Matthew 17 Jesus Again Predicts His Death and Resurrection
In meditations on the cross, I came to see it as a door, the front opening onto a hole, a small tunnel leading down, into death. Uncomfortable sometimes, I would leave a thing I needed to die to, sometimes forcing my fingers to let it go, sometimes remaining there as it slowly dropped from me. And then I would proceed out through the tunnel, into new life, without that burden that wasn’t mine to carry any longer. Now finally free of it, I walked into new life, which took some time to re-discover without that old burden coloring life with death.
This cross
that Jesus saw approaching
and yet saw past
to life on the other side
brings me little deaths
which lead to life
lay down
trash that accumulates
little hatreds
old ways no longer useful
or healthy
protections against threats
long gone
hiding places
where we store things
we don’t even want ourselves to know about
put to death
all these things
one at a time
sometimes slowly
but left behind
in death
at the foot of this cross
going through the cross
into the tunnel down through death
and out the other side
into resurrected life
a touch more free
than before
come
embrace
your cross
which I’m told
is light
and lightly to be carried
