The plunge

The Plunge

Jesus, source of living water,
when you went to the Jordan that day
to hear the Baptiser’s cry,
what did you come to see?
Did you go seeking advice
about the lonely life of the prophet?
Were you expecting
to be moved by his message?
When you answered his call to repent
and joined him in the waters,
what were you thinking?
How did you decide that his strident call to sinners
needed the tempering of love’s gracious invitation?
Tell me, Jesus,
was there already an inner growing gnawing realisation
that your carpenter’s skill with timber, joints and nails
was about to give way to a new vocation
of stories, speakings, sharings and sacrifice?
Or was it only when the Baptiser
took you into the cool water,
and you emerged, saturated,
and kissed by the Spirit-dove,
that you had any idea
of what the voice might be trying to say,
or of what a beloved son
might be expected to do?

© Ken Rookes