The How of It Matters Not
- Livinginbetweenall-Terry
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Theme: Doing the First & Second Thing We Simply Are Incapable of Doing...
Context: Following a lively, personal and insightful discussion in our Prime Time Bible Study; a community rich in diverse experience in coming to and living in Christ. We allowed ourselves--all nearing the end of this life's journey--to consider what cultural, personal, religious traditions shaped our 'knowing Jesus'.
Teaching Page:
He (Jesus) answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Luke 10: 27 NIV
"The How of It Matters Not"
A Poem based on LUKE 7: 11-17
It comes to mind by way of command,
To which our human spirit finds objection.
How exactly does one command such a thing?
'Love God.' There, said.
Nothing.
..and How could it be other?
Love is not a thing commanded,
but given,
Almost always as a response to something awakened within.
And so it was for Jesus. No?
Surrounded and pressed in by others,
The gathering force of hungry followers, some.
Others simply curious, looking on.
Jesus eyes were gently closed,
His spirit heavy with awareness of need.
'Like sheep having no shepherd,'
his heart tender in the ache of love for neighbor.
Jesus eyes opened, as the good citizens of Nain wailed their objection.
"How long, O God, will you hide your face?"
"How long must our neighbor, widowed so recently,
Bear the shame in her son's passing as well."
The burial cadence was soon drowned
In the cry of her neighbors anguish,
Several who were paid
To amplify the pain of the widows grief,
Others whose comfort was born in grief,
for love of neighbor.
Jesus stopped,
His Creator's heart responding as one crushed under the weight of his own flesh tearing,
the coming stripes he
could almost feel.
Stepping into the dirge,
His eyes now moistened,
His action commanding as both crowds
were now stilled, frozen inside Jesus action,
demonstrated in the purity
of The Father's love perfected inside our neighbors anguish.
Upon seeing this woman stricken by deaths sting,
Jesus said, "Don't cry."
..and reached out, touching the brier that held the son's lifeless frame.
To the boy Jesus said,
"Young man, get up."
That, he did.
So it ever is for you, for me.
To love God first, as no other,
our neighbor as we are loved by God.
Both lie somehow beyond our reach.
Our funeral dirge on display;
Our culture's divisions over God and one another,
until conversations are had only at the end of a selfie,
In whom we mirror ourselves
in our neighbor,
..and God?
On our tribes side,
...or dead and buried,
save the occasional funeral where
we resurrect God's comfort
in the facsimile of our needs,
Yet, in all, Jesus walks the human story,
Ever ready to still our crowded, lonely souls; "Don't cry" he whispers still,
into our inability to love
our neighbor,
ourselves,
or God.
From somewhere as close as the hell
in which we lie,
Jesus reveals to us,
His stripes, his back beaten.
The only question that matters,
remains;
Will you love God when your
body shakes to its core, in awe of his voice; " Young woman,
"Young man, get up."
Or, conversley:
Jesus comes to you
By way of a neighbor's need,
..and you suddenly see beyond
the selfie, to you,
before Jesus.
"Love that one, my child.
And you will be loving me."
Terry 10/24/25
Essential text
“When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get ”” (Luke 7:13-14 NIV)
Luke 7:13-14 NIV
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