GOSPEL OF JOHN CHAPTER 16 - 21

JOHN 16

1 These things I've spoken to you so
You should not be offended, no.
2 They'll put you out of synagogues,
Indeed the time comes when the hogs
That kill you will think that they do
For God a service in their pew.

The Inquisition is a state of mind,
The concept that to make some deaf men blind
Is pleasing to Creator of their kind.
The Inquisition's prophesied by Christ
To those by Roman parroting enticed
To think that You love to descend into
The cookie in the silver platter's view.
The one who still refuses to make bread
An idol will be stretched by rack instead.
Beloved, the melody of faith in wine
Is something grand to make a man decline
The reason and the revelation's track.
I turn and turn again to see Your back.
The melody resounds and it sounds fine.

3 And these things they will do to you,
Because they do not know the true,
The Father nor me in my due.

Eternal life will soon be shown to be
The knowledge of the one true God to see
In You alone, and know the one You sent,
Christ Jesus, who is Your son but not bent
To be a god almighty in the tent.
It follows by contrast that to believe
The lie that You are three when some deceive
Is the cause of the killing on the sleeve
Of the Inquisitor not to relent.
Did You remember, Beloved, that the Pope
Ben before his election had to cope
With heading Inquisition's office meant?
Belief in Trinity is fraught with danger,
At least to neighbour if not to the ranger.

4 But these things I have told you, so
When the time comes, you'll mind the glow
Of what I said. And these things I
Did not talk of at the start. Why?
Because I was with you to try.
5 But now I go my way to Him
Who sent me, and none asks me trim,
“Where are you going from this grim?”
6 But because I've said this to you,
Sorrow has filled your heart and pew.
7 Nevertheless I tell you true,
It is expedient for you
For me to go away: for if
I do not go away in skiff,
The Comforter will not come here
To you, but if I disappear,
I will send him to you with gear,
To ask what do with Jesus now.

The reason Jesus went away, it seems,
Was to send something better than the dreams
Of the disciples fit to burst their seams.
What comforter is better than the one
You sent to live and die under the sun?
The desired one of Israel is known
As that prophet in John before the throne
Of Herod who feared Baptists and the groan
Of Jesuses before the cross and bone.
I comfort me in David's sweeter lays,
I comfort me in Moses and his praise,
And in the Gospel melodies and maze,
And last in the Qur'an to treat my days
With pleasures to the one who reads alone.

8 And when he's come, he will reprove
The world of sin and righteous groove,
And of judgement before they move.
9 Of sin, since they don't believe me;
10 Of righteousness, because I'm free
To go to my Father and you
Will no longer see me in crew;
11 Of judgement, because this world's prince
Is judged, condemned and made to wince.

How did the fair Muhammad do three things:
Reprove of sin and righteousness both kings
And populace, and yet of judgement met?
He reproved all the Jews that had been set
Against belief in the Messiah yet.
He reproved Christians for belief the cross
Atoned for sins, when Jesus met his Boss
Atoning by his prayers after the loss.
He reproved pagan Arabs with judgement
To show this world's prince worshipped in the tent
Was judged, and You alone are worthy of
Worship, obedience, and fear and love.
This trinity of truth he brought to all,
And made the people back against the wall.

12 I have still many things to say
To you, but you can't bear the sway.
13 But when the Spirit of truth's come,
He'll guide you into the truth's sum,
For he shall not speak of himself,
But whatever he hears on shelf,
That shall he speak, and he will show
You things to come and on the go.

The prophecy of Muhammad is clear:
He will speak of the things that he will hear
By using of a very human ear.
He'll speak, not write; he'll point to others' cheer,
Not bearing witness of himself, but You
And the one You sent before to the crew.
And he will show what things are soon to come:
The Judgement Day, a day fearful in sum.
Beloved, I stand rejoicing that at last
The final truth upon the earth was cast,
And there is nothing more to seek or know
Except the beauty of that word to show.
The three-fold truth Muhammad came to give
Makes up the melody I have to live.

14 He shall glorify me: for he
Shall receive of mine and shall be
There to show you of my decree.
15 Everything the Father has now
Is mine: that's why I said somehow
That he shall take of mine and show
It to you in the afterglow.

I wonder that sweet Christians find the way
Muhammad spoke and did to go astray,
When he so carefully in word and deed
Glorified Jesus Christ who came to bleed?
The things Muhammad brought forth from the store
Belonged to Jesus Christ who came before,
And he just polished them to shine and glow
So everyone could believe them and know.
Beloved, the argument of names is crass,
I hear and see it come and go and pass,
But the meat and the meaning and the grass
And flowers and blooms and fruit are left in mass.
Beloved, I seek beyond the prophets' names
To find the truth behind the passing games.

16 A little while, and you shall not
See me: and again in the plot
A little while and you'll see me,
Because I go to Father's see.
17 Then some disciples quietly
Murmured, “What's this he says to us,
A little while without a curse
And you will not see me, again
A little while, and among men
You shall see me, because I go
To the Father from here below?”
18 That's why they said “What is this that
He says, a little while, down pat
We cannot understand him flat.”
19 Now Jesus knew they wanted to
Ask him and said to them, “You do
Enquire among yourselves of what
I said, a little while and shut
You shall not see me, and again,
A little while, and among men
You shall see me appear again?
20 “Truly indeed, I say to you,
That you'll weep and lament in crew,
But the world shall rejoice and stew,
And you shall be in sorrow too,
But then your sorrow shall be turned
Into great joy to see them burned.
21 “A woman when she is in labour
Has sorrow, because without neighbour
Her time has come. But soon as labour
Delivers her her child, she minds
No more the anguish that she finds,
For joy that a baby is born
Into the world and not forlorn.
22 “And you now therefore have your grief,
But I will see you for relief,
And your hearth shall rejoice in chief,
And your joy shall no man make brief.”

