A poem inspired by the historical impact of
the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
By Father John R. Green
An Episcopal Poet
Copyright © 1983 by John R. Green
Shown with his blessing
The Sun over Jerusalem
Always in the Spring
Beams above the Temple
Mocking rays over Golgotha
Pierces sheltering foliage of Gethsemane.
Nothing is changed.
People stir in the streets
Depart to distant countries
Arrive from strange lands;
Moneychangers return to the Temple;
The ill and lame crowd Bethesda Pool.
Nothing is changed.
Murmurings about a royal parade,
Of a collapsed bearer of a Cross;
Women hurry with spices;
Disciples cower in anguished dread -
Nothing is changed.
Anxiety engulfs the Sanhedrin,
Pilate still haunted by Claudia's dream;
Herod dines scrumptiously,
Nothing is changed.
Suddenly in thunderous silence
The Resurrected Christ appears -
Not to the Hierarchy of Jerusalem
Nor the wavers of palm branches;
But to the friends and cowards of...
the Passover meal,
And certain Women.
Something is changed!
From God's eternal realm did they see Him?
Or on a mountain in Galilee?
Or in a Jerusalem Garden?
Who knows, except they?
Sheer joy, divine ecstasy,
They saw their Risen Lord,
And broke bread with Him
Something is changed!
Cowards emerge brave and valiant;
Hostility melts before love;
Inner torture yields to peace;
A world of darkness to conquer.
The Disciples are changed!
Slaves are set free,
An Empire bows to the Cross;
People become free to be,
They are changed!
Gathered in the Transcendent Communion
Of His Body and Blood,
We know our Resurrected Lord.
Joy bursts with strength
To heal a broken world;
We sup in the temporal,
Joined with the eternal;
This is the Easter Moment!