A Week That Changed the World
On Sunday,
There were swaying palms,
Strewn on the ground, held overhead;
A waving sea of welcome,
Soon forgotten, wilted, dead.
There was teaching in the Temple,
Eager listeners leaning in,
Focused on the Master
And deliverance from sin.
Some saw Him as a danger
To authority and Law;
Others hoped he was Messiah,
Come to blunt the Roman claw.
In the midst of adulation,
He knew the end was soon,
Good-bye in every gesture
Sizzled in that Upper Room.
It was a true Last Supper,
The last that they would share,
For in a few short hours
Souls and hopes would be laid bare.
Betrayal, shame and torture,
Denial by a friend,
The jeering of the masses,
Crucifixion at the end.
In an agony of anguish,
Pain on pain would be deployed:
All hope for a Messiah
Might be totally
Destroyed.
“It is finished,” cried the Teacher,
For no miracle had come.
Jesus had just hung there,
So, He must not be God’s Son.
But, guards of Rome were frightened
When earthquakes shook the ground,
And bodies of long-buried dead
Spilled forth, and wandered ‘round.
The Temple drape was shredded,
As anguish conquered sense,
The Loved Remains were shut away
So Sabbath could commence.
The tomb was sealed and guarded,
Magdalene a vigil kept.
Rome saw the tomb securely sealed:
The “Jesus” people wept.
Night fell…..a day…..another night:
New dawn, at last, would bring
The freedom to attend the corpse
That should have been a King.
On
That far-off
Early morning,
That first Easter in the world,
A silent tomb,
Stone rolled away,
Grave-clothes all unfurled.
In that dawn-tinged, misty moment,
When time seemed to hold its breath,
With the loneliest vigil over,
Still the memory of His death
Fell like a blow near lethal
At that most helpless hour,
And the strength to just continue
Seemed beyond
One’s greatest power.
Into that taut, tense dawning,
Arms full of grim supplies,
Came the Magdalene, all grieving
And not welcoming sunrise.
So,
Imagine her confusion,
Her suspicion and despair –
When she’d come to tend her Master,
But His body was not there.
The heavy stone was rolled away,
Which had secured the tomb:
The most historic place on Earth
Was just an empty room.
Well, not quite empty….In the gloom
An angel lingered near.
“Why seek the living ‘mong the dead?
He’s risen……
He’s not here.”
Mary turned to walk away,
And Christ,
Alive,
Was there.
At first she didn’t know Him,
Blinded by her tears and care.
He asked why she was weeping,
Why did her sadness burn.
And then,
He called her by her name;
“Mary”…
And her joy returned!
He said, “Go tell what you have seen,
The others to convince.”
In that instant,
It
Was
EASTER.
It’s been Easter ever since.
***
Originally Written for Easter 2009
Republished for Easter 2018
Written just for you
Love, Lida
QOE