By observation only Jesus knew
That mothers after labour in the dew
Turn grief to joy. It's not a thing he felt
In his own flesh set out to sweat and melt.
If the Messiah had come in the day
Of feminist for argument and sway,
She would have been a women for the ray
Of pain to conquer on the sombre way.
Beloved, the fact that Jesus did not quail
Before each pain that comes here to prevail,
But only tasted some, then rushed to find
The pain of death to conquer it and bind.
Each man and woman on the globe is set
To taste a unique cup, one never met.

23 In that day you shall ask me naught.
Truly indeed, I tell you, aught
You ask the Father in my name,
He will be giving you the same.
24 Till now you've asked naught in my name,
Ask, and you shall receive the same,
That your joy may be full in claim.
25 I've spoken you in proverbs such,
That the time comes when I shall touch
You no more in proverbs, but I'll
Show you clearly the Father's smile.
26 In that day you'll ask in my name,
And I'll not tell you that I'll pray
The Father for you on the way.
27 For so the Father Himself loves
You, because you have loved my shoves,
And believed that I came from God.
28 I came out from the Father and
Have come into the worldly land,
Again, I leave the world and go
Back to the Father and His show.”
29 And his disciples said to him,
“See now you speak plainly, not dim.
30 “Now we are sure you know all things,
And need no man for questionings,
By this we believe that you came
Forth from God and have played no game.
31 And Jesus answered them, “Do you
Now believe the things that are true?
32 “See the time comes, indeed is here,
That you shall be scattered in fear,
Each man to his own, and shall leave
Me alone, though I do not grieve
Alone, because the Father's here
With me, through stick and sin and gear.
33 “These things I've told you, so in me
You might have peace eternally.
In the world you'll have trouble, but
Be of good cheer before the rut,
I've overcome the world in strut.”

Though Jesus told his friends that he would give
Them peace or Islam in which they might live,
Even the messenger come after him
Was not able to do that task so slim.
Peace is not found on earth simply because
Men refuse to live by Your saving laws.
Instead they measure out their jungle claws,
And bide their time in doing what is dim.
Beloved, I take the cheer of Christ indeed,
And rush into his arms with every speed
To find that he is not alone to take
The burden of Your peace for human's sake,
But every man in whose face Your form's met
Is gauged to be or not be the one yet.

JOHN 17

1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up
His eye to sky for lack of cup,
And said “Father, the hour has come.
Now glorify Your son with crumb,
That Your son may glorify You,
2 “As You have given him power to do
Over all flesh, that he should give
Eternal life to fugitive
All You have given him. 3 “And this
Is life eternal, that in bliss
They may know You, the only true
God, and Jesus the Christ whom You
Have sent. 4 “I have glorified You
On earth. I have finished the work
You’ve given me and did not shirk.
5 “And now, O Father, glorify
Me together with Yourself by
The glory I had with You when
The world was not yet home of men.

Before the world was made, Beloved, You gave
Your glory to Your Word, that holy slave
By which You made the earth and sea and sand
And by which You gave sons of men command.
That Word You made flesh in Messiah’s coming
That humankind might not have to guess humming,
But might know by Your image in creation
Yourself as Self and only God to ration.
Eternal life, the life all souls desire,
Is in the knowing, through earth, air and fire,
Beloved, that only God and true alone
That You are, You are not of flesh or stone.
Give him, indeed, Beloved that glory which
Grants life eternal from first to last ditch.

6 “I have manifested Your name
To the men whom You, without shame,
Have given me out of the world.
They were Yours, You gave them unhurled
To me, and they have kept Your word.
7 “Now they’ve known that all things unblurred
Which You have given me are from You.
8 “For I have given to them the few
Words which You have given me, and they
Have received, and have known that way
Surely that I came forth from You,
And they’ve believed I’m sent by You.
9 “I pray for them. I do not pray
For the world but for those who stray
Not from Your gift to me, for they
Are Yours. 10 “And all of mine are Yours,
And Yours are mine, and that ensures
I’m glorified in them today.

Beloved, I thank You for the lovely word
You give in giving Self, the word that’s heard
As I recite the Decalogue, the Psalms,
The Gospel of Your Christ without alarms,
That word of whirling sparks up from the altar
Of sacrifice of self, let me not falter.
Beloved, I thank You for the word of Christ
That echoes from creation and unspliced
To the last pages of the recitation
Of the Qur’an, recited in elation.
The word that names the nameless bless my lips
As I recite Your lovely name in sips.
The Word that came forth from You must return
And take me with it to Your heart, I yearn.

11 “Now I’m no longer in the world,
But these of mine are in the world,
I come to You. Holy Father,
Keep through Your name those whom You, Sir,
Have given me, that they may be
One as we are. 12 “While I could be
With them in the world, I kept them
In Your name. Those whom You gave me
I’ve kept, and truly none of them
Is lost except perdition’s son,
That the true Scripture might be done.
13 “But now I come to You, and these
Things I speak in the world to please
Them with my joy fulfilled in them.
14 “I’ve given them Your word, the world
Has hated them because they’re pearled,
Not of the world, just as I’m not
Of the world. 15 “Now I have not sought
That You remove them from the world,
But that You should keep them unswirled
With evil. 16 “They’re not of the world,
Just as I am not of the world.

As Your sweet, loved Messiah prayed for me
To keep me from all evil, let it be.
A double dhikr! Here my name is found
Not only on Your lips, Beloved, but bound
To lip and heart of Christ himself, indeed,
I shall no greater boon require or need.
If I am the name that You and he say
Remembering and loving every day,
Let me then not forget to call upon
Your name, Beloved, each day from dawn to dawn.
For this the world may hate me and the word
That You have given, but I’m unperturbed.
Beyond idolatries, above excess,
I simply bow beneath Your power to bless.

17 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your
Word is the truth for evermore.
18 “As You sent me into the world,
I’ve also sent them in the world.
19 “And for their sakes I sanctify
Myself, that they also may fly
To the truth that can sanctify.

The Word that became Christ I cannot touch
Except within the sound recited much
Of Scripture from beginning and to end.
The lovely melodies uprise and blend.
These are the tabernacles and restored
Of David and of David’s righteous Lord.
I sing the blessèd verses once again
And in their singing rise above all men
To heights of ecstasy and depths of love
Until I find in You the passions of
That truth alone that knows to sanctify
The heart and hand to do Your loved will by.
You sent the blessèd Jesus in the world
And since then every word is truth empearled.

