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Visit our website at http://www.sustainyourspirit.com/ Also hear Jabez L. Van Cleef on iTunes podcasts, garageband.com, Gcast, Musicnet, Napster, rhapsody, eMusic, purevolume.com, thespiritradio.net, download.com, soundclick, and other download sites.
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 | The Song of MatthewNot Rated
Released: 2005
Mp3 Price: $10.00
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Visit our website at http://www.sustainyourspirit.com/ Also hear Jabez L. Van Cleef on iTunes podcasts, garageband.com, Gcast, Musicnet, Napster, rhapsody, eMusic, purevolume.com, thespiritradio.net, download.com, soundclick, and other download sites.
Click on this box to visit our human rights education site PALIMPSEST on purevolume.com
You can see a video of the Palimpsest by visiting:
http://www.myspace.com/humanrightseducation
Jabez Van Cleef a/k/a Spirit Song Text writes epic poems based on religion and human rights. He reads these poems to create the spoken word recordings on this site. To enhance his voice recordings, he has arranged the lyrics with royalty-free sounds from various sources.
The full texts to all four verse gospels are available for downloading from theworshipwell.org, a resource site of the Episcopal Church USA. You can access the files through this link:
http://www.theworshipwell.org/word.html#fresh
Jabez offers free usage of these lyrics to other artists. If you are interested in using any of these texts as samples or lyrics for your own music, please contact "jabez.vancleef_at_verizon.net"
There is a brief summary of song content in the blog section for this page.
The Song of John (Chapters 1-10)
1.
In the beginning was the Word,
The Word, the same as God.
God was heard in the beginning;
All things through God were made.
Without the Word there was nothing,
And nothing was yet made.
In God was life, and life was light,
And light all things displayed.
The living God that was the light
Shines in the darkness yet;
And darkness has not overcome
What was born into it.
There was a man sent forth from God,
And this man was called John.
He bore a witness to the light
That is God’s only Son.
He bore a witness so that all
Might see the light through him:
A true Light, born for ev’ryone,
Would call our world his home.
So the Light from which God was made
Would come, and not be known;
Would call the dust of earth his home,
And yet He would be shunned.
But, if people did receive Him,
Believing He was God,
Then they would have such pow’r, they would
Become Children of God.
Children who were not born of blood,
Nor born of passion’s seed,
Nor will of flesh, nor wish of man,
But children born of God.
From God the Word became the flesh,
And lived among us here,
A Word so full of grace and truth,
We saw his glory clear.
It was John who said of the Light,
“He who comes after me
Still ranks before me, for He comes
Out of eternity.”
From the fullness of God we all
Receive grace upon grace.
Then we saw through a darkling glass,
Now we see face to face.
No one had seen the face of God,
Yet here God’s only Son
Manifested his Father’s being,
And He became human.
John lived out in the wilderness.
Th’authorities came out
From the temple, and found him there.
“Are you the Christ?” they asked.
“I am not the Christ,” he told them.
They asked, “Who are you, then?
Are you Elijah?” but he said,
“No, I am not,” again.
“Are you a prophet?” they asked him.
And he answered them, “No.”
But they asked of him yet again,
“Tell us then, who are you?
Answer us now so we can tell
The ones who sent us here –
What do you say about yourself?”
Then John gave his answer:
“I am the voice of one who cries
Out in the wilderness:
‘Make straight the way so that our Lord
Among us all should pass!’
So did Isaiah say to us
And so I say to you.”
Still, they wanted to ask again;
They all wanted to know.
“So then, if you are not the Christ,
And don’t make prophecies,
Why are you in this wilderness?
And why do you baptize?”
John answered these authorities,
“I baptize with water,
Somewhere among you there is one
Who comes from the Father.
You do not know who this one is,
But he comes after me;
The strap of this one’s sandal I’m
Not worthy to untie.”
Now this took place in Bethany,
By the river Jordan,
Where John took the men and women
And plunged their bodies in.
Soon after this he saw Jesus
And said of him, “Behold,
The Lamb of God, who takes away
The sin of all the world.
This is the one of whom I said,
‘After me there will be
A man who ranks above me, for
He was here before me.’
Myself I did not know him, but
For him I wash their sin
With water; his name will be known
To all of God’s children.”
And then John testified to them,
“The Spirit descended,
It came down as a dove from heav’n,
And it shone from his head.
Myself I did not know him, but
The One who sent me here
Said, ‘When you see the dove descend,
Look for the Spirit there,
The Spirit will come down on him,
And there it will remain.’
I know this is the Son of God
For all this I have seen.”
The next morning, John the Baptist
Came, followed by a crowd,
And when he looked at Jesus, said
“Behold, the lamb of God!”
Two of John’s disciples heard this,
And left after he spoke.
They followed Jesus, and he turned
And asked, “What do you seek?”
And they said to him, “O Teacher,
Can we stay at your house?”
He said, “Yes, you may come with me,”
And so they joined his cause.
As the shadows lengthened that day
And the red sun went down,
Andrew, John’s disciple, followed
With his brother, Simon.
Simon came over to Jesus,
And Jesus spoke to him:
“So you are Simon, son of John?
You shall take a new name –
Now people will call you Cephas,
Or Peter, in the Greek,”
And thus was Simon, son of John,
Giv’n his new name, the rock.
The next day Jesus decided
To go to Galilee.
He found Philip, and said to him,
“Follow along with me.”
Now Philip came from Bethsaida,
Andrew and Peter’s home.
He found another friend of his,
And said, “Nathaniel, come;
We have all seen the one of whom
They prophesied and wrote:
Jesus of Naz’reth, son of Joseph.
Come with us, leave your boat!”
Nathaniel cried, “From Nazareth?
What good thing could there be?”
Philip smiled at him and he said,
“Nathaniel, come and see.”
When Jesus first saw Nathaniel,
Recalling Philip’s smile,
He said, “Behold, an Israelite
In whom there is no guile.”
Then Nathaniel said to Jesus,
“Do you recognize me?”
