History/Past

What an unusual question that you ask---
you think that Magdalene girl was his wife?
Preposterous: we researched his whole life,
and we were very thorough in the task.
Yes, we had feared the possibility
that he might found a lasting dynasty,
and change the very course of History.
Judas our friend was able to provide
detailed intelligence---reports he filed
up to the night before his suicide.
The facts he brought disproved both wife and child
(born or unborn) in our consideration
Therefore, by process of elimination,
the one we wanted dead was crucified.

Starward

[jlc]

Author's Notes/Comments:

This poem arose out of a lunch discussion I had with two of my former History professors regarding the recent publications of Margaret Starbird, and others, asserting---without a shred of documentation---that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, and produced a daughter by the name of Sarah. When the professors asked me, unexpectedly, what I thought about the Starbird theory, and others, I blurted out, without really considering my answer, that the Temple authorites (led by Caiphas, the high priest) would have been very thorough in their elimination of the "problem" of Jesus. Given that their culture, history, and politics tended to think in terms of dynastic succession, they must have logically considered the possibility, however remote, that Jesus (whose Christologic claims they sobordinated, as Apostle John's Gospel shows, beneath the political aspects of His claims) might have fathered a child. In hindsight, this is absurd, because it was not part of His mission. But, to the Temple authorities, it may have been a very real contingency that must have been researched. (One remembers that they also wanted to crucify Lazarus, with Christ, simply because he had been raised from the dead; see John's Gospel. If Lazarus was such a threat, the possibility of a wife and child would have represented even more of a threat.) Jesus was condemned alone; no other disciple, follower, or family member was included in the charge brought before the High Priest, or Herod, or Pontius Pilate. In my opinion, the thoroughness of the plot would have uncovered a wife or child, if such persons existed; and yet, neither was produced---in any of the three trials, or in subsequent developments. Had Jesus had a wife and child, the Temple authorities would have produced them, and had them stoned if not crucified. In my opinion, the priests' inability to include a wife and child in the plot defeats and invalidates the theories of Margaret Starbird and others.

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©22 December 2005 - 12:10am — S74RW4RD

At The Pharisee's Recollection

She was, truly, a gorgeous girl;
her looks were poetry.
And when we jerked her from his arms,
her fear was good to see.

What did she know about the Law,
or technicality?
As far as she knew, we had caught
her in adultery.

We dragged her to the sunlit square.
Each man took up a stone.
The tears were glistening on her cheeks,
as she cowered there alone.

But she was not quite all alone,
as such a slut should be.
Beside a broken, old wall sat
Jesus of Galilee.

Him it was whom we sought to trap;
and, thus, brought out jailbait.
Her life was useless anyhow;
she had not long to wait.

I know she really loved that boy,
whom we allowed to flee.
And for his sake, she faced, alone,
the final penalty.

"Master," we asked, "What should we do?
"We caught her in the act."
Her frightened sobs confirmed our words,
and verified the fact.

The Law was clear upon this case.
What else could he assert?
We snickered as he just looked down
and wrote upon the dirt.

"Yes, write a few words in the dirt,"
so ran our minds' one thought.
"We trapped this girl, and you are next:
"the both of you are caught."

Then, somewhat leisurely, he stood.
He seemed so much more tall
than I remembered, and I felt
a growing sense of awe---

although my heart was hard against
his words, and that girl's tears.
His silence seemed, just then, to pierce
us---sharp as sharpest spears.

Our plan, that seemed quite firm before,
did not now seem so sure.
And then . . . as if he was her shield . . .
he stepped in front of her,

and stared at us with such a look
I never want to see
again in this life (and it burns,
yet, in my memory).

Then he spoke. And his anger was
righteous, and strong, and pure.
He said, "Let him who has no sin
"cast the first stone at her."

His hand, upon her, soothed her cries.
But not one stone was cast.
The oldest of us turned away
first; and the youngest, last.

Meanwhile, he spoke gently to her,
and not as to some whore.
He said, "I do not---no, not I---
"condemn you. Sin no more."

She did not know what he, who was
a mighty prophet, knew---
that just a few days past, she had
conceived a baby: You.

Has it been really thirteen years?
It seems like yesterday
that we abused your mother so.
But go now, go your way.

Your eyes are much too much like hers.
Go, and leave me alone.
Daughter of sin, you make me wish
that I had cast my stone.

Starward

[jlc]

Author's Notes/Comments:

John Rice, in his commentary on John's Gospel (p. 181) suggests that the charge of adultery may have been questionable, and that the act itself may have been pre-arranged as a seduction simply for the purpose of creating the trap for Jesus.

The astute reader will, I am sure, notice the pun in the 9th line.

I have used some poetic license in the speaker's quotation of the words Jesus spoke to the girl afterward. I cannot now cite the source, a Greek commentary, which mentioned the Greek emphatic negative (and described it as equivalent to "I do not---no, not I---") in another passage of John's Gospel. (If someone can provide the source of the reference, I will gladly cite it here; as the translation of that construction, so beautifully poetic, belongs to a scholar of Biblical Greek, and not to me.)

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