A5- PART G

PART G: traps
PART G: TRAPS
The Pharisees seek to undermine Jesus’ popularity and try to embroil him in matters of
dispute such as adultery and divorce.
The Parable of the Tares
Were there a way of giving prizes
To plants that have the best disguises
‘Tares’ might be with the candidates –
A plant that every farmer hates.
It’s ‘vicia sativa’ or ‘ common vetch’
And what the young plant does – the wretch
Is dress itself to look like grain.
The farmer has a lot of bother.
Poor chap, he can’t tell one from t’other
Try as he might, he can’t be sure
Till vetch and grain are both mature.
The tale of the farmer I’m about to tell
Involved some farm hands who served him well
They came to him and pointed out
Now that his fields had begun to sprout
Grain and vetch grew side by side.
What was the cause? They’d nothing to hide.
The seed they’d sown had been the best
Everything done at his behest
What should they do? What was amiss?
‘Some enemy’, he said, at last, ‘did this!’
The men were keen to put things right
They’d go and work, then, day and night
And rid the farmer of this scourge
They’d go at once, they had the urge
To pull up every trespassing tare
And leave just good grain growing there.
‘Oh! Just a mo’, the farmer said,
‘Before I give the go-ahead
For you to start to pull a weed
There’s one thing that must be agreed.
I’ll say it once, I’ll not say it again,
No harm must befall a single grain
Of wheat. Best to wait until we know
For certain which is which. We’ll let them grow.
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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables
Then the day will surely dawn
When we are certain which is corn
And which is weed.
Alright, if that’s agreed
When harvest comes, first bundle the tares
And burn them up! They’re gone! Who cares?
But making sure it comes to no harm
Store the good grain carefully in my barn.’
When his disciples had him on his own
they questioned Jesus. ‘Please explain to us
the meaning of the story of the tares –
the weeds that grew among the ears of corn.’
So Jesus gave a full reply. He said,
‘ I, Son of Man, sow good seed in the field.
The seeds are men and women everywhere.
They are the children of the King of Heaven.
The weeds are offspring of the Evil One.
The harvest is the Ending of the Age.
Battalions of angels will appear
who’ll act as reapers, and make certain that
all of the Devil’s progeny are burned –
all gathered up and thrown into a fire.
They’ll weep and gnash their teeth eternally.
The righteous and the virtuous will live
for ever in the Father’s joyful house
shining as brightly as the noonday sun.
You must believe me: that’s how it will be.’
When in a synagogue one Sabbath day
the Lord was talking to the gathering.
He saw a woman staring at the floor
whose back was bent. She could not straighten up
and this infirmity had been with her
for eighteen years. For all that time she’d stooped.
So Jesus paused and called her to his side.
He placed his healing hands on her and said,
‘You are released from this captivity.
The bondage you have suffered is no more.’
Then she stood up, and praised God in the way
that others could, her head held high in thanks.
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PART G: traps
The rulers of the synagogue were not
impressed. ‘The days for doing work are clear.
The Sabbath is not one of them. If you
want healing, please come back some other day.’
‘You wretched hypocrites!’ the Lord exclaimed.
‘Do you not every Sabbath day, yourselves
untie your ox or ass from where it feeds
to lead it out to water? Here we have
a woman, not a donkey or a cow,
but someone of the tribe of Abraham
whom Satan has tied down for eighteen years
and you object to her release today
because it is a Sabbath!? ‘ It was clear
that those who’d lodged objections were quite wrong.
Jesus was showered with praise for what he’d done,
Sabbath or not.
And later on the Lord made the same point
when he was dining with a Pharisee.
Jesus was being closely watched by Scribes
and Pharisees, and once again it was
a Sabbath day. They brought to him a man
with dropsy – nowadays ‘oedema’ is
the name we’d give it – and the sufferer
has swellings, pain, and sometimes blistering.
‘So should I heal this man, today?’ he asked.
‘Would that be lawful? Should I heal, or not?
But no-one would reply. While silence reigned
he grasped the man and healed him, and at once
sent him rejoicing on his way.
To undermine his credibility
his critics said that he must be possessed.
Some unclean spirit had now made its home
within his human frame: that would explain
his healing powers and so-called miracles.
What unambiguous reproof they had!
“The only sin that’s unforgivable
is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost:
for every blasphemy can be forgiven
including those against the Son of Man,
but ones against the Holy Spirit stand
for ever – yes, – throughout eternity.
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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
Purple was the colour
Worn by the rich
They were the ones
Who could order a dish
Of any fine food that should
Tickle their fancies
They had no worries .
They had the finances
To calm all their troubles
And ease all their cares.
The world was their oyster
And they gave themselves airs.
Such was the lifestyle
Of a man we’ll call Dives. (dye-vees)
He’d no reputation
For generous freebies.
Indeed it is true
And it’s sad to relate
He gave not one thought
To the man at his gate.
Lazarus was his name,
Grindingly poor
Hoping to pick up
Some scraps by his door.