Jesus said, “Long ago I saw
You, under a fig tree.”
Nathaniel answered him, “Teacher!
You are the Son of God!
You are the King of Israel!”
Jesus stopped him and said:
“Because I spoke of that fig tree
You render me such praise!
Follow along with us! You shall
See greater things than these.
You will see the heav’ns opened up –
Believe this if you can –
Angels of God will rise and fall
Upon the Son of Man.”
2.
Then on the third day of the week,
As the day was dawning,
They came to a town called Cana
To go to a wedding.
At the wedding, his mother said,
“The host has no more wine.”
But Jesus answered his mother,
“The wedding will go on,
But what has that to do with me?
My hour is not at hand.”
And she said to all the servants,
“Obey Jesus’ command.”
Six big stone jars were standing there,
Each one thirty gallons.
“Fill all these jars up with water,”
Jesus commanded them.
They filled the jars up to the brim.
He said, “Now draw some out,
And take it to the steward there;
That way he can serve it.”
The steward tasted what they brought
And with joy he exclaimed,
“I thought the wine was gone! Tell me,
Where did this wine come from?”
The servants who drew the water
To fill the six stone jars
Knew what Jesus had done that day,
But did not tell others.
The steward called to the bridegroom,
Saying, “This is a sign:
Through all your days of wedded bliss
You shall not want for wine –
Ev’ryone serves the good wine first,
And all the people drink;
Then they pour the second-rate wine,
Hoping the guests are drunk –
But you have saved the best till last!
The party did not fail!”
And this, the first of many signs,
Was his first miracle.
Then Jesus, Mary and the rest,
Who followed him always
All went down to Capernaum
To stay for a few days.
The Passover Feast was coming,
So then he went with them
Up to the temple on the hill,
Above Jerusalem.
There, in the temple grounds, he saw
Money in ev’ry hand,
Where people brought sheep and pigeons,
Waiting to get and spend;
So Jesus made a whip of cords,
And he drove them all out,
With all their goods and animals
Into the busy street.
The moneychangers’ coins scattered,
Their tables overturned.
“Take these things away now!” he cried,
With righteousness he burned.
“You shall not make my Father’s house
A house of trade,” he said;
Zeal for that house consumed him then;
So the Word was fulfilled.
Th’authorities said, “Why have you
Destroyed this property?”
He said, “Destroy this temple now!
I’ll raise it in three days!”
They answered, “Forty six long years
We laid up stone on stone;
And now you claim that in three days
You’d build it all again?”
But, when Jesus told them these things,
He spoke of his own death:
When he would die and rise again,
Again to live and breathe;
When his disciples would recall
That he had said, ‘Three days;’
And they would finally believe
That he was the Messiah.
When he was in Jerusalem
Observing Passover,
Many people who saw these signs
Thought he was their leader.
But Jesus did not trust himself
To lead them, for he knew
Th’authorities would capture him,
And he had work to do.
3.
There was a righteous citizen,
Nicodemus by name;
This man came to Jesus at night,
When darkness concealed him.
He said, “Jesus, we know you are
Sent here to us from God.
Unless God was working in you,
You could not do these deeds.”
Jesus said to Nicodemus,
“Unless you’re born again,
You will not ever see God’s face,
Nor enter into heav’n.”
But Nicodemus said to him,
“Now my old age has come.
Shall I then come a second time
Into my mother’s womb?”
Jesus said, “Unless you are born,
Of water and the spir’t,
You will not enter into heav’n,
And see the truth of it;
All of these things born of the flesh
Are flesh; they waste away.
The things that come from the spirit
You have eternally.
So do not marvel that I said,
‘You must be born anew,’
The wind wanders where’er it wills
And comforts me, and you.
You don’t know where the wind comes from,
Or where the wind will go;
And so it is of ev’ry one
Who has faith as I do.”
Then Nicodemus asked of him,
“How can all these things be?”
Jesus said, “You are a good man,
Don’t you have faith in me?
The truth is, when I speak to you,
I speak of what I know.
I tell you only what I see;
You think it isn’t so.
If I have told you earthly things,
And you do not believe,
What then could ever bring you to
Believe what I call heav’n?
Many of you won’t go to heav’n
Unless you follow me;
The Son of Man is born on earth
But lives eternally.
As Moses lifted high the snake
Out in the wilderness,
So must the Son of Man be raised
High above believers.
For God so loved the world that He
Offered his only Son,
That all those who believe in him,
When mortal life is gone,
Shall not perish, but they shall have
An everlasting life.
God sent his Son into the world,
Into this world of strife,
Not to condemn, but to save them:
I will redeem the world.
They who believe the Son of God,
Hear when their names are called,
They shall not ever be condemned;
If their belief does fail,
They are condemned already, and
The slaves of their own will:
They are condemned because they spurn
The only Son of God;
They are also condemned because
They have not repented.
We see their sin because my light
Has come into the world –
They love the dark with all their might,
Where they do evil deeds.
They do not want to see this Light:
Evil in secret feeds,
In the dark it flourishes, and
Enslaves them to its needs.
But those who cleave to what is true
Are brought into the Light,
And in the Light they clearly see
Their way to perfect faith.”
Then Jesus and his followers
Went into Judea;
There they baptized all the sinners
They met along the way.
John was also baptizing them
At Aenon near Salim.
There was abundant water there,
And people came to him.
Although John preached rebellion,
Herod let him go free;
Yet he must have known that one day
They would take him away.
Now there arose an argument
Among John’s followers,
And th’authorities, who asked them
What their intentions were.
And John’s followers said to John,
“Jesus is here with us;
His disciples preach repentance,
Confusing you with Jesus.”
John said, “Not one of us finds truth
Except as it is giv’n
By him, the Son of Man, who comes
Down to us here, from heav’n.
You have understood my witness:
That I am not the Christ,
But I am sent before the Christ,
Into the desert waste.
The one who will marry the bride,
That one is the bridegroom;
The bridegroom’s friend, who rejoices,
Stays in another room.
