We were following Jesus out of Jericho, A great throng of us, excited to be near him. He had healed many of our incurable diseases. We wanted to be blessed more by him now. He was leaving our town but we needed to be with him; We did not want to let him out of our sight. This procession felt holy and righteous, A sanctified moment in time. Many of us whispered that he would be our king When we went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. Then, we became very annoyed When two blind beggars beside the road Dressed in filthy rags, covered with dust, Started shouting "Jesus, son of David, Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us!" "Shut up, you idiots," I shouted back. Those around me in the procession scowled: "Do not disturb our king, scoundrels," "Silence, for you do not deserve his attention." "Who are you, blind beggars, to ask for mercy?" But the blind men cried out again, "Lord, have pity and mercy on us, You son of David." To our great surprise and chagrin, Jesus stopped. He asked the men what they wanted of him. "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened," They said, groping for his robes. We could see the love and pity on Jesus' face. There, surrounded by our vitriol, He calmly touched their eyes. And instantly they received their sight! The two men stood up and followed Jesus, Rejoicing ecstatically, praising him loudly. Jesus walked through our midst, All of us ashamed of the evil we had done. But as he brushed against us on his way, Our eyes were instantly opened, And we saw that he was the son of David, The One who would be the Savior of the world. We followed him, rejoicing, Shouting the praises of him to Jerusalem, Where we threw off our outer robes And spread them on the street for him, Where we cut branches from the trees And spread them on the road to cover the dust. We kept shouting "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
Reason for writing:
I wrote this poem to illustrate how strongly I feel
about people following Jesus for merely selfish reasons,
not wanting to share their religion with "outsiders"
who may not look or act like them. I'm especially
concerned by Christians who look upon poor people or
people who seem poor as faith failures. Everybody
deserves the free gift of salvation. It's not just
for the self-righteous.
Birth sign: Not entered
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