gut.

13 And see, two of them went that day
To a town called Emmaus way,
Which was sixty furlongs in sway
Off of Jerusalem to stay.
14 They talked together of these things
That happened, all these happenings.
15 It happened while they talked together,
Jesus himself came near their tether,
And went with them. 16 Their eyes were closed
From recognising him supposed.

How many conversations I have had,
Tuned in on distractions hopeful or sad,
And never recognized the soul before
My eyes that opened up my household's door!
I speak of the events of yesternoon,
I reckon at the value of a spoon,
But fail to see divinity half mast
Upon the driven brow of the outcast.
Beloved, still my tongue and still more my heart,
The seething mind creative to a tart,
And let the calm of recognition fall
Upon me as I meet the human thrall.
Where I see now the fleeting form of clay,
Let me see brightness of diviner day.

17 He said to them “What are these things
You're talking about with sad rings?”
18 And one of the Cleopas named
Replied to him and said unblamed,
“Are you a stranger then in town
Not knowing what happened with frown?”
19 He asked them, “What things?” And they said
To him, “About one Jesus led
Of Nazareth, who was a great
Prophet in deed and word of late
Before God and all the folk's rate.
20 “And how the chief priests and our rulers
Delivered him to Roman schoolers
To be condemned to death and they
Have crucified him in their way.
21 “But we thought he might have been he
Who should have redeemed Israel free,
And besides all this, it has been
Now three days since this work of sin.”
22 “And certain women indeed too
Of our band astonished our view,
As they went early to the tomb,
23 “And found no body in the room,
They came and said that they had seen
A vision of angels as keen
To claim that he was now alive.
24 “And certain of them in our hive
Went to the tomb and found it so,
As the women had said below,
But they did not see him in show.”

The hopeless and the empty have the word
Of a Christ crucified among the herd.
The faithless and the faint, though fully stirred
By messages of worldly peace occurred,
Repeat the story of the birth and death
Of Jesus with a spiced, sweet-smelling breath.
The empty tomb is subject to suffice
For pagan rituals to please the nice.
Beloved, let me not be deceived by such
Tales wondered by the loving in their touch.
Reveal instead to me the resurrection
Of Your obedience in Your reflection.
Then I shall stay no idle tales upon
The way to Emmaus before the dawn.

25 Then he said to them, “O fools slow
Of heart to believe all that spoke
The early prophets to the folk!
26 “Should not Christ have to suffer such
To enter his glory and touch?”
27 And starting at Moses and all
The prophets, he explained the call
In all the Scriptures of himself.

Sweet Jesus said never to call a fool
By name, or go into a hellish school.
And yet he does the thing himself when he
Finds faithless hearts in grief in wandering spree.
Truth is the name of Jesus comes to be
In books of Moses in the man that rose
To follow Moses in the power's pose.
From Joshua to Jesus is a march
Too crippled to receive much more in starch.
And yet fulfilment is not to be found
In prophecy as much as in the ground
Of Jesus' desire always to conform
To the descriptions of Your faith kept warm.
I'm filled with glory of that worthy sound.

28 And they came near the village shelf,
Where they were going, and he made
As though he would pass by the stayed.
29 But they implored him saying “Stay
With us, for it is evening's way,
The day is far gone.” And he went
In to stay with them to prevent.
30 It happened as he sat to eat
With them, he took bread for a treat
And blessed and broke and gave to them.
31 Their eyes then recognized the gem,
And they knew him. And straight away
He vanished out of sight on ray.
32 And they said to each other then,
Did not our hearts burn in us then
While he talked to us on the way,
And opened to us Scriptures' day?”
33 And so they got up right away
And went back to Jerusalem,
And found the eleven in hem
Together and those there with them.
34 They said “The lord is risen indeed,
And has appear to Simon's creed.”
35 And they told what happened to them
Away, how they knew him when he
Was breaking the bread faithfully.