Therefore with all this joy of mine
I must be satisfied,
For his followers will increase,
And mine will find me dead.
The one who comes from up above
Is still above us all;
But now I belong to the earth,
And there is where I fall.
The one who testifies from heav’n
Of what he’s seen and heard,
Will find few who see what he is:
The flesh which is the Word.
On those who do receive the Word
He sets his holy seal:
He is the one true Son of God;
Now his truth is revealed.
The Father loves his Son, and gives
All things into his hand;
Believers will live forever,
And know life without end;
Many of those who don’t believe,
Won’t know eternal life;
They will continue on in sin,
And they will end in grief.”
4.
Jesus himself did not baptize;
But his disciples did.
Word of his many followers
Went out across the land.
Th’authorities feared rebellion,
And chased Jesus away;
He left Judea and he went
Down towards Galilee.
Into Samaria he came,
To Sychar, near the place
That Jacob granted to Joseph
As his inheritance.
Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus
Went into the green glade.
He was weary from his journey,
And he sat in the shade.
A young Samaritan woman
Came over to the well.
Jesus said, “Please, give me a drink,”
And this is what befell:
She said, “How can it be that you,
A Jew, would ask of me,
A woman of Samaria,
To serve you in this way?”
For Jews thought of Samaritans
As unclean common folk,
They would not eat or drink with them,
Nor engage in such talk.
Jesus said, “If you only knew
The gift of God, and who
Says to you now, ‘Give me a drink,’
Then this is what you’d do:
You would ask for some water, too,
And I would give you some,
But mine would be living water.”
So then she said to him,
“Sir, you have not brought a vessel,
And the well is quite deep.
Where will you get this living water?
May I please have a sip?
Are you more holy than the one
Who gave us all this well?
Who drank this water with his sons,
And then called his cattle?”
Jesus said to her, “Ev’ry one
Who drinks this water here
Will thirst again; but living water
Will quench thirst forever.
The water that I give to them
Will be in them a font
Welling up to eternal life,
Freeing from any want.”
Then the woman said to Jesus,
“Sir, give me living water,
So I may never again thirst,
And follow you hereafter.”
Jesus said to her, “Go and call
Your husband, and come here.”
“I have no husband,” she said to him.
Again, he spoke to her:
“It’s true you have no husband now,
You have had five of them;
Your husband now is just the man
With whom you make your home.”
The woman said, “Sir, I perceive
You are a great teacher.
Our Fathers worshiped in this place;
And your people, elsewhere.
If prophets in Samaria
Are so easy to find,
Why do they go to Judea
To worship their own God?”
Then Jesus answered the woman,
“Soon you will see the day
Neither Jews nor Samaritans
Will worship diff’rently.
If we worship what we don’t know,
Or worship what we do,
Soon the day will come when we both
Will worship what is true.
We will all worship the Father
In spirit and in truth,
The Father who always loves us,
And will guide us past death.”
“I know the Christ will come,” she said,
“And when He comes, I know
He will show us all of these things,
In heav’n and here below.”
Then Jesus said to the woman
“You seek your Messiah,
And sitting here, beside this well,
Is the one you search for.”
The woman left her water jar
And ran into the town,
Where she said to all the people,
“Come out and see this man:
He told me all I ever did!
Can this man be the Christ?”
And many came out from the town
To see him and be blessed.
Meanwhile, all of his disciples
Had also come from town,
They brought some food, and said to him,
“Let’s eat, and then move on.”
But Jesus said to all of them,
“Here I have food to eat,
Some food you do not know about,
So we will not leave yet.”
Then they said to one another
“Who has brought him this food?”
He said, “It is my food to do
As God says that I should.
Would you not say, ‘Now in four months
Earth will her harvest yield’?
Lift up your eyes, and see the grain
Gleaming there, in the field!
The ones who reap it will be paid
For all the grain they gather;
And those who sow, and those who reap,
Will all rejoice together.
And never were these words more true:
‘One sows, another reaps.’
You did not labor much to get
This yield of grain and grapes.
Though you did not sow, I sent you
Out to harvest the grain;
And thus you have the advantage
Of all their laboring.”
Many people who came from the town
Listened to what he said,
For they had heard the woman say,
‘He told me all I did.’
The Samaritans wanted him
To stay there in the town,
And so he lingered there two days,
And many said of him:
“Woman, we believe in him now,
Not just from what you said,
But what we have heard for ourselves;
He will save us indeed.”
And when he came to take his leave,
Jesus said to them all,
“A prophet is not so honored
Among his own people.”
He came at last to Galilee
And they came to hear him.
Many of them had been feasting
Up in Jerusalem,
Where he had shown them miracles
During the Passover.
And many, seeing what he did,
Followed him to know more.
They traveled again past Cana,
Where he had made the wine;
And at Capernaum a man
Was grieving for his son:
The boy was at the point of death.
The man knelt before them,
And begged Jesus to heal his son,
And Jesus said to him:
“Unless you see signs and wonders,
You will never believe.”
The man said, “Come, before he dies!”
Jesus said, “Go, he lives.”
The man believed what Jesus said,
And made his way back home,
And as he went along the road,
He saw his servants come.
“Your son’s alive,” they said. And he
Asked when the fever left.
“Yesterday, at the seventh hour.”
The man knew in his heart
That hour when Jesus said to him,
‘Go, he lives,’ was the hour
He and the rest of his household
All became believers.
This was the second miracle
Jesus showed the people,
When he came down from Judea
And into Galilee.
5.
In those days, in Jerusalem,
Next to the Gate of Sheep,
Were gathered all the invalids,
And there they ate and slept;
And they were such a multitude —
The blind and sick and lame —
They sat by the Pool of Mercy,
Bethesda was its name.
Ever and again from the pool
Water gushed up to them:
And all the beggars clamored then;
They raised a fearsome din.
They fought to find salvation in
The water gushing up—
They thought healing was in the pool,
There by the Gate of Sheep.
One man lay there at Bethesda
For thirty eight long years—
He strove to reach the water’s edge
But held back in his fear.
