By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
—Isaiah 53.8
We stand by as he is detained,
one who has done no wrong
but upset the rulers.
He disappears into their machine.
Horror seeps in like night,
like leaking ink, like a disease.
We will never have their power,
the weapons, the armor.
(But you can feel the urge, no?)
We have only love and anguish, and guilt.
Warming ourselves by the fire,
our silence screaming out,
we had wanted to be safe from them,
but we are not safe
from our betrayals and denials,
our weakness, and our shame.
Our violence nailed up for all to see.
Our neighbor, our victim, our damnation.
There is no undoing this:
this is our doing, our undoing,
so wrong, all of it, all of us so wrong.
Guilt and grief and terror in our veins,
we watch, unable to watch,
desperate for courage, or at least forgiveness.
For a moment, not meaning to,
we imagine being in his place— — …
We shudder and look down.
There is no saving here, is there?
From the cross flows blood, and all his life,
and love, infinite love.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net
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