Matthew 3:1-13

[joel]

The Baptist wasn’t damning when he came.
“You brood of vipers” wasn’t vitriol
and when he asked, “Who warned you all to flee?”—
he asked the question with sincerity
because he wondered who had spared their lives.
Repentance isn’t sin’s confession, but
forgiveness poured with liberality
on snakes who needed generosity—
not judgment— as they slither on their gut
away from wrath, away from fire that writhes
their tree, their dry-thorn thickets. Parity
between the ground and God was not what he
had taught as worth for human life; his goal
was just to meet the one who’d face the flame.

[neologistic]

very potent, thanks for sharing this

[dadio]

I am always impressed by your poems, Joel. This one is no exception.


Parity
between the ground and God was not what he
had taught as worth for human life; his goal
was just to meet the one who’d face the flame.
( I love these lines)

[Hollweg]

It is an error
to believe God willingly
sides with the victim.

[mnaz]

i can't help but wonder, who is 'he?' and how was he to 'face the flame?'
was it jesus? or john, perhaps?

[Steve Plonk]

"Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, saddle the pig and I'll get on" By anonymous
***
If the Bible done tolled it, it must be true--please pass your offering and pay your toll, please, folks...Words to live by, as the preachers say...
Hey, take it from Matthew, the toll collector..."All the world must be taxed"
Oh, & another thing: Sufficient today is the flames thereof. A paraphrase.

[mnaz]

i don't understand your reply, steve.

[Steve Plonk]

Mnaz, I am playing with Joel, et al, a little bit. The first quote is a coarse "mnemonic device" used to learn the order of the gospels...I'm telling him: yes, I remember the gospels.

My second statement about taxes is concerning Matthew, who was originally a toll and tax collector. It is also a takeoff on "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is G-d's." In other words, money corrupts,
but mosttimes we know it is a snake before we pick it up. All of us are bitten by
the money bug at one time or another. Matthew renounced the money bug. He
got a handsome "finders fee" for the taxes and tolls that he got from folks. Instead, Matthew paid his tithe to the Lord and followed Jesus...As the saying goes: We all have a price to pay for being "real" Christian followers.

My third statement about the flame means that the "flames" of today, even if we
aren't firemen, are enough trouble as they are... Most of us are not cut out to be martyrs. Joel spoke in parables and so I answered him in, I hope, somewhat scrutable manner. Joels lesson concerns Matthew's telling, in my view, that John,
the Baptist, prepared the way for Jesus. Preachers are apt to get up on their high horses, occasionally, and I was reminding him that some folks just need to get through the temptations of the daily grind.

There is a quote saying in Matthew 9: " I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. Then, Matthew 10: The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." The Bible, "New International Version"

We all have a chance for salvation, but the saints & martyrs (bearing good fruit) have prepared the way... as the witnessing goes...Jesus, ultimately, is our only mediator and advocate. Folks have gone down before us to set an example. (So, as you may see, I saved plenty of print with my enigmatic sayings, as did Joel. Incidentally, it goes without saying, Joel, you're excellent poet preacher. I haven't thought this much about the Bible in quite some time. That's what happens usually in church, not just when I am snowed in...talk about a captive audience!)

[mnaz]

thanks steve..

[joel]

My thanks to you all...and to John...and to his friend in the story....

John's impassioned speech has always sounded so angry and damning to me...and serves as a rallying point for a lot of judgmental Xian preaching; but it's also really gentle and generous...since he's pointing to the fact that they were spared. Knowing the end of the story...what the tree is used for in the end...isn't it an act of grace to have my tree cut down at the roots rather than leaving it to stand for my body to grace with the "strange fruit" of a lynching?

My ma told me a long time ago that it's better to be a live chicken than a dead duck; better also, in John's preaching, to be a living forgiven snake than a crucified forgiving sacrifice.

...takes the anger out of preaching for me to consider my prophets that way...and I belong to a tradition that, if it wants integrity (all pun intended), needs to consider gentle grace and give up claims on enangered judgment.

But preaching and poetry isn't absolute truth...just our attempts, in my opinion, at sharing the trust we have in life larger than is ours define.