A TREE BY THE SEA

Unclean, tainted, not sanctified

Unholy, impure, flesh not crucified

Not laid down, I’ve held onto my life

I said I’ll take up my cross

I lied.

30 pieces of silver were my price

Sacrifice? Deception, Betrayel

Can you see through my lies?

“Hosanna! King of Kings!” the crowd cried.

My selfish deeds were easy to hide behind false concern for other’s needs.

A years wages wasted on His feet.

Now he washes mine and says I am clean.

Reclined there at the table of the one He raised from the dead.

Jesus’s words were still in my head.

He spoke and Lazarus walked away from a grave, but what is this earth that I crave?

Coins cool in my hand, enough to buy a small plot of land.

I stand accustomed to following His command,

“Go and do as you have planned.”

I hurry now as the evening grows dark.

Satan has entered my heart.

The Teacher once said two masters can never be served.

I heard.

Faster now, I’m light on my feet.

Hurry now, along a mostly empty street.

Some may say I’m driven by greed.

Others will say I’m bound by a need to fulfill a predestined course.

A force carries me further into the night.

Darkness swallows the last of the light.

Jesus, my shepherd am I still in your hand?

I am forever Judas. A man rejected, reviled, and scorned as filth.

History’s scum. Religion’s wealth.

The one who betrayed God with a kiss.

The catalyst to a torturous death.

You all can stand up to testify,

bear true witness

I deserved to die

by my own hands, strangled,

hanging from a branch.

But what are your plans?

Do you follow along with the other disciples?

Going to church and reading your bibles?

Do you give to the poor and pray for others?

All along despising your brothers?

Does jealousy boil just beneath your smile?

Does money motivate you to go the extra mile?

Are you pushed and prodded by the praises of men?

Does the promise of silver cause you to bend,

lay down your cross, send

you away from Jesus into a darkened street?

Some say history is on repeat.

Don’t be deceived.

There are still two masters.

Don’t bow before greed.