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| Incarnation |
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In a thistle-thick field, The sun-baked clay with its break-spade soil Had a summer-seared yield, And the drought-sky-flouted dry ground foiled All of Israel's trouble and toil. But the Caretaker saw And tilled that wilderness field with priests And their ground-breaking law, As the prophets' cry thinned high sin-weeds, And the kings did their battle with beasts. Then the Husbandman sowed Pure virgin earth, and the germ took root. When the gracious rain flowed On the love-lit plot, it shot out shoots, And it budded forth, bearing its fruit. Now the fruit of our womb Is blest grain bread and a vine grape wine From the Passover room; O incarnate Lord, O Christ divine, Make the fruits of your flesh and blood mine! |
by Stephen Wentworth Arndt, Ph.D.
[ Annunciation | Incarnation | Shepherds | Epiphany | Flight | Presentation ]
Incarnation Notes:
115. The image of God as caretaker of the vineyard is common in the Old Testament.
Cf. Ps 80, 917; Jer 2, 21; Ez 19, 1014; Is 5, 17;
in the New Testament, cf. Mk 12, 19; Mt 21, 3341; Lk 20, 916; Jn 15, 18.
16. The fruit of our womb: since Mary is the perfect representative of redeemed humanity, it is perhaps not too bold a usage to speak of Jesus as the fruit of our womb.
17. Blest grain bread and a vine grape wine: the Incarnation of Christ is in a sense prolonged in the Eucharist even after the Ascension. Cf. Mk 14, 2226; Mt 26, 2630; Lk 22, 1920; 1 Cor 11, 2325.
18. The Passover room: where Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples. Cf. Mk 14, 1216; Mt 26, 1719; Lk 22, 713.
[ Carry Each Other's Burdens | Rejoice in Hope | Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice | Owe No Debt To Anyone | Accept Each Other | If One Member Suffers | Earthen Vessels | Forgive As The Lord Has Forgiven You | Be An Example To Believers | Keep Yourself Pure ]
[ Supper | Gethsemane | Betrayal | Denial | Ironies | Wounds | Surrender | Tomb | Doubt | Ascension | Christ ]
This poem is © Copyright 2002 by Stephen Wentworth Arndt, Ph.D.
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