Entering Jericho

Haiku for grumblers

Mr Zacchaeus,

short of stature, short of friends

wants to get a view.

Zac is wealthy, but

a tax collector by trade,

not well respected.

Jesus is coming,

passing through Jericho town.,

so Zac climbs a tree.

(This is a great yarn!)

Jesus comes by, sees the man,

Friend Zac, come on down!

I’m needing somewhere

to dine and to sleep tonight;

your place will do fine.

All the good people

begin to grumble: he goes

as a sinner’s guest!

The act of welcome

brings existential crisis:

Half my wealth I give!

The lost has been found,

sinful Zac belongs to God!

Clever move, Jesus!

© Ken Rookes 2019

The blind man

Haiku for seeing

Blind Bartimaeus

lived in perpetual night,

but he still had hope.

Beggng by the road,

hearing reports and gossip,

he hoped in Jesus.

Jericho’s grapevine

told him Jesus was in town:

what were the chances?

He comes! They told him.

“Have mercy, Son of David!”

The blind man shouted.

You are a nuisance,

Bartimaeus; be silent!

He shouted louder.

Jesus heard his voice,

stopped and called the man over.

Take heart! They told him.

Jesus said to him,

What do you request of me?

Teacher, let me see.

Go, Bartimaeus,

your faith has been rewarded:

your sight is restored.

Bartimaeus went.

He went along with Jesus,

followed on the way.

Would that I, meeting

with my master; like friend Bart,

follow in his way.

© Ken Rookes 2018

Here in Jericho

Haiku of generosity

Here in Jericho,

where the famed battle was fought,

other contests rage.

The tax-collector

climbs a sycamore's branches

for a better view.

The teacher invites

himself to the sinner's house;

he should know better.

The mean in spirit

call out generosity

shown to the worthless.

To this house: grace, hope,
salvation and life. He, too,
is a child of God.

The Son of Man came

to seek out those who struggle,

to befriend the lost.

© Ken Rookes 2016



and here's a golden oldie . . .  

 

The Bonsai Man

Zacchaeus the bonsai man,
growing stunted and gnarled;
his roots bound and starved
of human respect and affection.

Until the gardener looks up
into the twisted branches
of another tree, sees him,
calls him friend,

uproots him from the cruel pot
of judgement and derision
and offers him a plot
in the field of God’s kingdom.

There he can grow as God intends;
with space to send roots deep
into love, to stretch out his limbs,
and to be made fruitful.
 

 

© Ken Rookes

The beggar of Jericho

In Jericho's streets

a loud, annoying man, blind and embarrassing,

glimpses hope for the first time

and shouts excitedly above the noise of the crowd.

The reason for his agitated cries:

one Jesus of Nazareth, aka, Son of David;

who is implored to be merciful

and to use his influence with the Divinity

to heal the man's vision-less eyes.

He ignores all attempts to silence him

and calls even louder.

The itinerant teacher takes notice,

and invites him to come.

The man has faith, he declares,

and credits this worthy attribute

with the impending recovery of his sight.

He now sees things clearly, for the first time;

not just the physical world

of sunlight, shadows, refractions,

wavelengths and lumens.

His Jerichoean darkness cast aside

as was his cloak minutes earlier,

he chooses to journey on an uncertain route,

but one saturated with light and purpose.

Embracing the travelling man as master, friend and guide,

he follows him glowingly down the road.

© Ken Rookes 2015