Now Jesus saw him lying there
As round the others milled,
And Jesus said to the poor man,
“Do you want to be healed?”
The crippled man answered Jesus,
“I can’t reach the water;
When it boils up they all go first,
And I must go after.”
Then Jesus spoke to the sick man:
“Stand up, and take your bed,”
And as He spoke the man stood up,
His affliction was healed.
As this was on the Sabbath day,
Th’authorities complained:
For him to tote his bed away
Was a violation.
But the man answered them, saying,
“The One who healed me said,
‘Stand up and take your bed’ to me,
So here I have my bed.”
Later Jesus saw the same man,
And said to him again,
“Be well! May nothing worse happen!
May you stay free from sin!”
Then the man told many people
That he’d broken the law.
Because Jesus had told him to,
He’d carried the bed away.
And when they came to challenge him,
They heard Jesus reply,
“My Father labors ev’ry day—
He works, and so do I.”
All th’authorities said to this,
“Let us put down this pride,
He breaks the holy Sabbath, and
Now claims that he is God!”
Jesus answered them, “It is true,
The Son will do nothing
But what He sees the Father do,
Then He does the same thing.
We know the Father loves the Son,
And shows him all his deeds,
And you may marvel at the work
That from this love proceeds;
For as the Father raises those
Who die, to give them life,
So also will the Son then raise
All those who may believe.
The Father judges sin, and lets
The Son mete out judgment,
So people will praise the Son’s Word,
And try to do what’s right.
Those who do not honor the Son
Do not honor the Word.
They revel in dishonor, and
They will find their reward.
Truly, all those who hear my Word,
They will find their true worth,
They will not come to judgment, but
Be delivered from death.
And so I say to you truly,
The hour will soon arrive
When all the dead will hear my voice.
Those who believe will live.
Life itself will be the Father,
And life itself the Son;
The Son brings judgment to them all
For He is born of man.
Do not marvel at all these things.
The hour of judgment comes,
When all of them will hear my voice,
Even down in a tomb.
Those who believe in me shall come
To enter into heav’n,
And those who have done evil will
Be judged for all their sin.
You will find justice measured out
By God’s authority;
Such justice comes not from my will,
But God’s, and speaks through me.
If I bear witness to myself
Then who would believe me?
But others may bear my witness,
And live this righteously.
You asked John about his witness
And he told you the truth:
The man and the Holy Spirit
Both brought his witness forth.
O people, I say this to you,
To help keep you from sin:
John was a burning, shining lamp,
He gave a glimpse of heav’n—
Then you were willing to rejoice,
To wait within his light,
And then you thrilled to hear his voice,
And feel within, its heat—
Hear this: My own testimony
Is far greater than John’s,
For my Father has giv’n me
Greater works to be done:
These very works to which I now
Bear witness. I am sent,
And my Father, who sent me here,
Witnesses what I want.
If you have never heard his voice,
And never seen his face,
My Father’s word has never been
Your source of saving grace.
For you may not believe in me
Whom the Father has sent;
You search the scriptures, thinking there
To grasp your own intent.
The scriptures bear the witness of
Eternal life in me,
Yet you refuse to see it there,
And you see what you may.
I have received no glory from
The ones who can’t believe;
But I know that down within them
Is an absence of love.
Though I came in my Father’s name,
They would not receive me;
Another one, with an earthly scheme,
They treat honorably.
You think glory comes from others,
Who answer you with praise;
Glory will never come from them,
But only from God’s grace.
Do not think I will accuse you
To my Father in heav’n.
It’s Moses who indicts you now,
Whose laws you have broken.
If you believed Moses truly,
You would believe in me;
He saw my coming long ago,
But now you blind your eye.”
6.
After this Jesus crossed over
The Sea of Galilee,
And many people followed him,
To see what he would do.
He climbed up the side of a hill
Along with the others.
Because he meant to speak to them,
And all eat together.
When he saw how many were there,
Such a great multitude,
He said to Philip, standing by,
“Do we have any food?”
“No,” said Philip, “All our money
Would not get enough bread
So that all these people could have
A little bit to eat.”
But Jesus had asked the question
To measure Philip’s faith,
For he himself knew what to do
To get something to eat.
Andrew suggested to Jesus,
“Over there is a lad.
He has five loaves and two fish –
But that won’t feed this crowd.”
Jesus said, “Tell all the people
That they should sit and eat.”
There were five thousand of them there.
They all sat down to wait.
Jesus took the loaves and the fish,
And gave thanks for the food.
He broke it then into pieces
And all of them were fed;
And when the whole crowd had eaten,
Jesus stood up and said,
“Gather up what is left of these
Pieces of fish and bread.”
So they gathered the crusts and bones
And filled twelve baskets full;
And when the people saw this sign,
They called it a marvel.
“This man is indeed a prophet,
Come here to make us free!”
They would have forced him to be king,
But then he went away,
Into the hills, all by himself.
It started to get dark,
And the twelve went down to the shore
So they could all sail back.
Jesus had not returned with them;
The wind blew up a gale,
The sea was rising, and the men
Had to tie down the sail.
They had rowed three or four miles out,
And were fighting the wind,
They saw Jesus walk on the sea,
And then they were afraid.
“Don’t be so afraid,” Jesus said,
“I’m here.” And he climbed in.
At that very moment, their boat
Touched solid land again.
In the morning the word had spread
In the town where they’d been,
That the twelve men had sailed away,
But Jesus had not gone.
Some people went to look for him
Up on the grassy place
Where they feasted on fish and bread
After he said the grace.
But they didn’t see him up there,
So they took their own boats,
And sailed them to Capernaum
And found him in the street.
When they saw him they said to him,
“How did you cross the sea?”
He said, “You’re not asking because
You saw a miracle,
But because you filled your stomachs
At the feast yesterday.
Do not labor for earthly food
Which perishes away,
Labor instead for heav’nly food
Which gives eternal life.
I set my seal on all of you,
And it will keep you safe.”
