Monday, February 4, 2019

BEAR WITNESS AS GOD’S CHILD

By Ken G. Cooper

[Nicodemus seeks the Christ.   John 3:1-13]

My name is Nicodemus; I’m a ruler of the Jews.

As one of the town’s Pharisees, this Jesus not good news!
My colleagues all despise him for he’s doing what we should,
He’s preaching of the kingdom but in terms of present good.
And as Jacob fought his angel that put him out of joint,
The miracles that he’s performed have put to us his point!
I’d like to go to meet him, and try to gain insight,
But without my fellow Pharisees , - will have to go at night!
I steal away in darkness so to find this holy man
I’m not sure where I’ll find him, but know somehow I can.
I feel I’m drawn towards him and my seeking’s not in vain,
I have an urgent question, and I know that he’ll explain.
“Rabbi, thou art come from God, in everything you do
It shows the wonders God has wrought for He’s at one with you.”
His answer takes me by surprise. I find it very odd:

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see my God”

I’m so glad that I came alone, for his message leaves me cold:
“How can a man be born again when he’s already old!
Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb?
Be born again! Must I die first/ Be brought back from my tomb?”

There is a gulf between our thoughts. In patience he replies;
“I’m talking of the Spirit, friend, you must lift up your eyes!
Be born again, baptised as new. Let Spirit be your key.

Release the lock, reach out your hand. The kingdom here is free!

What’s flesh is flesh. It can’t get in. Let loose the Adam dream.
Be born again. Repent in thought. Let Spirit be your theme!”
 
I feel his love as golden words unlock a future bright,
For I must drop all sense of self if I’m to see the light.
Be born again! What huge command! It says to start afresh!
And in his love I glimpse this truth: the Spirit’s real, not flesh!
The Master speaks and now I hear, my thought in joy awakes:
“The wind can blow, and when it does you hear the sound it makes:
But where’s it from, where will it go? There’s no man that can tell.
And everyone that’s Spirit-born is just the same as well.”
I still have doubts: despite his words, do I have faith to see?
I grasp the point, but have to ask, just how can these things be?
“If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe me not,
 What hope have ye to understand what is the heaven-slot?”
Once more his words embrace my thoughts and lift me to new height.
For in God’s kingdom there’s no flesh, where Spirit is all might.

My name is Nicodemus, have you heard my latest news?
I’ve met this prophet Jesus Christ, - he’s ruler of the Jews!
I’m born again of Spirit: and like Jesus pure and mild,
I’m fashioned by “Our Father”, God, and witness I’m His child!

Forsake all flesh and be baptised, let Spirit shine through you,
Reflecting God, we follow Him, and witness what is true.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24
The Spirit itself beareth witness with or spirit, that we are the children of God. Romans 8:16

Download a PDF of this poem


©Ken G Cooper 2019                         
kencooperpoetry.com                     
kengcooper@btinternet.com                                                       
Ken G Cooper Poetry You Tube




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