He was fed on …fresh air!
All conspired to defeat him
Nought for his comfort
No friends to greet him
Unless you count dogs.
They licked at the sores
On his uncovered back…
But here we must pause.
You get the picture.
Fast forward to find
Both men are dead.
They’ve now left behind
The lives they’d each known.
What’s happened to Dives?
Where can we find him?
Oh! Down there in Hades
Half cooked in the fires
And tortured by thirst.
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PART G: traps
But before we look close at him
Let us go first
To find where the angels
(Who called when he died)
Had deposited Lazarus…
…At Abraham’s side!
They’re bosom friends it seems.
Roles are reversed.
Poor Lazarus feasts
And rich Dives thirsts.
Then a voice from below calls,
‘Look down! Here I am!
It’s me, your friend, Dives
Please help, Abraham.
Send that man Lazarus
(I know him, I think)
I must have some water
Just a droplet to drink
A drip from his finger
To cool my parched tongue.
Tell him to hurry
It won’t take him long.’
‘I’m sorry my son
What can I say?
You misused your life
Now it’s your turn to pay.
Both hunger and thirst
Poor Lazarus knew.
Now he’s happy in heaven
Which is only his due.
But you don’t understand
What it is that you ask.
The thing has become
An impossible task –
To cross to the place
Where you are in pain
Then do a quick turn
And come back again.
No! A great abyss divides us
Can we help? Not a whit!
A chasm prevents us
A bottomless pit.
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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables
Then send Lazarus to warn
All my brothers ... I’ve five...
To tread paths of virtue
While they are alive
In case they too should suffer
A fate such as mine
Please send to them quickly
There may yet be time.
They’ve the prophets and Moses
Let’s not condemn.
There’s time enough yet:
They may listen to them.
They’ll never do that!
But if he rose from the dead
And went and explained
They would do what he said.
If the prophets and Moses
Haven’t been heard
They will listen to no one
The idea’s absurd.
They are deaf to the message.
All has been said.
They’d pay no attention
If he rose from the dead.
The Lord knew well that Herod Antipas
would like to see him silenced and despatched.
Herod’s supporters, called Herodians,
backed Herod, though they recognised by this,
they gave approval to the Roman rule.
Their interest was mainly politics
and they had little time for Pharisees.
But Herod’s men and Pharisees agreed
that getting rid of Jesus suited both.
Perhaps they could entangle him in talk:
get him to disapprove of Roman power.
They’d flatter him and put him off his guard
and smuggle in some covert witnesses.
And thus the confrontation was set up.
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PART G: traps
‘Rabbi,’ they said, ‘we know you always speak
straight from your heart, the truth from God Himself,
and men, to you, however eminent
are by comparison of no account.
Should we pay Caesar taxes, do you think?’
‘Oh, what a combination of deceit
and villainy we’ve gathered here, today!
(For he saw through their craftiness at once).
‘Show me the money for the tax,’ he said.
They brought a coin. ‘Well, now! Whose head is this?’
‘Why, Caesar’s,’ they replied. ‘Then give it him!
Give Caesar what is Caesar’s and give God
whatever’s God’s alone’. And silently,
and marvelling at how he had escaped
their trap, they left him, utterly abashed.
While they were in Capernaum ‘The Rock’
was asked if Jesus paid the Temple Tax.
The current tax was half a shekel each.
Peter replied he did, but back at home
the Lord approached him and said this, ‘Tell me,
from whom do earthly potentates take tax?
Do they collect their revenues from sons
or from the rest?’ ‘From others,’ Peter said.
‘The sons are then tax-free. Is that not so?
However, so as not to cause offence
take rod and line, go to the lake, and make
a cast. The first fish that you catch will have
a shekel in its mouth. It is enough
to pay the taxes for both you and I.
See that you get it paid.’
Two subjects that concerned the Pharisees
adultery and divorce – were unresolved.
The Shammaites and Hellelites, two sects
within the Pharisaic fold, took up
positions that were widely different.
The first held that divorce was possible.
A wife in cases where a husband failed
to provide appropriately the food,
the clothes and marriage rights that were her due,
could be divorced and marry once again.
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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables
The Hellelites were more concerned that men
should not be bound to women whom they felt
had proved to be unsatisfactory wives.
This led to the approval of divorce
for reasons that could seem quite trivial.
No doubt the Lord’s opinion was sought
more in the hope that an entanglement
with one side or the other would result
in his discredit. Jesus concentrates
however, not on the law, but morals
and the responsibilities of men.
‘There’s many have enjoined you to avoid
adultery: but this is what I say.
To look at any woman lustfully
means that you have committed sin with her.
The sin has been committed in your heart.
Time after time the Pharisees sought ways(G10)
of showing that the Lord had no regard
for the Mosaic Law. And thus it was
quite early in the morning that they brought
a woman to him seen that very night
caught ‘in flagrante’ and beyond dispute
in an adulterous act. There was a crowd.
It seemed the perfect time to catch him out.
