Lenten Journey

The road to Calvary leaves from Galilee;
Lake and shore, springs and streams,
Luxuriant and fertile, verdant and prolific,
Bountiful in its harvest, plentiful in its yield;
Vineyard and orchard, bread and wine
And everything else in abundance.
Wealth and prosperity, peace and progress
Where fives loaves and two fish seem like nothing
And no man takes his hand off the plough
To look back and fossilise as salt.

Yet all relinquished in an act of self-giving;
Having nothing, yet still surrendering;
Willing to be someone of no reputation
With just a hint of what might lay ahead.

The road to Calvary passes through Judaea
Where a man spends forty days in the desert,
Without mum's pancakes and the comforts of home,
Deprived of nourishment, ambition, desire;
Existence without essentials,
Surrounded by stones deceptively like bread rolls,
While values are checked, attitudes refined,
And the mind plays tricks saying: go back home,
Give it all up, aim for the top.
Foretaste of desolation, mirror of desertion.

Preparation time to be ready for anything,
Testing endurance for a greater cause;
Laying down life to the point of emptiness,
Discovering that this is the way of resurrection.

March 2014

Read Matthew's account of the Temptation of Jesus