RISEN

I arrived after following a new star
I’d heard some rumors and rumblings
about who or what you are
I had to verify the verity
your Father in heaven and mother in Mary?
divinely human, God and man, infinite and intimate?
I had to see

I came seeking peace, wisdom, and prosperity
you said what I needed most was charity
you spoke to me when convention said you couldn’t
I came for a drink
and you said you had water
that would forever quench my thirst
you made me think
about camels and needles
and how my battles with evil
will be mostly… with myself
when I hit rock bottom, outcast and alone
you told those without sin to cast the first stone
you didn’t condone but gave me direction
the chance to change
you offered your yoke and gave me rest
on the road to redemption you bade me blessed
when I wandered off and got lost in pride
when I scuffled in sloth, and scoffed in greed
in all the dust I kicked up
you washed my feet

See, this is something different
I’ve known good teachers and read good philosophers
but I could never posit a power
that would prompt a legion of demons to scurry into swine
as quickly as water was turned into wine
I asked to be healed
you said my sins are forgiven me
that’s not what I envisioned, see
I just wanted to walk
I guess you wanted more

12 years and it took just one touch of your garment
to stop the bleeding
and that’s when I started seeing
what it took out of you
chills went up my spine
when you fed thousands with a few biscuits and fish
and delivered a sermon that broke people’s minds
you broke bread with me
and said this I should do in remembrance of you
but even while I was partaking
I still didn’t get
that it was you I’d be breaking

I saw you shaking
but not shrinking
you drank of the cup and all of its bitterness
willfully absorbing all of the hits
for all of my misses and all of my ignorance
and not just for me
for Matthew and Peter, and Mary Magdalene
for paupers and peasants, and caliphs and queens
I watched you passionately bleed
for every lost son of Adam
and every last daughter of Eve

I couldn’t believe that you’d just let them arrest you
after calming me down and healing your captor
you surrendered and said
this has to be

Then came the lashes, the mocking and shame
you gave me beauty for ashes but you got the flames
they framed you for fraud and blamed you for blasphemy
then came the mob in their laughter and pageantry
then came the nails, they cheered at the gesture
the veil was shaken,then came a spear for good measure

Still, hope filled the horizon
they may have slain the lamb
but they did not kill the lion

This was no loss, this was a victory
your death on the cross – an eternal epiphany
this was the cost for all that you did for me
you took all the wrong notes and made it a symphony
we are set free, forever forgiven
his love has no end, this is just the beginning
he is not dead, our Lord is living
he is not here
for he is
Risen

–

When this man walked with us on the road to Emmaus
or Rome or Rio, or New York or Las Vegas
did our hearts not burn within us?
were we not surprised by joy?

What a relief the revelation
that this is our condition
and not our destination

Victorious

On Palm Sunday
agony loomed and by the end of the week
darkness presumed it was a Good Friday
but the light, the love, and the life
cannot be entombed

How meaningful the power
his life didn’t begin in Bethlehem
and because it didn’t conclude on Calvary
neither does ours

And thus the saddest Saturday in history
turned into the most glorious
of all Sundays

Happy Easter