20 “I do not pray for these alone,
But also for those who will own
Me through their word, 21 “that they all may
Be one, as You, Father, still stay
In me, and I in You, that they
Also may be one in Us, that
The world believe You sent me pat.
22 “And the glory which You gave me
I’ve given them, that they may be
One just as we are one: 23 “I in
Them, and You in me, without sin,
That they may be made perfect in
One, and that the world may know that
You have sent me from where You sat,
And have loved them as You’ve loved me.

So rich these words, Beloved, I can’t express
The depths of wonder that they must confess.
You are not any Trinity alone,
But One who draws to Self all flesh and bone.
You are not one with Your Christ set in stone
Of trine idol at all, but just as he
Is one with You so may I also be
And every one who submits to Your will.
From that great union, wonderful, comes still
The promise of perfection here and now
Within the place where You sent him to plough.
Perfection is in keeping Your command
And knowing You are God alone and stand
In the same love to all on every hand.

When Chiara Lubich on a winter day
In Trent in nineteen-forty-three gave way
To Your call in the oneness of all love,
The angels sang in praise of You above.
The memory of Your sent one who made
This prayer on behalf of all the betrayed
By human walls of separation stayed
Illuminating heart after heart till
The revolution of oneness rose still
And glad upon the coldness of the hour,
The coldness of the church, the lack of power,
And in the quietness of dawn brought light
And love and hope and truth out of the night.
Beloved, bless human oneness in Your sight.

24 “Father, I wish that they also
Whom You gave me may be with me
Where I am, that they may in tow
Behold my glory which You’ve given
In love e’er You made world to live in.
25 “O righteous Father! The world’s not
Known You, but I’ve known You untaught,
And these have known that You sent me.
26 “And I’ve declared to them Your name,
And will declare it just the same,
That the love with which You loved me
May be in them, and I to see.”

The proof of love is true indeed, but I
Find many claim to love abundantly
Who in faith fail quite soon in loving me.
I tell this ugly tale and with a sigh.
Who take the name of Jesus as their own
Are often first to rise and cast the stone
On those who humbly set aside their will
And submit the whole self to You until
They know Your truth abounding in sweet grace.
How many prove their worth with happy face,
But sorrow not for sin, go and transgress
Your promised love commandments in the press.
Beloved, I cling to You alone and give
The Baptists their own choice to die or live.

JOHN 18

1 When he had finished saying this,
Jesus went out and not to miss
With his disciples, went across
The winter stream of Kidron's toss,
Where there was a garden where he
And his disciples entered free.
2 And Judas, who betrayed him, knew
About that place where Jesus' crew
Often came together in view.
3 Then having a cohort and crew
Of under-officers to do
From among the chief priests and the
Assembly of the Pharisee,
Judas arrived with torch and lamp
And weapons against dark and damp.

Four hundred eighty men are rather many
To pick up such a peaceful man or any
Small band of friends, not more than twelve a penny.
Whether that means that Jesus was a fighter,
And that the story has been cleansed of blighter,
Or whether that shows how the Roman chiefs
Were paranoid beyond human beliefs,
I do not know. But four hundred and eighty
In cohort seems to me a band too weighty.
Beloved, I see the over-kill of Rome
Inherited by armies here at home,
The bombs that blast rock-throwers to the loam
And leave the desert scalded under sun,
Too helpless to rise after what is done.

4 Then knowing all the things to come
Upon him, Jesus went to hum
And said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
5 They answered him, “Jesus the weak
The Nazarene.” Jesus told them,
“I'm he.” And Judas in their hem
Stood also to betray, condemn.
6 But when he said to them, “It's I,”
In retreat they fell on the rye.

The Evangelical in Roman dress
Of pagan doctrine will come here, confess
That when Jesus said he was the one they
Were looking for, I am's the thing to say
To mean that he is God Almighty too.
Such nonsense is purported in the pew.
Beloved, the answer was divine enough,
Though spoken and clothed in the human rough,
For in the human face You always shine
As long as life supports the breath divine.
The hopeful answer's heard again and now
Beneath the crown of power, the clouded brow,
The eye lighted a moment to be dimmed
By all the armour of the fair untrimmed.

7 Again he asked them, “Whom do you
Seek? And they said “Jesus, one who
Is called the Nazarene anew.”
8 Jesus replied, “I told you that
It is I, then if you out flat
Seek me, let these ones then depart.”
9 In order to fulfil the word
He said “Of those who gave in herd
To me, I lost not one that stirred.”

Jesus is truly troubled from the start,
Nor for his own safety, but for the part
Of his disciples scattered to lose heart.
He's worried that they should be freed to go.
If he had been Almighty, then he'd know
Their coming and their going in the show,
And need not have been worried here below.
But Jesus is a man of men to fear,
To hope and wonder, unless You are near,
Revealing life and death, healing the tear.
Beloved, Your sent one is too sweet for words,
Too brave to stand before the milling herds,
Too strong to let slip power to harm the mill,
Too beautiful to tread upon the hill.

10 Then Simon Peter had a sword,
He drew it and struck the abhorred
Slave of the high priest on the ear
And cut his right ear off and sere.
And the slave's name was Malchus dear.
11 Then Jesus said to Peter then,
“Put up your sword into its den:
The cup which the Father has set
To me, shall I not drink it met?”
12 Then the cohort, commander and
The under-officers in band
From the Jews, seized Jesus and bound
Him. 13 And they led him away first
To Annas, for he was the cursed
Dad-in-law of Caiaphas,
Who was high priest in that year's pass.
14 Caiaphas was the one who
Had given counsel to the Jew
That it was benefiting that
One man should perish for the fat.

If Jesus had let Peter strike again,
He would have appeared among all brave men
Without a shadow of complaint to stain
His courage and his reputation vain.
Peter could face the cohort with a sword,
But he will soon be faced, abashed and floored
By just a servant girl. Such is the way
The human heart is bound to act each day
When unexpectedly the die is cast
Outside the ring read by the sly at mast.
Beloved, let me expect the sky to fall,
Let me expect the dark night to appal,
And let me meet the door without a hope
That there is ever any way to cope.

