(43)

Speaking Jesus Talk

Hearing his voice speak Jesus’ words to the disciples
the combination of voice and word
reaching his ear as one,
puts him one step closer to the scene,
one step closer to the disciple’s question,
ons step closer to the truth,
one step closer to Jesus.

Looking at the blind man, the disciples had asked
“Who sinned, the blind man or his parents?”
Reading aloud Jesus’ answer,
using his own mouth
to shape the words, and his breath to give them sound,
brings him right inside,
Jesus’ answer becoming his.
“You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for
someone to blame, There is no cause-effect here.
Look instead for what God can do”.

In speaking Jesus’ answer, do you see what happens?
he has become part of a critical shift.
His own tongue, his own lips, his very breath , have
left the past behind,
“Look instead for what God can do”.

Reading Jesus’ words quietly to yourself is one thing.
Speaking them out for your own body
and the universe to hear,
is something else.

He’s right there, emotionally, taking ownership, when
he speaks out Jesus’ next words:
“We need to be energetically at work for the One who
sent me here, working while the sun shines.
When night falls, the workday is over…”

It’s only then, after talking with the disciples that
Jesus acts, spitting in the dus
making clay paste with the saliva and rubbing it
on the blind man’s eyes.

Jesus then instructs the blind man to
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam”.
When he speaks those words out loud for others,
the congregation, to hear,
he’s aware that he’s involved in the healing, too.
feeling personal pleasure
when the blind man is cured, and for the first time,
could see.

Speaking Jesus talk gets us closer to where
we want to be.

Endnote: In a recent worship service at the LaConner Methodist Church, I read the part of Jesus in an adaptation by the Reader Theater. The paraphrasing of John 9:1-41 is from the Message Bible. This is an effort to describe my experience in playing Jesus, reading his words aloud to the congregation.

< Previous Poem	Next Poem >