They asked, “What do we have to do
To do the works of God?”
He said, “This is the work of God:
That you believe my words.”
They said to him, “What sign have you
To show us who you are?
What works can you perform for us,
To make us all believers?
Our mothers and fathers ate bread
That fell down from the skies;
‘Moses gave them the bread of heav’n;’
This is what scripture says.”
“Moses did not give them heav’n’s bread!”
Jesus exclaimed to them,
“My Father gives them the true bread,
That gives life to the world.”
Then they said to him, “Jesus, Lord,
Give us this bread always;
Forgive us all our debts, as we
Release all our debtors.”
Jesus replied to all of them,
“I am the bread of life,
With me you will never hunger,
And all those who believe
In my word will not thirst either.
What I have said to you,
What you have heard and seen me say,
And all these things I do,
Should lead you to believe in me.
My Father entreats you –
All of you who repent your sins –
I will not reject you –
I have not come down here from heav’n
To follow my own will,
But the will of God, who sent me.
I’ll walk among you all,
I won’t lose any of God’s gift
That has been giv’n to me.
And when the day of judgment comes,
We will all be ready.
All of those who listen to me,
All who believe in me,
They shall all live eternally,
And they shall never die.”
Th’authorities said, “Who is this?
Does he know what he says?
How can he say to us, ‘They shall
All live eternally’?”
Jesus answered, “Don’t stop people
If they come to hear me;
Unless my Father draws them here,
They will all stay away.”
‘And they shall all be taught by God’
This is what scripture says:
Ev’ryone who hears and learns this
From God, then comes to me.
None of them have seen the Father.
I come to you from God.
I will give you eternal life.
I am eternal bread.
Your Fathers ate of mortal bread,
And so your Fathers died –
If you eat my eternal bread,
You will stay by my side.
I am the living bread which comes
Down from God’s heav’n on high;
If you all partake of my flesh,
Then you will never die.”
People argued among themselves,
Raising a great dispute:
“How can this man claim to save us,
And give his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said, “If you do not eat
My flesh and drink my blood,
You shall not be mine forever,
Nor will you be redeemed.”
When they heard this, many of them
Said, “Who can accept this?
This is very hard for us to do,”
Even his disciples.
But Jesus, knowing what they thought,
Said, “Are you offended?
What if you all could see me
Rising up into heav’n?
The Spirit is what gives us life –
Our flesh is no avail.
My words are both life and spirit,
But some reject me still.”
From the very first Jesus knew
Which ones did not believe,
And he knew which ones would be true,
And which be first to leave.
And He said to them, “This is why
Those who believe in me
Believe also in the Father.
Who lives eternally.”
Many disciples left him then
For they did not approve.
He said to the ones remaining,
“Will you not also leave?”
Peter exclaimed to him, “O Lord,
Where would we ever go!
Your words in us are eternal!
You are all that we know!
You are the Holy One of God!”
Jesus answered him, “Yes,
But I chose ev’ry one of you,
Even one who betrays.”
For he knew God had determined
Judas would betray them,
By bringing the Roman soldiers
So they could capture him.
7.
Jesus decided he would stay
Awhile in Galilee –
Because he knew in Judea
Were many enemies.
The Feast of the Tabernacles
Was coming, so his men
Said, “Let’s go back to Judea,
So your works may be seen –
We should not do things in secret.
Don’t you want our works known?
To make some diff’rence in the world,
These great deeds must be shown.”
“My time has not yet come,” he said,
“Your time is always here.
The world cannot quite hate you, but
I rouse their hate and fear,
Because I say th’authorities
Exploit all the people.
You can go to the feast yourselves,
And not meet with trouble.”
Jesus stayed by himself at home,
And when they had all gone,
He followed them, not openly,
But traveling alone.
At the feast, people were asking,
“Where is he? Where is he?”
And there was great disappointment
He was not there that day.
Some said, “He is good, and righteous.”
Others said, “He is evil;
He leads the common folk astray!”
But among these people,
No one would speak out openly
To praise or condemn him,
Because they feared the Romans would
Hear it, and arrest them.
Jesus, paying them little mind,
Appeared in the temple;
While they celebrated the feast,
He spoke to the people.
And the people marveled at him,
“We never heard this teaching!
Since he has never studied here,
Who taught him all these things?”
“My teaching is not mine,” he said,
“But comes from my Father;
If you would try to do his will,
Listen, and He is there:
For the one who teaches from pride
Only glories in pride;
The one who reaches from glory
Gives you glory inside.
Didn’t Moses bring down the law
Sent by the one on high?
Yet now none of them keep this law,
Else why would they kill me?”
The people said, “We won’t kill you!
We don’t want you to die!”
But Jesus said, “I healed one man,
They raised this hue and cry—
Moses gave them circumcision,
(Really, my Father did),
They circumcise on Sabbath days,
Call it the will of God;
Why is healing on the Sabbath
Such a cause for their anger?
I heal the poor and lame and sick
In the name of the Father.
They should not make moral judgments
From technicalities,
But they should judge by what is right,
And love their enemies.”
In the temple some of them said,
“We know him! This is he
Whom th’authorities sought to kill,
Here, speaking openly!
Why don’t the Romans do something?
Can it be they don’t know
That this teacher claims to be Christ,
Telling us what to do?
Yet we all know who this man is,
And who his fam’ly is;
When the Christ comes to us at last
He won’t look like this Christ.”
“You all know me!” Jesus proclaimed.
“You know where I come from!
But I tell you, here on this earth,
I did not choose to come:
The one who sent me is the Truth,
You do not know the Truth.
I know Him, for I came from Him:
He sent me to this earth.”
Seeking at once to end this speech,
The crowd had him surrounded,
They could not lay their hands on him:
The hour had not yet sounded.
Yet, many who had heard him teach
Believed in him, and said,
“If the real Christ had not taught this,
What else could we have heard?”
The Romans, hearing how the crowd
Argued insistently,
Sent soldiers out to arrest him
Quietly, secretly.
