The gospel puzzle

Haiku of resolution.

The gospel puzzle:

Jesus the Galilean,

born in Bethlehem.

Rounding his story

Matthew give us more angels

to sort the mess out.

Despotic Herod’s

plans are spoiled, the infant

retreats to safety.

The threat is given

substance in a massacre;

a lucky escape!

Acts of cruelty

abound in human affairs;

why not another?

So the family

seeks refuge, South, in Egypt.

Like their ancestors.

It falls to Joseph,

family head, provider,

to protect his child.

Micah took us to

Bethlehem for the birth, time

now for Nazareth!

The conundrum solved!

The refugee family

settles in the North.

© Ken Rookes 2019

They came

They came,

according to one ancient story,

looking for a child;

they found one in Bethlehem.

Leaving their gifts with the family

they shot through, back home to the east;

conveniently dropping Jerusalem,

and its palace, from their return itinerary.

They might have guessed that the old king

would get somewhat angry

when he discovered the broken promise.

Still, they’d be out of the country by then;

so would the boy, with a bit of luck,

not to mention some timely dreaming

on the part of his dad.

But for all the other families

in the little town of Bethlehem,

there were no sweet dreams,

just a nightmare.

With the easy wisdom known as hindsight,

it would have been better for everyone

had the men we call wise,

not made the trip at all;

their gifts were of little consequence,

and even yarn-spinner, Matthew,

didn’t manage to weave them

into the rest of his story.

© Ken Rookes 2013

Massacres of the innocent

In his birth stories, gospel writer Matthew

gives us the terrible tale often called

The massacre of the innocents.

It seemed plausible at the time,

this callous brutality ordered

by a despotic monarch

for the sake of maintaining his rule.

Only in more recent years

have historians asked the question;

did it really happen? They point to

a shortage of corroborating evidence,

along with the Moses story,

and the need to solve

the Bethlehem and Nazareth conundrum.

Traditionalists, of which there are a few,

point to the character, or lacking,

of Herod the Great, a ruthless tyrant

who would brook no limits

in his pursuit of power.

No doubt he was capable, as have been

countless kings and rulers since.

In the last hundred years

there has also been no shortage;

dictators who have cruelly

oppressed their own people,

tribal leaders who express their hatred

with guns and machetes,

presidents and Prime Ministers

who have declared bloody, high-tech war,

on the slimmest of pretexts.

Not many may have dared

to directly target children,

but it is the children who have borne

more than their share of suffering.

Historical considerations aside,

it is good that this Christmas text reminds us

how the little ones, the innocent, the weak

and the vulnerable, have so often

paid the price for the wealthy and the strong;

and still do.

© 2010 Ken Rookes
And a new one for the coming weeks.