15 And Simon Peter and another
Disciple followed Jesus-brother,
And that disciple, he was known
To the high priest and passed alone
Together with Jesus in court
Of the high priest set down for sport.
16 But Peter stood outside the door.
The other disciple what's more
Who was known to the high priest went
Out and spoke to the doorman sent,
And brought Peter inside in store.
17 The servant woman at the door
Said to Peter, “Are you not one
Of this man's friends, once he’d begun?”
He said “I’m no son of a gun.”
18 The servants and the officers
Were standing warming skins and furs
Around a fire of coals, for it
Was cold, and Peter, not to sit,
Came and stood warming with the kit.
19 The high priest questioned Jesus of
His disciples and teaching's shove.
20 Jesus replied to him, “I came
Speaking in public and acclaim
To the world, and I always taught
In synagogue and temple plot,
Where the Jews congregate, and I
Spoke nothing in secret or sly.
21 “Why do you question me? Ask then
Those who heard what I spoke to men,
See, they know what I said again.”
22 But when he said these things, one of
The officers with hand in glove
Standing by gave Jesus a blow
With the palm of his hand not slow,
And said “Do you answer the high
Priest in this way and to decry?”
23 Jesus replied to him, “If I
spoke wickedly, bear witness why,
But if well why hit me so sly?”

The only answer that can come before
The hand of power, the hopeless prison door
Is to appeal to justice on the floor.
The ear may hear, but senses cannot take
The concept of justice upon the wake.
Justice is acting in the interests of
The State and Church is silken shirt and glove.
It is no thing in absolute nor in
The clutches of the human sort of skin.
The officer is doing just his job,
He's there to strike down every sort of mob
That rises up against the hand of greed,
The mitre, crozier, crown or robe or tweed,
The voice that criticizes sin and kin.

24 Annas bound him and sent him out
To Caiaphas, high priest's clout.
25 And Simon Peter stood to warm
Himself among the swarm.
Then they said to him, “Are you not
Among disciples that he taught?”
And he denied and said “I'm not.”
26 One of the slaves of the high priest,
Being kin to the one released
Whose ear Peter cut off, said “Did
I not see you in garden hid
With him?” 27 Again Peter denied,
And straight off a cock crowed and cried.

Peter could learn a lesson in profile,
And how to keep it low and without guile.
It's never good to let the servant class
See what you're doing among all the brass.
If Peter had kept sword at belt and drawn
Into the shadows of the garden lawn,
No one would have thought of him as a pawn
Among five hundred persons before dawn.
Beloved, I take my sword and uselessly
Brandish it everywhere I look and see
The riff-raff rulers make illegally
Law against law divine upon the tee.
Tell me in time to put my sword away
And withdraw in the shadows and the clay.

28 They led Jesus from the place where
Caiaphas sat to the stair
Of the praetorium, and it
Was early. And they did not sit
Inside praetorium unfit
So they might not be there defiled,
But could eat the Passover piled.
29 Then Pilate went to them and said
“What accusation has been led
Against this man?” 30 They answered and
Said to him, “If no wicked hand,
Then we would not have brought him in
To you.” 31 Then Pilate told the bin,
“You take him and judge by your law.”
Then the Jews said to him for awe,
“We have no right to pass a man
Death sentence, we do what we can.”

The State indeed is without power when it
Has no right to give death to those who sit
Beneath its judgement. The poor Jewish state
Is clipped and clawed without a hangman's rate.
No doubt that's why today when robbers rant
The officers reply “We simply can't.”
There's always an excuse not to act for
The good of victims left upon the shore.
But when it's in the interests of the rule,
There's always some way to renew the school.
Beloved, I see the doom that Pilate's in,
He's sunk before the duty of his kin,
And nothing can save Jesus when the king
Is ready to chop heads off everything.

32 So the word of Jesus which he
Said might be fulfilled in the spree,
Of what kind of death he would die.
33 Then Pilate went again to try
In the praetorium and called
Jesus and said to him appalled,
“Are you king of the Jews installed?”
34 Jesus replied to him, “Do you
Say this of your own self as true,
Or did another state the view?”
35 Pilate replied, “Not so, am I
A Jew? Your nation has come by
With the chief priests to hand you up
To me. What did you do in cup?”
36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom's not
Of this world. If my kingdom's plot
Were of this world, my slaves would fight
To keep me from the Jews in plight.
But now my kingdom's not from here.”
37 Then Pilate said to him, “Are you
Really a king?” Jesus spoke too
In answer, “You say I'm a king.
For this purpose was my birthing,
For this I've come into the world,
To witness to the truth unfurled.
Everyone who is from the truth
Hears my voice calling in its ruth.
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
And when he had said this for ruth,
He went out once more to the Jews,
And said to them, “I find in views
No fault in him at all to choose.
39 But you've a custom one released
To you at the Passover feast.
Do you want me to give you now
The king of the Jews anyhow?
40 Then they all cried again and said
“Not this man, but Barabbas led!”
Barabbas was a robber fed.

Ah grave mistake! he did not wait to hear
What answer Jesus might have given to ear.
The governor was cynically inclined
And thought truth was in getting better wined.
That was his truth, for all men seek it out,
And hardly one’s willing to live with doubt.
Though truth is only You, Beloved, men seek
The truth in flight and in illusion’s cheek.
I sought truth first in what I had been taught
By friend and teacher, any common thought.
But few pass further than the truth as known
Within civilization where he’s grown,
Tradition of the fathers and the stunt
Of local clown: a call to arms and grunt.

Some think that each man’s truth no matter how
Closely it mimics falsehood, makes a row,
Or spins a devastation on the earth,
Each man’s own truth is of each equal worth.
To say so’s to say there’s no truth at all,
But only culture relative to call
And claim of kinship and of nation. Such
Will lead the world to demand e’er so much
Of those who flee oppression to another
Asylum. Change one’s faith to suit the brother
That lives next door. Beloved, search out my heart
And purge it from all tolerance and art
That would diminish anything of that
Truth that You are. I bow on the prayer mat.