Jesus said, “I shall be with you
Now just a little more,
Then I go back to my Father,
The One who sent me here.
You may still seek to find me here,
But you will not find me;
Where I will be, you cannot come.”
The crowd spoke violently,
And cried out to one another,
“Where does he mean to go?
Will he join the diaspora?
Or sail across the sea?
Will he live among the Gentiles,
And teach the word in Greek?
What does he mean, ‘You won’t find me’?
Tell us, where would we seek?’”
Then, in the last hour of the feast
Jesus stood up and spoke,
“If any one of you has thirst,
I’ll show you what to drink:
All those who now believe in me,
They will all drink my blood,
‘Out of this one’s own heart shall flow
The living water’s flood.’”
He spoke then of his Spirit, which,
For all those who believed,
Would be their spirit forever,
The spirit of his love.
Some said he was a true prophet;
Some said he was the Christ;
But some of them spoke foolishly
Who did not know his past:
“The Christ can’t come from Galilee!
The words of God proclaim
The Christ must be of David’s house,
And be from Bethlehem!”
And so the people divided.
Some of them condemned him,
But they left him alone instead
Of taking his freedom.
And the soldiers all went back to
The religious police,
Who asked them, “Where is this Jesus
We sent you out to seize?”
They answered, “No one ever spoke
As we heard Jesus do!”
Th’authorities protested, say’ng,
“Have you lost your minds, too?
We, who have studied the scriptures;
We, who are in authority;
We say this crowd must be accursed!
We must enforce the law!
Then Nicodemus, a wise judge,
Who secretly had gone
To speak to Jesus, long before,
Said to them, ev’ry one:
“Does the law seek to judge a man
From whom we have not heard?
Let us go, and ask his beliefs;
Let us hear all his words.”
They answered him, “Nicodemus,
Are you from Galilee?
You may search there, both high and low,
And hear no prophecy.”
8.
On the Mount of Olives, Jesus
Went out to spend the night.
In the morning, at the temple,
He came again and taught.
All the same people had returned.
Outside he stopped with them;
They brought before him a woman
Who had known many men.
Th’authorities asked him to judge
Whether she ought to die.
They argued the just thing would be
To stone her publicly.
They were attempting to test him,
To lure him into sin:
If he refused to punish her,
Then they could bring him in.
Jesus, bending low to the ground,
Wrote letters in the sand;
But they pursued their question, so
He stood and raised his hand,
And faced them, saying, “If you are
Completely free from sin,
You be the first to throw a stone,”
And then cast his eyes down.
Beginning with the oldest one,
They left him, one by one,
Till Jesus and th’adulteress
Were left there all alone.
Jesus raised his head, say’ng to her,
“Woman, where have they gone?
Have none of them cast stones at you?”
She answered, “No, Lord, none.”
Then Jesus said to the woman,
“I do not condemn you.
Go, and do not sin any more.
God tells you what to do.”
He went back into the Temple,
Where he had come to teach;
Many came in, following him,
And others just to watch.
“I am the light of all the world,”
He said in the Temple.
“You will never walk in darkness
If you follow my call,
But you will have the light of life.”
Th’authorities said, “No,
Now you bear witness to yourself,
Which you said not to do.”
Jesus said to them, “Even so,
What I am say’ng is true,
For I know where I come from, and
Where I’m going to go.
You cannot know of either place –
You only see my flesh --
I do not judge you, but God would
Judge all of you harshly –
For I alone do not decide
Your fate, but also He
Who sent me here, among you all,
So two would testify.
When I bear witness to myself
My Father speaks through me.”
They said, “Where is your Father?
Is he inside of you?”
“You don’t know either me or Him,
And if you did know me,
You would know who my Father is,
And follow us gladly.”
Again he said, “I’ll go away
And you will look for me;
But unless you search honestly,
You will all surely die;
Unless you believe, you’re condemned.”
Then they speculated:
“Does this mean he will kill himself?”
They analyzed his words,
And he said, “You are from below,
And I am from above;
You are part of this mortal world,
I am eternal life.
I told you all that in your sins
You would certainly die;
And you will die, unless you can
Repent and come to me.”
Then they asked him, “But who are you?”
And Jesus disputed,
“Why do I speak to you at all?
I have too much to say.
The One who sent me here is God;
I come to you from God;
I make here an offering of
Ev’rything you have heard.
When you raise up the Son of Man,
I think that you will know –
You’ll know that I do nothing from
My own authority.
From the first, the One who sent me
Has always been with me;
He has not left me; with his help
I make all people free.
If you understand all these words,
Follow me honestly;
Then all of you will know the truth –
The truth will set you free.”
They said, “The sons of Abraham
Are not in bondage now.
When you say we will be made free,
Explain this to us: How?”
Jesus answered them, “I tell you
Sin makes you into slaves;
And if you do as sinners do
It’s you I come to save.
Slaves do not own their own houses
Nor do they inherit;
But a slave sometimes finds freedom
If he would ask for it.
If your asking could make you free,
And make you clean of sin,
I would help fulfill God’s promise
To Abraham’s children.
And yet now you seek to kill me,
You will not hear my words.
My words are not truthful to you,
And you think I have lied.
I speak to you of what I know
About what you have been;
My Father speaks also through me,
And knows what you have done.”
“We’re sons of Abraham,” they said.
To this, Jesus answered,
“If you were Abraham’s children,
You would do as he did.
Through the bright angel from on high,
God spoke to Abraham,
And told him not to kill his son,
For his faith redeemed him.
But now people seek to kill me,
Because I tell the truth.
The truth which you have heard from God
Brings to you only wrath.
This is not what Abraham did!
Your own blood lust inspires you,
It makes you slaves to your own blood,
It is the flame that fires you.”
“We were not born of this blood lust!
We worship God!” they said.
“Tell me why you do not love me
When I hold out my hand?
I come not of my own accord,
But God has sent me here.
Why do you not understand me?
