II JOHN CHAPTER 1

2 JOHN 1

1 The elder, to lady elect
And her children, whom I select
To love in truth, not only I,
But also all those who comply
With the truth, 2 because of the truth
Which dwells in us, sincere and ruth,
And will be with us always: 3 Grace,
Mercy, and peace be in your place
From God the Father and from lord
Jesus Christ, Father’s son adored
In truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly
That I’ve found of your children stately
Walking in truth, as we received
Command from the Father, believed.

The truth! Al-Haqq! Indeed it dwells in those
Who have and do Your laws, and those who chose
To walk according to the awesome sound
Of Your voice rolling on Sinai’s bare ground.
Who comply with the truth, reality,
Are those who hear the word and also see
That outside its obedience there lies
Only the fields of what’s determined, skies
And seas, the law of nature's round that sends
The grouse to drum, and in the sedgeweed blends
The colours of the marsh hen by Your will.
But humans can choose freedom in the still
Small voice that since that day repeats the slate
That made Moses and all who followed great.

5 And now I plead with you, lady,
Not as though I wrote a shady
And new commandment to you, but
That which we have had from the start,
That we love one another. 6 This
Is love, that we walk in that bliss
According to His commandments.
This is the commandment with sense,
That as you have heard from the start,
You should walk in it, not depart.

How many speak of love these days and tell
How love is everything that treats life well.
The Sufi lover loves her own hearthstone
As long as rank agreement leaves alone
The divine law. The advertiser will
Give love enticing pictures live or still.
But You, Beloved, give quite another scent:
For You love’s quite a different thing that’s meant
To walk according to commandments’ law
That once was proclaimed on Sinai with awe,
And then embodied in the one You lent
To earth to lead the righteous where they went.
Beloved, I love as I enter once more
Into You commandments at this day’s door.

7 For many deceivers have gone
Out into the world, night and dawn,
Who do not confess Jesus Christ
As coming in the flesh sufficed.
Such is deceiver, antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we do not
Lose those things we worked for and taught,
But may receive a full reward.
9 Who transgresses except by sword
And does not stay in Christ’s teaching
Does not have God within reaching.
He who abides in Christ’s teaching
Has both the Father and the son.
10 Who comes to you and on the run
And does not bring this doctrine sweet,
Do not receive in house or greet
Him, 11 for he who greets him shares in
His evil deeds and in his sin.

How many feet come trampling through my door
And settle in my house to eat a score
Of bread and pickle out of doom resigned.
I cannot keep, it seems, my hut confined.
Though I see You beyond the face of all,
I find but few who on Your names will call,
And of those few, how few Your doctrine treat
As well revealed in Jesus’ hands and feet.
I greet the vain desires that come my way
As people crowd my paths from day to day,
But cross my fingers like a child at play,
Because they reject Christ who do not stay
To keep Your law upon the holy path.
I greet them with a smile, please hold Your wrath.

12 With many things to write to you,
I did not wish so to construe
With paper and ink, but I hope
To come to you and speak and cope
Once face to face, that our joy may
Be full. 13 The children in the way
Of your elect sister greet you,
Who are of the path of Christ true. Amen.

Beloved, my joy is never full as I
Look out upon a clear and cloudless sky,
On woods of fir and pine, by birches’ day
And fragrant nights upon wild cherries’ sway.
My joy is never full with veils between
My face and that face that cannot be seen.
The veils are torn, and yet I still see here
The same twigs swollen with the spring of year.
No change at all reflects my joy grown full,
The harpist still grabs on the horns of bull.
The veil is rent, but all stands as it was:
The melted snow runs on its errands’ pause,
All things remain, all things that hid Your face,
Become the light by which I find Your grace.

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