JOHN 19

1 And so Pilate had Jesus whipped.
The soldiers plaited as they quipped
A crown of thorns, and put it on
His head, and they put on him drawn
A purple robe, 3 and said “Hail, King
Of Jews!” and struck him in their flings.
4 That's why Pilate went out again
And said to them, “See, from the den
I bring him out to you, so you
May know I find no fault in view.”
5 Jesus came out wearing the crown
Of thorns, and dressed in purple gown.
And Pilate told them, “See the man
Who is to die by your foul plan!”
6 When the chief priests and officers
Saw him they cried out saying slurs,
“Now crucify, now crucify!”
Pilate told them, “Take him away
And crucify him; I don't say
I find fault in him, not a ray.”
7 The Jews replied, “We have a law,
And by our law he ought to die,
Because he made himself a lie,
The Son of God without a flaw.”
8 When Pilate heard that saying, he
Was all the more afraid to be.

The term the Son of God was known to be
A current word for the Messiah's tree.
The ruler realized that politics
Were running amok before holy wicks.
The threat was clear that Pilate would be made
Accomplice of a rebel against staid
Status quo of the Roman sort of glade.
If Son of God had meant in Pilate's ear
That Jesus claimed to be God Mighty here,
He could have let him go to loony bin.
That's where such claimants are put among kin.
Beloved, let those who read the word read well
Between the lines that those will go to hell
Who make a man God by speaking a spell.

9 He went back to the judgement hall,
And said to Jesus to appal,
“Where are you from?” But Jesus made
No answer to him on parade.
10 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you
Not answer me? Don't you know true
I've got the power to crucify
Or let you go under the sky?”
11 Jesus replied, “You'd have no power
Against me, except from the bower
Bestowed from above, so the one
Who put me in your hands has done
The greater sin.” 12 And from that time
Pilate tried to release from crime,
But the Jews cried out saying still,
“If you let this man go, you will
Not be the friend of Caesar. One
Who makes himself a king has done
Against Caesar in traitor's gun.”

The deviation of the Jewish race
In the first century, from the law's grace,
Was not in the rejection of the law,
But in rejection of the strand in claw
That always went with that: from age to age
There always was more than the written page.
There was one divinely appointed sage,
The patriarch, the judge, the king in sway
To implement the law from day to day.
Accommodation to the Roman fears
By grasping law alone and giving gears
To Rome was the survival plan they had.
They did not realize it made them bad.
Beloved, let me take both hands for my tears.

13 When Pilate therefore heard that said,
He brought out Jesus and he spread
The judgement seat in the place called
The Pavement, in Hebrew installed
Gabbatha. 14 It was preparation
Of Passover, about the station
Of the sixth hour, and he said to
The Jews, “Behold your king in view!”
15 But they cried out, “Away with him,
Away with him, crucify him.”
Pilate said to them, “Shall I now
Crucify your king anyhow?”
The chief priests answered, “We've no king
But Caesar in the Roman ring.”

Here the elite of Jewish state chose well
The Roman pontiff and gave up the spell
Of David and the prophets, Moses' call,
The judges and the priesthood at the wall.
No king but Caesar, that speaks loud and clear,
And after centuries, what Kaiser near
Remembered the day with a grin to tell.
Beloved, the children of the Jews are not
Responsible for ancient leaders plot,
Nor were the common people who loved still
The teacher come to grace Mount Olive's hill
With words conservative of ancient faith
In Torah and the Psalms risen like wraith.
Beloved, we have a king and always will.

16 He gave him up to them to be
Crucified. And they took the wee
Jesus and led him away. 17 He
Carried his cross, he went out to
A place called the skull, in Hebrew
Golgotha. 18 Where they crucified
Him and two others at his side,
One on each hand and Jesus there
Set in the middle in the air.
19 And Pilate wrote a title, and
Put it on the cross. And the band
Of the writing was: Jesus of
Nazareth, the king that Jews love.
20 This title many Jews there read,
For the place where Jesus was led
To crucifixion was near to
The city, and writ in Hebrew,
And Greek and in the Latin too.
21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews
To Pilate, “Don't write king of Jews,
But that he said I'm king of Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I wrote down,
I have written for all the town.”

It's all a tit for tat. The priestly foes
Had tried to threaten Pilate in his woes,
And being forced against his will, he chose
Revenge by writing rankling words in all
The languages he knew upon the wall.
Neither cared one whit for the agony,
The bleeding flesh, the form upon the tree,
The howling of all nature there to see
Appalled the death of innocence in gall.
Beloved, nothing has changed, the crosses still
Meet sky under the clouds on every hill,
And those who rule still stand competing for
The last word and the last number in score.
The dying innocent pour out and spill.

23 The soldiers, when they'd crucified
Jesus, took his garments undyed
And made four portions, for each lad
Of the soldiers a portion had.
And also the cloak, now the cloak
Was without seam, wove at a stroke
From top to bottom and unbroke.
24 They said among themselves, “Let's not
Tear it, for the thing cast a lot,
Whose it shall be, so that the word
Of Scripture was fulfilled that heard,
They parted my garments among
Them and for my vesture thy hung
Lots. These things the soldiers had stung.

The Psalm uses the very words, it's true, but still
The soldiers did what soldiers always will.
This is not proof of prophecy at all,
But just another thing here to appal.
The seamless cloak is everywhere to see,
The object of the raffle and the spree,
The coveted remains of those who toil
Providing for the gluttons at the spoil.
Beloved, the pirate sings another tune,
And ships go down to seas in riggadoon,
But garments still are stretched and weight of gold
Is singled still for everything that's sold.
I wear the cuff for fleamart and remain
Among the few who may be sound and sane.