I teach, and make it clear –
It is because you cannot bear
To hear this lesson taught;
You are filled with earthly desires,
That twist and strain your thought;
You are all creatures of desire,
Driven by your own will,
You’re strangers to the realm of truth,
All born to die and kill,
Your Fathers were all murderers,
They lived and breathed falsehood,
They lied, and Fathered yet more lies,
And you are all their seed.
But because I tell you the truth,
The fire in your blood burns!
The only truth that you believe
Is threat and violence!
Which of you then comes to bind me?
Who comes to tie my hands?
If you were really men of God,
You would ask forgiveness.”
Th’authorities said, “Aren’t we right
In assuming that you
Are really a Samaritan,
And a demon also?”
Jesus said, “I am no demon;
According to the law,
I honor my Father in heav’n;
Yet you dishonor me,
And I seek no glory from you,
But there is One who does:
This One will be the judge of all
That is and ever was,
I speak the truth when I tell you,
That those who follow me
Will conquer death and come to heav’n ,
And live eternally.”
Th’authorities said, “Now we know
That you are a demon;
Abraham and the prophets died,
And so does ev’ryone.
But you say, ‘Those who follow me
Will never taste of death.’
Are you then greater than Abraham
And the prophets both?
Who do you think you are?” they said.
“My own glory is nothing,
Because my Father glorifies me,
The One you call your God;
But you have never known Him, while
I know Him as his Son.
If I said any diff’rently
His will would not be done.
I cannot lie to you, for I
Must keep His word always.
Your Father Abraham rejoiced
That we would see this day:
Abraham sees this and is glad.”
Then people understood
That Jesus was not telling them
About some promised good.
They said, “You are still a young man,
And you’ve seen Abraham?
He answered, “Truly, I tell you,
Before he was, I am.”
Then they took up stones to kill him,
They understood it all;
But Jesus had left the temple;
There was no one to kill.
9.
In the street, Jesus saw a man:
All his life he’d been blind.
His disciples said to Jesus,
“What caused this affliction?
Did the blind man do some great sin,
Or did his parents sin,
That he was born without having
The gift of his vision?”
Jesus answered, “No person’s sin
Made this man’s sight go dim;
His blindness shows the works of God
Made manifest in him.
We all must work the works of God
While we still have the day;
Night comes, and then we cannot work,
For then no one can see.
As long as I am in the world,
I will be the world’s light.”
And as he said these words to them,
Into the dust he spat,
And with the spit and dust he made
A little clump of mud
And rubbed it on the blind man’s eyes.
After this, Jesus said,
“I send you to wash in Siloam.”
(Siloam means to be sent.)
The blind man felt his way along,
And that is where he went.
He washed there, and came back seeing
As well as anyone.
So then his neighbors all came out,
All those who knew the man,
And they asked, “Wasn’t he the one
There, holding out his hand?”
Some said, “Yes,” and the others said,
“He just looks like that one.”
The man himself said, “I am the one!
I was blind! Now I see!”
“How were your eyes opened up, then?”
He said, “Jesus made clay;
With it he rubbed both of my eyes,
And sent me to Siloam;
I went, and washed, and got my sight;
And then I came back home.”
They asked him, “Where is Jesus now?”
He answered, “I don’t know.”
They brought him to th’authorities,
To see what they would do.
Because it had been the Sabbath
When Jesus made the clay
Which opened up the blind man’s eyes
When it was washed away.
Th’authorities all asked the man
What had happened that day;
He said, “He put clay on my eyes,
I washed, and now I see.”
Some of th’authorities spoke out,
“Jesus does not know God;
He does not keep the Sabbath day!”
Then once more they argued,
For some of them would not accept
That it could be a sin
To render such a miracle
As what had healed this man.
So they asked the man to tell them,
“What do you have to say
About this Jesus, since he did
Open your eyes that way?”
“He is a prophet,” said the man.
Then, they would not believe
That the man had been blind from birth.
They went to where he lived,
And called his parents out, and said,
“Is this your son? You say
He was born blind? How then has he
Come to see in this way?”
They said, “We know this is our son,
And he was always blind.
We don’t know how he came to see.
Why don’t you just ask him?
Though he was blind, he is of age,
He can speak for himself.
Tell him the answer that you want
And that is what you’ll have.”
They called the man a second time
And said, “We’re sure of this:
That Jesus is a great sinner,
And rebels against us.”
The man said, “If sins or not,
That I cannot tell you.
I know only one thing: that is,
I was blind, now I see.”
They asked him, “What did Jesus do?
How did he make you see?”
The man said, “I have told you once,
What more now can I say?
Didn’t you hear me the first time?
Why do you ask again?
Why don’t you join his disciples,
And follow him, and learn?”
They all disparaged him, saying,
“He has cast spells on you;
We have all been taught by Moses,
Whom God has spoken to;
As for this man Jesus, we don’t
Know where he has come from.”
The man answered, “What a marvel!
How can such a thing be?
You don’t know where Jesus comes from
Yet he has healed my eyes!
I think that God may not listen
To sinners, with their lies!
If anyone does worship God
And does God’s will, each day,
I think God will listen to him;
And God will hear me say
That never, since the world began,
Has it ever been seen
That someone opened up the eyes
Of a person born blind.
If this man were not sent from God,
He could not have healed me.”
They answered, “You were born in sin,
We don’t care what you say!”
Then th’authorities cast him out,
So Jesus asked of him,
“Though you were blind, do you believe
Now, in the Son of Man?”
The man answered, “Who is he, sir?
I will believe in him.”
Jesus said, “Now you have seen him;
And felt his mercy come.”
The man said, “Yes, Lord, I believe,”
And he worshiped Jesus,
Who said, “I came into this world
To show truth in God’s ways,
That those who are blind can still see,
And those who see are blind.”
Those who heard this rebuked Jesus,
For they were offended.
“Are judges also blind?” they asked,
And Jesus said to them:
“If you were blind, you would be free
Of any guilt or stain.
But now you say, ‘We see all things,’
And so your sin remains.”
Then Jesus left them standing there.
Their taunts were all in vain.
10.
