Heartbeat

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22: 34-40

The breath of all the prophets
and heartbeat of the law
is love for one another,
for God with all we are.

We balk: Who is our neighbor?
How can we love our foes?
So God came as our savior,
and love is what he chose:

an infant with his mother,
or in a father's arms,
for each of us a brother,
a shelter in our storms.

And now love has a heartbeat
and prophecies a breath
who kneels and washes our feet
and makes a way through death.

And this is how we know him:
The breaking of the bread
where we can be forgiven
and we can all be fed.

Then we become the heartbeat
and we become the breath
of all the law and prophets,
by love disguised as bread.

A an etching by Jan Luyken from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations housed at Belgrave Hall, Leicester, England (The Kevin Victor Freestone Bequest). Photo by Philip De Vere. https://www.flickr.com/groups/the_phillip_medhurst_collection_of_bible_prints

Images

He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
They replied, “Caesar’s.”
At that he said to them,
“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:15-21

In the beginning of it all,
you drew us on the ground.
You plunged your hands into the soil
and sculpted what you found.

You made your image from the dust—
no gold or precious stones,
but mud and water, flame and rust:
These bear your face alone.

Why, then, are we so prodigal
to squander what you make?
The question of all questions still,
since Abel fled from Cain.

But on a day that no one knows,
one Image will return
to sit upon a burning throne
and raise the ones we mourn.

One question only will he ask
as we for mercy plead,
as every stone cries out at last:
“Whose images are these?”

Tiberius. AD 14-37. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.84 g, 7h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Group 1, AD 15-18. Obverse:TI[berivs] CAESAR DIVI AVG[vsti] F[ilivs] AVGVSTS (Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus), laureate head right Reverse: PONTIF[ex] MAXIM[us], Livia (as Pax) seated right on chair, holding scepter in right hand, olive branch in left; plain chair legs. Catalogs: RIC I 26; Lyon 144; RSC 16; BMCRE 34; cf. BN 14 (aureus). This particular coin has been graded as “EF, toned, Artistic style”. When Jesus was asked whether or not it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, he requested that he be shown a coin. After questioning his questioners, he replied “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s“. It has been argued that a coin similar to this one was the coin handed to Jesus. By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24821148

Wedding

Then he said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
Matthew 22:1-10

The king has called his servants,
sent missives out:
The world shall cease its turning,
the stars burn out.

This shall be how the world ends:
not with a bang—
ah, no, but with a wedding
for Christ our king!

And look, the invitation:
It has your name.
Cast off your hesitation;
prepare the way!

Go not about your business:
There is no time!
The groom is all impatience
to drink new wine.

Put on your snow-white garment,
your wedding gown;
the firstfruits of the harvest,
your bridal crown.

Get up!  Come to the wedding!
Come to the feast!
Christ has made all things ready:
Sit down and eat.

Parable of the Great Banquet by Brunswick Monogrammist (circa 1525), location: National Museum, Warsaw By Brunswick Monogrammist – cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23207722