MANDATUM NOVUM

Photo by Manzi Gandhi on Unsplash.

"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either
to free you or to crucify you?"
John 19:10

Here’s the thing, forgive me
if I’m being blunt, but you are
just too dangerous. Too difficult. 

Give us Barabbas!

Take, for example, these basic facts:
thrones are more comfortable
than mangers, temples more splendid
than crosses, tablets of stone
are easier to hold than grace. 

Woman, I don’t know him!

Need I continue? I feel
a bit silly stating the obvious.
After all, everyone can agree
that thirty pieces of silver are
more enticing than promises
of a kingdom we can’t see.

His blood be on us, and on our children!

Oh, and that whole blood thing?
No offense, but we are good
with just regular wine. 

If you’re the Messiah, save yourself!

But as the rooster’s cries
echo in the distance,
you bend down
to write in the sand,
and for a moment we forget
to insist that we are fine
just as we are.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

We see you rising from the table,
filling a basin. Towel in hand, you kneel.
And begin to wash.