At the Feast of Dedication
When wintertime had come,
Jesus walked into the temple;
The people came to him.
The portico of Solomon
Was where he stood and taught,
And he spoke to them carefully
To help them interpret:
This is what I will teach today:
Each of us has a choice:
To enter the sheepfold by the gate,
Or through some other place.
If you don’t enter by the gate,
But come in somewhere else,
You will be treated like a thief,
Who sneaks under the fence.
The one who enters by the gate,
That one is the shepherd.
The gatekeeper opens to him,
And the sheep hear his words.
He calls his own sheep, each by name,
He takes them out to feed,
And they all follow after him,
For they know he is good.
They know his voice, and they would not
Follow a stranger so;
They would run off from the stranger,
Whose voice they would not know.”
As Jesus told them this story,
They did not understand,
So they all asked him what it meant,
And again he explained:
“I’m by the sheepfold’s gate,” he said,
“The ones who were first there
Were thieves and robbers, and the sheep
Knew them only with fear.
I’m by the gate, where they enter,
Where they go to be safe;
By day they go into the field,
To the pastures they love.
The thief comes in only to steal,
To kill, and to destroy;
I come in so you may have life,
And live abundantly.
I am the shepherd, kind and good;
Who will lay down his life
So that the sheep will all be safe,
Not stolen by a thief;
Someone who is not the shepherd,
May not protect the sheep,
He fears the wolf and leaves the sheep
And the wolf eats them up;
The wolf chases and scatters them,
And they have no defense;
But the good shepherd and his flock
Know each other as friends.
I the shepherd know my own,
And you, my own, know me.
As my Father in heav’n knows me,
So I know all of you.
And I will sacrifice my life
To guard this flock of mine,
And other sheep, in other folds
Will come with us and join,
And all of them will heed my voice,
And come into my fold,
In one great flock, and I shall be
The shepherd of them all.
For this my own Father loves me,
That I lay down my life,
That I may take it up again,
And keep my flock all safe.
No one can take my life from me,
By choice I lay it down;
This is what God has done for me,
And now I make it known.”
Some still said, “He’s like a disease;
He may infect us all.
Why stay here and listen to him?”
Yet others heard his call,
And said, “These are not the sayings
Of one who is possessed –
Can demons open blinded eyes?
We’ll set for him a test.”
So then they gathered round and said,
“How long must people wait?
If you’re our savior, then tell us,
So we can celebrate.”
Jesus said, “I told all of you,
But you did not hear me.
What I do in my Father’s name
Shows all of you the way.
But none of you follow the way
You are not in my fold.
My sheep hear me, and they know me,
They are the ones I hold.
I know them, and they follow me,
They have eternal life,
They shall never give up the spir’t,
And they shall not know grief,
They are held in my Father’s hands:
They have been his, always,
He knew of them before all time,
And they hear what He says.
My Father is greater than all,
And therefore nothing can
Snatch them from my Father’s hand.
Now all of us are one.”
Th’authorities still threatened him,
But Jesus answered them,
“Many good works are done for you
By my Father’s strong arm.
So tell me, which of these good works
Is cause for killing me?”
They said, “You should be stoned because
You lead people astray.
You are a man; and yet you try
To make yourself a God.”
“Is it not written in your law
That ‘You are Gods,’?” he asked.
“The Word of God came down to men,
And if God is human,
This Word cannot be broken, and
You should not say it can.
My Father blessed me and sent me
Among you in this world,
And you say I should not tell you
I am the Son of God?
If I don’t do my Father’s works,
Then don’t believe in me;
But if I do my Fathers works,
Then let these works display
The love my Father has for you,
The love He has for me,
For He and I are one in love,
As from these works you see.”
Then when they tried to capture him
He went away again,
Across the Jordan, to the place
Where John had baptized him;
And many more came there and said,
“John did not leave a sign,
But what John said about this man
Was true. We follow him.”
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| Sunday, March 16th, 2008
New Website:
Find the Fire of Love and other works free on our new website: http://www.sustainyourspirit.com/
Thanks for your support.
Posted By Spirit Song Text @ 2:08 PM |
| Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
New website
Visit our new website at www.sustainyourspirit.com, or email jabez@sustainyourspirit.com.
There is a list of links to our podiobooks hosted by Gcast and iTunes, including:
-Verse Gospels, and the Saxon Gospel
-Mystics and Anchorites from Medieval England
-Creation Stories and Religious Texts from Many Cultures
-Choral Music Explorations
-Inspirational Works on Human Rights and Civil Disobedience
Awaken from the restless modern dream. Come and sustain your spirit with us!
Posted By Spirit Song Text @ 4:25 PM |
| Friday, December 15th, 2006
The Fire of Love (XXIII, ii) by Richard Rolle
Continuation of the medieval exhortation to holiness set as a book length poem by Jabez L. Van Cleef.
The Fire of Love (XXIII, ii) by Richard Rolle
Truly as you desire after your death
To ascend to full and perfect joy,
So it behooves you in this earthly life
To love God with a whole and perfect heart.
Else as now, you are not giv’n to God,
So then shall you not have your perfect joy,
But endless torment be your bread and meat.
For truly while you heed not here your Maker
With whole love and mind, you are proved soothly
To love some creature more than it is lawful.
A soul can not have reason without love
Whilst it is in this life finding its way:
Wherefore the love thereof is the soul’s foot,
By which it shall be borne to God or fiend;
Subject to him whose will it has served here.
Nothing truly can be loved complete,
But for the goodness that it has, or seems,
Which goodness is either in the one beloved
Or thought to be in that, that is beloved.
Herefore truly is it, that they who love
Bodily beauty or worldly riches, fall,
Beguilèd as it were by strong witchcraft;
For truly delight is not part of those things
The which we think we feel or see in them,
Nor is the joy we feign when we behold them,
Nor the good name we give to what we see,
But only as we tell ourselves they are.
No man therefore more damnably forgets
His own soul than the one who sets his eye
On woman, however innocent, for lechery;
Truly, |
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