"If Jesus came to your home to spend a day or two ..."
So goes the anonymous poem, and asks "What will I do?"

If he came "unexpectedly" and knocked at my door,
I would enquire respectfully for his credentials, motive and more.

I know he would not mind, nor offence would he take,
As the reservations he'd find were only for safety's sake.

And if it was really him, of whom so much has been told,
Joyfully I'd say, "Come on in, be part of my humble household."

There would be no need of changing my life, my habits, or anything.
Would I fool, by this rearranging, the one who knows everything?

No!  I'd continue as before with no religious guilt or fear,
And when faults came to the fore, according to him, I would hear.

I would offer him a drink and jokingly whisper in his ear,
"I'm not partial to wine. You think you could turn water into beer?"

And in our daily conversations I'd ask him to tell me and relate
The Bible, without the interpolations of those who write and translate.

To find the Truth, undiluted, amidst men's words and interpretation,
To sieve through the text polluted by some wicked imagination.

So, yes!  I'd be very glad to have him stay "on and on",
And I would be very sad to eventually see him gone.
 
 

AV Fenton
Empangeni,  December 1990.
 

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