November 17, 2016

ALIENS

Jesus walked down our streets,

stepped up our steps, stopped into

our stores and bars, slipped through

our alleys - took our trains, planes,

and buses and saw all the people he

spotted the last time he made this trip.

But this time he scratched his head.

This time something was different.

Martha and Mary were not talking and

Mary was not complaining. They were

alienated  from each other …. and didn’t

seem to feel that Lazarus had died….

And the father didn’t run to hug his lost son ….

nor did he walk out into the field to talk with
his older son who was working, working, all

by himself. The blind man didn’t cry out that

he wanted to see …. The lady on the sidewalk

didn’t reach out to touch the edge of his cloak.

The thief on the cross didn’t talk to the other

thief on his cross. They just hung there as if someone was missing. For Jesus it felt like Birmingham [1] - not Calvary - but it was worse.

Everyone was silent - looking at their phones -looking all alone. Jesus didn’t know what to do.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2016

NOTES

[1] Poem by Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, "Indifference" or "When Jesus Came to Birmingham."

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