25 There stood by the cross Jesus' mother,
His mother's sister, and another
Mary the wife of Cleophas,
And Mary Magdalene at pass.
26 When Jesus saw his mother there,
And the disciple standing fair,
The one he loved, he told his mother,
“Woman, behold your son the other!”
27 He spoke to the disciple then,
“Behold your mother!” To his den
From that time on he took again.

The cross is said to relieve mind of all
But the business at hand and in the thrall,
But Jesus bothered heart and soul to say
A word in favour of his mother's way.
What would he have done if like other ten
The beloved John had slithered off again,
And there was none to take his mother in,
No friend, disciple or some other kin?
The sons of Joseph were of course around,
And one or two apparently then found
The faith that lacked when life was in the stroke,
And leaf was on the twig and on the oak.
Beloved, I look around the crosses here
And see but few who rise to take the gear.

28 After this Jesus knew all things
Were done, and as the Scripture sings
Fulfilment he said “Now I thirst.”
29 Now there was set a vessel full
Of vinegar, and so they'd pull
A sponge with vinegar and put
It on a hyssop from the foot
And set it to his mouth for worst.
30 When Jesus got the vinegar,
He said “It's finished”, with a stir
He bowed his head, gave up the ghost.
31 The Jews therefore, since it was toast
Of preparation, which meant that
The bodies should not stay out flat
Upon the cross on Sabbath day,
For that Sabbath was a high day,
Begged Pilate that their legs be broken,
So they could be brought down in token.
32 Then came the soldiers and they broke
The legs of the first robber bloke,
And of the other crucified
With him there on the other side.
33 But when they came to Jesus and
Saw he was already dead brand,
They did not break his legs to stand.

It seems it was a prophecy in stake
Made by the Psalm of David in the wake
That no bone should be broken in the make.
Perhaps the parallel is drawn too near
Between the Paschal lamb and without fear.
The death is the Passover for all time,
And so cannot be an atonement's rhyme,
Since Passover lamb atones for no sin,
But just commemorates the state we're in.
The blood upon the lintel cleanses naught,
Despite what every Christian child is taught.
Atonement is a thing writ in the fall,
Not in the spring and not upon the wall.
The prayer atones, the spilt blood not at all.

34 But one of the soldiers thrust spear
Into his side, and did appear
Blood and water upon the sand.
35 And he who saw it testified,
And his witness is true and tried,
And he knows what he says is true,
So you may have faith in the view.
36 These things were done, so that the Word
Should be fulfilled in what occurred:
A bone of him shall not be broken.
37 And another Scripture awoken
Says “They shall look on him they pierce.”
38 And after this Joseph the fierce
Of Arimathaea, who'd be
Jesus' disciple secretly
For fear of the Jews, begged Pilate
To have Jesus' body in state,
And Pilate gave him leave. He came
And took Jesus' body in claim.
39 And Nicodemus also came,
The one who first came by the flame
Of night to Jesus, and he brought
A mixture of the herbs he wrought
Of myrrh and aloes in the plot
Of one hundred in pounds as sought.
40 They took Jesus' body and wound
It in the linen cloths they'd bound
With spices as the custom sound
Of Jews to bury in the ground.
41 In the spot he was crucified
There was a garden, and inside
The garden a new tomb to bide,
Where none were ever put to ride.
42 They laid Jesus there since it was
The Preparation day by laws
Of Jews, and since the sepulchre
Was near to hand, not at all fur.

The burying in sheet and herb is still
The way the Muslims on earth would fulfil
Commandments of the law upon the hill.
Nothing has changed at all, except the name
That's written on the cloth, always the same
Among the Akhbaris, who have no shame
To quote Ismail always. The Usulis
Know better and write the name on the knees
Of the man who is wrapped in death and white.
Beloved, I fear the coming of the night
When my name is forgotten and my plight,
Unless someone embroiders on my cloak
The new name and the new love that awoke,
The hope of everlasting life alight.

JOHN 20

1 The first of the week Mary came,
Magdalene also was her name,
Early when it was still dark to
The sepulchre, and took in view
The stone was taken away from
The sepulchre. 2 She ran to come
To Simon Peter and the other
Disciple Jesus loved like brother,
And said to them, “They took away
The master from the tomb today,
And we don't know where he might stay.”
3 So Peter went out long beside
The other disciple to guide
And came to the sepulchre spied.
4 They ran together but the one
Disciple able to outrun
Peter came to the sepulchre
Before he had the time to stir.

Refusal to sign his name does not make
John modest for modesty's, comfort's sake.
It's merely a convention. See the lot:
He can't refrain from mentioning in plot
That he could run much faster than his friend,
And Peter was slow coming in the end.
The Bible is a human book, I say,
More human than the humans in its way,
Endearing for the foibles that they may
Keep perpetrating under light of day.
Both men lie still in their own tombs tonight,
And neither of them see a speck of light,
And neither run through the spring morning's air
To seek a living lord upon the stair.

5 He stooped down, saw the linen bands
Lie, yet he did not enter lands
Of death. 6 Then Simon Peter came
Behind him and went in the same
Sepulchre, and saw the clothes lie
In linen there beneath the sky.
7 And the cloth that was round his head
Not lying with the linen spread,
But wrapped in its own place instead.

The preacher, who's like John, and can't resist
Pretending to be better in the mist,
Says that the cloth about the head is there
Like serviette to show a sign on air.
The meaning is invented just to make
The listener think him wise and no mistake.
The bier is no board left from meal unfinished,
But that the detailed etched and undiminished
Of that sight swept John decades later in
Description of the vividness of tin.
Beloved, I enter morning tombs each day,
Surprised to find them empty in their way,
With linen folded and set out to stay,
And know the presence of Your heart in kin.

8 Then that other disciples too
Went in, who came first in the dew
To the tomb, saw and believed too.
9 For they still did not know the word
Of Scripture, that he would be stirred
To rise of from the dead incurred.
10 Then the disciples went away
Again into their house to stay.
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb
And wept there, as she wept in doom
She stooped down and looked in the tomb,
12 And saw two angels in white sit,
One at the head, the other fit
At the foot, where the body'd lain.
13 And they said to her, “Woman, why
Have you come to this place to cry?”
She said to them, “Because they took
My lord, I don't know where to look.”

