A poem in a series exploring different Atonement Theories.
Amidst the fog
beneath the Olive trees,
bending over dirt
and on his knees, his lips still stained
with Pesach wine,
the Son stooped pleading God’s design.
He knew his Father’s wrath for sin,
and for his own,
his wretched kin.
He sensed his Old Man’s
fevered rage, and felt the fury
set to stage this ultimate,
this scandalous act, this reckoning,
this new contract.
For loathe to spare
without a price,
the Lord demanded
sacrifice: the bitter cup, the cross and nail,
and all to tip God’s
righteous scale.
To bleed for us and pay
our debt, the Father gave with no regret
his only Son, in blood
and bone – the spotless Lamb, slain to atone.
And so, the pleas of Christ dismissed, and having been
betrayed by kiss, the boy began
his dusk descent unto the trial and
torment, and even death,
he took in stride
so now in him must we
abide.
To Marvelous Light 