We obey him,
follow where he leads,
yet who is he,
this Jesus?
We trust him,
his power and his wisdom,
yet who is he,
this Jesus?
We fear him,
who rebukes wind and sea –
who is he,
this Jesus?
1. The ground
when a gardener plants her seeds
within the ground, then sleeps
and rises, night and day,
as the seed bursts in the dark,
green shoot reaching for the light,
roots stretching further beneath,
she does not know how.
it is the earth that nurtures,
draws in water from the rain,
warms with the light of the sun,
coaxing roots and stalk and leaves,
bud and petals and flower –
then the gardener picks her roses,
harvests blooms for joy and delight –
and does she know it is the earth,
the ground, the soil, that is like
the realm of God?
2. A seed
Consider a tiny seed,
planted among the grains
of dirt and indistinguishable.
When it breaks open,
when it grows to its potential,
it is a bush, vast,
sheltering, welcoming,
birds and mammals and
insects and more –
That seed. Not the tree.
That seed is like
the realm of God.
3. Light
when I turn on the light
I do not hide the light
in the cupboard, or beneath
the bed – oh, no!
for what light will I gain
if I hide myself away
from the realm of God?
did they hear it as a rejection,
his ‘who are my brothers, my
mother?’, and invited anyone
living the Way of God to
count themselves his kin?
did it cause them pain, or pity,
to hear them speak so
of their brother, of her son:
‘gone mad,’ ‘in league with
the ruler of demons’?
did it hurt when he refused them,
their care, concern, their call?
when he answered the scribes
their bated question, throwing
more fuel on the maddening fire?
did they stay with him
on the road from there, or
did they go back home?
who was at home waiting
while they went out for him?
did they hear it as rejection,
did it hurt when he refused them,
did it cause them pain, or pity,
and did they, his siblings and their
mother stay or go back home?
