This month, I’ve been reading a chapter of Matthew each night to reflect more deeply on the life of Christ during this season of Lent. These poems have come as a result of those reflections.

 

Tried & Tempted, Victorious & Vigilant

Matthew 4

Before ministry began,

Christ the human

Faced the desert temptation,

Weak in his flesh.

But Christ as God,

Strong in spirit,

Conquered those temptations

So he could later strengthen

Those being tempted.

The devil offered him

Deliverance from painful death –

A kingdom without suffering

Fame without humiliation.

The devil’s way seemed easier

As it always does.

But Christ knew the deceit

And called out his lies with truth.

And thus his ministry

Could legitimately begin

With victory over sin

And empathy for the sinners.

With his face set forward,

Christ began preaching,

Calling his disciples,

Healing and loving those around him.

And the world began to turn upside down.

The Fulfillment of the World’s Longing

Matthew 5-7

You came to establish a new system,

You stripped away rules and laws,

You replaced them with heart issues,

And you fulfilled them all completely.

You blessed those the world shunned,

You gave courage to the fearful,

You gave comfort to the mourning,

You blessed the persecuted.

You called us to give You

Our anger, our lust, our grudges,

You asked us to redefine

Our giving, our prayers, our treasures.

You gave us a place

To sink all our anxieties and fears;

You promised to provide

For all our needs and then some.

Finally you revealed the hypocrites –

You told us they’d be known

By the fruit they bore in their lives,

For all the pretending can’t hide a rotten heart.

You called us to build our houses

On Your solid foundation –

Not the shifting sand of

Cultural norms and good deeds.

And with this, You astounded

The crowds who listened

Who’d never heard anyone like You

In all your wisdom and authority.

You were what the world

Had been longing for

And didn’t even know it

In the darkness of their hearts.

Your light burst through

Their darkness,

Bringing all the hope

They’d ever dreamed of.

And the world

Would never

Be the same.

The Great Storyteller & Healer

Matthew 13-14

Jesus, the Great Storyteller

Who told of kingdoms,

Stubborn hearts, harvests,

Judgments, and values.

Jesus, the Nazarite,

Rejected by his hometown,

But sought after by crowds

Of thousands upon thousands.

Jesus, the Master Teacher,

Who understood

The pretendings of the self-righteous,

The neediness of the sick,

The fears of the faint-hearted.

He didn’t give up

When the crowds pressed in;

He didn’t abandon

When the waves grew high.

Instead, he gently

Multiplied small lunches

Into feasts for crowds.

He calmly walked

On raging seas

To his disciples shaking in fear.

And he stretched out his hand

Inviting the disciple Peter

To join him

In walking on the water.

He was not afraid.

He was not burnt-out.

He was not fed-up.

He was not impatient.

He just saw their needs.

And loved them.

And he met those needs

One by one,

Until wellness filled their souls.

May we look to you today,

Jesus, to heal our sick souls –

And to the cheap fillers

The world has to offer.

May we trust your work

To change our stubborn hearts,

To strengthen our faltering trust,

And to guide us out upon the waves.

Photo by Wai Siew on Unsplash.