When Mary's asked why does she weep,
She does not answer from her sleep
Because my lover's dead and I
Remain alone under the sky,
But catches at the first thing near,
The body's gone from under tear.
How human and irrational!
We never have wit, never shall
To say the truth, no, nor the heart
To spell the folly of our part,
The destitution of the place
Where lies the hopeless human race.
Beloved, give over, lest You find
You also join the outer rind.

14 When she had said so, she turned round
And saw Jesus stand on the ground,
And did not know Jesus was found.
15 Jesus asked her, “Woman, why weep?
Whom do you seek among the deep?”
She thinking him the gardener,
Spoke to him and said to him, “Sir,
If you have carried him away,
Tell me now where he came to lay,
And I'll go and take him away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary dear.”
She turned and said to him with fear
And joy, “Rabboni” which is just to say
Master. 17 Jesus said to her, “Stay,
Do not touch me, for I have not
Yet gone up to my Father's plot,
But go to my brothers and say
To them, that I go up away
To my Father, your Father too,
And to my God, and God of you.”

What is this word that Jesus speaks?
Why did he think Mary had cheeks
To touch him? He was a man then,
And she a woman in the den,
No relative, and they were there
Alone in the garden and fair.
The law between the sexes then
Was just as now, do not touch men.
Two possibilities arise,
One was that they were married guys,
The other that they'd had affair
In clandestine. So choose Your dare,
But do not tell me monk and nun
Met to hug in the garden fun.

If Jesus is the Son of God, I say,
I like the message he speaks on the way,
That his Father is Mary's too and theirs
Who gather behind doors to say their prayers.
That may explain this touching between kin
Without the taint of smut or other sin.
If Jesus has a God, the same as I
And Mary, and disciples on the sly,
Then he's no more a god under the sky
Than any other man born to ask why,
But by the grace You share with him to be
Whatever You decide eternally.
Beloved, God of Jesus and God of me,
Reveal the word again and faithfully.

18 Mary Magdalene came and told
The disciples that she'd been bold
To see the lord, and what he said
To her. 19 Then that same day at spread
Of evening, the first of the week,
When doors were shut so none could peek,
Where the disciples gathered in
Their fear of the Jews and their kin,
Came Jesus and stood among them,
And said to them in stratagem,
Salaam alaykum, peace in hem.
20 And when he'd said so, he showed them
His hands and side. Then they were glad,
Disciples were, to see the lad.
21 Then Jesus said to them again,
Salaam alaykum to you men,
As my Father has sent me, so
I send you too to work below.”

Saint Paul was not among that faithful crew,
And so could say there is no work to do,
But only in faith say the word is true
That Jesus rose up from the grave on cue.
But every other man of those who knew
And followed him beyond the cross to view
His last commission, knows the tasks abound
Here in the city, on the desert ground.
Beloved, the work is set out for my share,
And the reward recorded on the stair,
While some may stand like Milton and relate
That life eternal is a mental state,
I strive to enter in the heavenly gate
Without shirk of my work on earth or air.

22 And when he'd said this, he breathed on
Them and said to them, “Have in drawn
The Holy Spirit. 23 Whose sins you
Release, they are remitted too,
And whose sins you retain, they are
Retained beyond the sun and star.”

The breath of Christ upon the men he knew
Gave them the right to forgive sins in crew.
The dervish breathed on me when I was ill
In hope of health and healing to the fill.
I whirl about the dergah floor and wait
The coming of the flame and wind in mate,
And as I whirl through my small deaths, I find
Through my sips of breaths, I'm no longer blind.
Beloved, the spirit by which You recall
The universes to Your cell and wall
Recedes no more beneath my chamber stall,
But in its far expansion on the breeze
My soul arises over seven seas
To share the hope, to share the victories.

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve called
Didymus, was not there installed
With them when Jesus came from far.
25 The other disciples then said
To him, “We've seen the lord live led.”
But he said to them, “Except I
Shall see in his hands and descry
The print of the nails, and put my
Finger in the print of the nails,
And thrust my hand in his side's pales,
I will not have faith in your tales.”
26 And after eight days and again
His own disciples stayed in den,
And Thomas with them, Jesus came
Through the doors shut and stood in claim
And said Salaam alaykum then.
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Reach out
Your finger and see without doubt
My hands, and reach also your hand
And thrust it in my side as planned,
And be not faithless, but believe.
28 And Thomas exclaimed for reprieve
And said to him, “Good Lord, my God!”

The Trinitarian grasps at this straw
And takes Thomas at his word said in awe
To mean that Jesus is both Lord and God
Of everything created on the sod.
The Greek is not in vocative, which means
The one addressed cannot, in all the scenes,
Be the God the man means, though any other
Within the universe could be the brother.
Beloved, if Thomas' words exclude just Christ
From being God Almighty, then the spliced
In Trinity falls down before Your throne
To recognize that You are God alone.
If all are God to whom such words are spread,
Then we have millions of them having said.

29 But Jesus told him, “Thomas, since
You have seen me, you do not wince,
But you believe. Blessed are those since
You have not seen, and still believe.”
30 And many other signs indeed
Jesus did in the sight and need
Of his disciples, which are not
Written in this book and the plot.
31 But these are written, so you might
Believe that Jesus in his right
Is Christ the Son of God, and so
Believing you might have the glow
Of life through his name here below.”

The Christ once meant the king upon the throne,
The son of David reigning over stone.
But at the touch of Jesus it expands
To meanings greater on the far-flung sands.
Messiah is the one who gives men life
To live above the earthly din and strife
And last to enter in the heavenly hall
To live forever in angelic call.
Beloved, let me be faithful to that king,
And so join in the living, loving ring,
And in his name arise at last to sing.
And as the Son of God Messiah knows
The paths of human hearts and human woes,
Let me join him among the thousands' rows.

