Entrance

Haiku of anticipation

Approaching the Mount

named for olives, Jesus sends

two of them ahead.

Bethpage, Bethany?

Whatever; the next village.

They found the donkey.

They explain: The Lord

needs it, he will send it back

when he is finished.

Jesus rode to town.

(What does he think he’s doing?

A royal entrance?)

The people spread cloaks,

branches on the road ahead

to welcome their king.

Hosanna! Blessed

is he who comes in God’s name!

Quite a sensation.

Hosanna, O son

of David! Expectations

are heightened, somewhat.

Came to the temple.

Jesus entered, looked about.

Being late, he left.

© Ken Rookes 2024

Riding a donkey

Haiku for an uncertain entrance.

Riding a donkey

defiantly confronting;

they do not like it.

Cry out with the throng,

make with your loud hosannas.

Return in five days.

Here he comes! Jesus

with his words of costly love;

we do not want them.

Beware, you who rule,

serving powerful interests:

Jesus is coming!

© Ken Rookes 2019

The entrance

Haiku for an arrival

Near Jerusalem

he sent the two disciples

to fetch the donkey.

An unridden colt

was his chosen conveyance;

perfect for a king.

They shout in welcome

and wave their leafy branches;

Jesus, we want you!

They shout, Hosanna!

Hosanna, Son of David!

How political!

He rode into town,

took a look at the temple.

It was getting late.

Back to Bethany

he retreated with the twelve

and the moment passed.

© Ken Rookes 2018

Hail, Son of David!

Haiku for a grand entrance.

Jesus, the failed king

entering Jerusalem

riding a donkey.

The crowd goes crazy

greeting their king. Days later

they will turn on him.

Yet his words brought hope,

the promise of God's friendship.

Memories are short.

Hail, Son of David!

riding on your borrowed colt,

in your borrowed time.

© Ken Rookes 2017

Triumph

 

The prophet had him riding a donkey,
so, too, the gospel writers.
A sign, they say, of his humility,
that he was a normal bloke,
like the rest of us.
The god-man, entering the city in triumph
on the back of an ass.
If he came today, in triumph or otherwise,
perhaps he might look beyond the donkey.
Just maybe he might employ the pantomime horse;
in recognition of all the human madness,
and the apparent foolishness
of this strange divine plan.
Jesus the clown;
he’d laugh at himself,
choosing the rear end,
making Peter or James take the head.
Look, here is your God,
laugh at him / her;
and learn to laugh at yourselves while you are at it.
Remember, in laughter there are also tears;
in laughter there is truth.

© Ken Rookes 2014

Triumph

Jesus didn’t procrastinate.

“May as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,”

he murmured quietly to his friends

as he made his arrangements to take the city.

“We’ll use a colt, though;

don’t want them to get the wrong idea.”

Which wrong idea, Jesus?

There seems to be a rich array to choose from.

Which idea did the crowd get

as they stripped the trees of their lower branches

and cast their robes into the dust?

“I was there when he rode into town!”

they would later say to their friends,

forgetting to mention

that they were part of another crowd

later in the week.

What did they hope for;

were they expecting more miracles

from the radical rabbi?

And what did they get

for their glimpse at celebrity?

A man like themselves,

but one determined to follow

his divine parent’s strange path

of courageous defiance, reckless generosity,

and foolish love.

© Ken Rookes