‘Rabbi,’ they interposed,’ this woman here
is an adulteress. Women such as she
deserve stoning and death, for that command
was given us by Moses. What say you?
The woman, quite alone, was forced to stand,
censorious male eyes encircling her.
Jesus made no reply: indeed he bent,
as if ignoring their sharp questioning
to write some words upon the dusty ground.
With careful finger he marked out a phrase.
His questioners refused to let him be.
‘An answer! Answer! Answer!’ was the cry.
The Lord stood up and gazed at them and at
the lonely, guilty woman in their midst.
‘Well, let the man who’s sinless in such things
be first to throw a stone,’ was his reply.
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PART G: traps
Then, bending down, he started once again
to form large letters with his finger tips.
For moments, all were silent, every one.
The eldest was the first to move, and he,
his face suffused with shame, left quietly.
No longer were their eyes upon the girl
but on the chastened faces of the men
who stood around her. Sheepishly and one
by one, they left until she stood alone.
At that, the Lord stopped writing and unbent.
He spoke to her with utmost courtesy.
‘Has no one then condemned you? Where’ve they gone?’
‘Since you last spoke, no one’s condemned me, Lord’,
was her reply. ‘No more do I,’ he said,
‘but you must give this up.’ He said no more.
The Pharisees asked Jesus once again
a question that they hoped would trip him up.
‘Can one, for any cause, divorce a wife?’
‘Surely you’ve read in Scripture,’ Jesus said
‘how God intended from the very first
to make a male and female into one.
The natural thing is for a man to leave
his parents’ home and do the same himself
and form a partnership – a unity.
And thus, when married, man and wife become
as if they were one flesh and all is well.’
The second question was more difficult
They hoped to make him contradict himself.
‘So why did Moses, then, allow divorce?’
‘Because your hard hearts were un-teachable
and you were unprepared to do God’s will:
so Moses had no choice but to allow
you to divorce. Permission could be gained
for you to break loose from your marriage bonds.
It was not always so.’ Then, later on,
alone with his disciples, Jesus said,
in answer to their further questioning,
‘Those who divorce and marry once again
commit adultery, unless they part
because their marriage vows have been ignored.’
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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables
One Pharisee asked Jesus to a meal.
The Lord accepted and sat down to eat.
A woman, with a reputation none
would envy, learned that he was close at hand
and left her city home and came to him.
She carried in her hand some spikenard –
an ointment in an alabaster flask,
sweet-smelling, very costly and sealed tight.
It’s likely that she’d met the Lord before
and told him of the life that she had led.
He must have listened and forgiven her.
This social gathering at Simon’s house
Was just the time and place for her to show
her heartfelt gratitude, expensively.
As custom was, each guest sat on a couch
and thus, with feet extended, Jesus watched
the woman move towards his seat and start
to cry. There was no stopping her. She wept
and wept until his sandaled feet were wet
with tears. She wiped them with her hair and kissed
each foot until, at last, she broke the seal
upon the alabaster jar and used
the ointment to refresh and to console.
His host, the Pharisee was looking on
with some disgust. He’d wanted to find out
what kind of man this ‘Jesus’ was, and now
he knew – no prophet, certainly. A man
of God would have perceived, without a doubt,
the woman was a wanton and a whore.
He would not have allowed her in his sight
nor, worse than that, submitted to her touch.
All this he saw, but yet made no remark.
The Lord was well aware of what he thought.
‘Well, Simon,’ Jesus said, ‘I’d like a word.’
‘What is it, Rabbi?’ asked the Pharisee.
‘There were two men in debt. The first, let’s say
owed just five hundred pounds. The second man
owed ten times that amount – five thousand pounds.
Both borrowed money from a generous man:
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PART G: traps
indeed, the same man was their creditor.
When neither of them found that they could pay
the creditor wrote off the debts of both.
Which, do you think, would feel most gratitude?
Whom do you think would love their patron most?’
‘The one who was excused the larger sum,’
the Pharisee replied, ‘He’d been let off
from paying so much more.’ ‘Of course you’re right,’
said Jesus, ‘Now then Simon, look at her!’
The woman was still weeping tears of thanks.
‘When I came here I got no bowl in which
to wash the dirt encrusted on my feet.
You did not give me one. Yet she has washed
my feet in tears and dried them with her hair.
No greeting of affection did I get
but she has never ceased to kiss my feet:
and you did not anoint my head with oil
but she did: at considerable cost.
So listen then to this: her numerous sins,
her many, many, misdemeanours, I’ve
forgiven – and what we all have witnessed
is confirmation of her gratitude.
has soothed my feet with tears of love.
So listen then to this: her numerous sins,
her many, many, misdemeanours, are
forgiven – all, because she loved so much.
The one forgiven little, little loves.’
Then to the woman he said this.
‘Your sins have been forgiven you and all is well’.
But there were murmurings among the guests.
‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’
they muttered doubtfully.
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A gospel in blank verse with rhymed parables
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