The blessing Jesus used to bless the bread
Was what was recognizable instead
Of features or the hair upon his head.
I wonder at that blessed attribute,
Since nothing of the kind is found in boot
Of Moses' law, that law he takes with care,
Assured to accomplish all that is there.
He fails to wash his hands with the word said
By Pharisee before the meal is spread,
But takes the lack of blessing in the law
As opportunity to speak with awe
Your blessed wonders as he lifts the loaf.
No one can mistake him now for an oaf,
Because his words of blessing show his paw.

36 And as they told it, Jesus stood
Himself among them safe and good,
And said to them “Salaam to you,”
Islamic sort of greeting due.

The book of Ruth gives the first greeting found
In Scriptures for the faithful on the ground.
It is YHWH bless you in the rush and round.
No doubt the Jewish sort of awe to leave
The name of YHWH unspoken would unsleeve
That ancient greeting and replace with peace.
So peace is prosperous in the release.
The Muslims learned it from the Christian sort
And from the Jews in their greetings and sport.
Peace is what's needed, yet I linger here
To take the older word upon the ear
With a nostalgia born of love and fear.
Beloved, may a time come when peace is sure,
And we can all return to blessings pure.

37 But they were petrified with fear,
Thinking that a ghost had come near.
38 He asked them, “Why are you afraid?
Why are thoughts in your hearts arrayed?
39 “See my hands and my feet, it's I,
Touch me and see. No spirit nigh
Has flesh or bones, as you see laid
In me and in my body made.”

Did Your sent one, Beloved, believe in ghosts?
He ought to have told his friends out of boasts,
“Pshaw! There no such thing found in this town's coasts.”
Instead he affirms superstition's roasts
By saying flesh and bones reveal the part
Of human life surrounding risen heart.
Touch me, Beloved, and see that I am here,
Dressed in Your hope and in Your love and fear.
I do not look to spirits in the race,
To spirituality in any trace,
But cling fast to the word made flesh in me
And in each human person that I see,
A witness, my Beloved, that You remain
Sustainer of the seen and unseen vein.

40 And when he'd spoken so, he showed
Them his hands and his feet not slowed.
41 While they for joy did not believe,
And wondered, he asked them reprieve,
“Do you have any food to serve?”
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish
And honeycomb laid on a dish.
43 And he took it and ate while they
Looked on to see it go its way.

If Jesus had lived in this ray and age,
He would not have arose in patronage
Of ichthine diet, knowing with a rage
That vegans also read the Gospel's page.
If Jesus had walked cobblestone that's set
About the town where I live and beget,
He might have eaten fish indeed, and yet
The vegetarian's a mortal bet.
Beloved, I need no evidence in store
To believe that he is alive and more,
Although my name is Thomas, I do not
Expect a piece of fish to seal the plot.
Instead I am a doubter for my joy,
Not for the credence that I find in ploy.

44 He said to them, “These are the words
That I spoke to you in your herds
While I was still with you, that all
Things must be fulfilled at the call
Written in law of Moses, and
In prophets and Psalms of my stand.”
45 He opened then their minds to know
So they might understand the glow
Of Scriptures and not be so slow.
46 He said to them, “So is it written,
That Christ must suffer as one bitten,
And rise up from the dead again
On the third day live among men.
47 “And that repentance and remission
Of sins should be preached in commission
Of his name among nations all,
Starting at Jerusalem’s wall.
48 “And you are witness of these things.
49 “And see, I send my Father's word
In promise upon your hearts stirred,
But stay in Jerusalem’s town,
Till from on high power come down.”
50 He led them out to Bethany,
And lifted up his hands sweetly
And blessed them. 51 And it came to pass
While he blessed them, as bold as brass
He parted from them rising high
And carried up into the sky.

I do not find a place where it is said
In Tanakh that the Christ must die when bled.
The passages that make the fellow blink
Are in a different context, different ink.
And yet I trust the truth that Jesus spoke:
He placed himself beneath the Torah's yoke
And showed it to be universally
The better page of writing that I see.
Beloved, I'm just as bound by joy as he
To live according to the marvelled word
Of Tanakh instead of the mighty herd.
The ways of justice and of prophecy
Are one in glory and in poverty,
The goal of life and mercy I can see.

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.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html