JOHN 21

1 After these things Jesus appeared
Again to the disciples geared
At the sea of Tiberias,
And in this way he came to pass.
2 There were together Simon Peter,
And Thomas Didymus defeater,
Nathanael from the town of Cana
In Galilee, and no complainer
The sons of Zebedee, and two
Other disciples come in view.
3 Simon Peter said to them, “I
Am going fishing by and by.”
They said to him, “We too shall go
Along with you to see the show.”
They went straight out into a ship,
And that night caught nothing to slip.

Here at last I see why Jesus would choose
That motley party with or without shoes.
It's not that they're intelligent or wise,
Nor that they're great in anybody's eyes,
But simply that no death or disappointment
Can dampen their activity's anointment.
They're ready for a fishing trip as soon
As Peter mentions it for fork or spoon.
Beloved, enthusiasm is the word
Well sought and etymologized and stirred.
My lazy hand can hardly bear the blurred,
But those men were not daunted by the herd.
That's why he chose them from among the fair,
And sent them out to labour everywhere.

4 But when the morning was now come,
Jesus stood on the shore to hum,
But the disciples did not know
That it was Jesus there to show.
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Now sons,
Do you have anything for buns?”
They answered him, “Nothing at all.”
6 He said to them, “Throw out of stall
The net on the ship's right side hull,
And you will get a catch in tonnes.”
So they threw the net and were not
Able to pull in all the draught.
7 So that disciple Jesus loved
Said to Peter, “It's the lord gloved.”
When Simon Peter heard that it
Was the lord, he put on his fit
Fisher's cloak, for he had been nude,
And jumped into the lake, the dude.

It's always John who understands and knows,
And always Peter that jumps in and goes.
Each has his own way in the tide of life,
Each his own way to meet the storm and strife.
John recognizes Jesus for the fish
That jumped into the boat as by a wish.
I wonder how I might know that lord when
I look abroad to fathom souls and men.
Beloved, let me see in the faces near
Reflection of the glories that appear
In the divine direction and the pir.
Beloved, let me see Jesus in the small,
The weakest of the weak against the wall,
And feel the divine hand covering all.

8 The other disciples came in
A little ship, for they had been
Not far from land, it might have been
Two hundred armlengths, dragging net
With all the fishes they could get.
9 As soon as they had come to land,
They saw a fire of coals at hand,
And fish laid out and bread on sand.
10 Jesus told them, “Bring up some fish
Of what you caught to fill the dish.”
11 And Simon Peter went to take
The net to land full in the wake
Of big fish, one hundred fifty
And three in all, for the degree
Of so many, the net was free.

John could resist to write the works that stood
As wonders when Jesus arose and could.
He's tired of writing so he ends his book,
But can't resist to beg to take a look
How many fish he brought up from the brook.
A fisherman must tell his tale no matter
If some Messiahs from the dead are fatter.
I only wonder, if the man was God,
Why he had only a few on the sod,
And needed more and told them to bring some
Of what they'd caught to make the breakfast hum.
If he could do a miracle in catch,
Why was he then dependent on the snatch?
The signs he does are not peas in a pod.

12 Jesus said to them, “Come and dine.”
And none of the disciples fine
Dared ask him, “Who are you?” since they
Knew it was the lord in their way.
13 Then Jesus came and took the bread
And gave it to them, and he spread
The fish as well. 14 Now this remains
The third time that Jesus attains
To show himself to his friends then
After he rose from death and den.
15 When they had eaten, Jesus said
To Simon Peter, “Simon son
Of Jonas, do you love me won
More than these others on the run?”
He said to him, “Yes, sir, you know
That I still love you on the go.”
He told him, “Feed my lambs of snow.”
16 He said to him the second time,
“Simon, son of Jonas for crime,
Do you love me?” Peter said to
Him, “Yes, sir, you know that I do.”
He said to him then, “Feed my sheep.”
17 He told him a third time to keep,
“Simon, son of Jonas, do you
Really love me and love me true?”
Peter was grieved to hear the thing
Three times about and in a ring,
He said to him, “Sir you know all,
You know I love you.” At the call,
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
18 “Truly indeed, I say in sweep,
When you were young, you set yourself
And went anywhere like an elf,
But when you shall be old, you'll stretch
Out your hands and another fetch
And take you where you would not go.”
19 He said this to prophesy which
Death should take him into the ditch
To glorify God at a pitch.
And when he has said this, he said
To him, “Follow me then instead.”

The crucifixion of St. Peter's not
Historical, but only legend's rot.
This text is too ambiguous to say
How Peter died to glorify Your sway.
They might have bound his hands instead to take
Him to a pot of oil for St. John's sake.
Beloved, is every good man left to die
Upon a stake or beneath ashen sky?
No wonder men's hearts fail them and they make
A beeline for the nearest king to rake
With fawning and with dawning wealth to bake.
I too am mercenary in my way,
Thinking that You'll make me rich and someday
Come justify the reasons for my stay.

20 Then Peter turned around to see
Behind them the disciple wee
Whom Jesus loved, the one who leaned
Upon his breast at supper weaned,
And said “Sir, who's betraying thee?”
21 When Peter saw him then he said
To Jesus, “Sir, how's this man led?”
22 Jesus said to him, “If I will
That he tarry again until
I come, what is that thing to you?
Follow me only keep in view.”
23 Then this word went out in the folk,
That that disciple should not croak,
But Jesus did not say to him,
“He shall not die”, but rather dim,
“If I will him to stay until
I come, what is that to your bill?”
24 This is the disciple who bears
Witness of these things and who cares
To write them down. And we know that
His word is true and firmly sat.
25 And there are many other things
That Jesus did, which, if in rings
They should be written down each one,
I guess the world itself that spun
Could not contain the books again
That should be written, and amen.

I come to the end of the Gospel store,
At least canonical before the door,
And find I am not satisfied to leave
The story of the Christ and his reprieve.
I've looked at it with eyes of doubt to find
A thread of certainty for eye that's blind.
I've looked at it with eyes of faith to see
The broken window on eternity.
And in the end I know I've just begun
To learn what Jesus said and did for fun.
Beloved, give me the life and breath to go
Back through the story to find here below
The kernel of the nut. I taste the rind,
The sweetbreads of the faithful and the kind.

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