Untitled

{"id":17740,"date":"2021-04-15T16:17:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T21:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mercynotsacrifice\/?p=17740"},"modified":"2022-03-21T11:04:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T16:04:57","slug":"my-messiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mercynotsacrifice\/2021\/04\/15\/my-messiah\/","title":{"rendered":"My Messiah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/a><\/p>\n

My messiah is exactly the
\nkind of man you\u2019d expect
\nwithout a human Y chromosome:
\noffensively delightful; utterly<\/p>\n

gorgeous when he\u2019s angry;
\na carpenter\u2019s hands with fingers
\nsoft enough to open eyes
\nthat were blind from birth;<\/p>\n

every movement of his
\nmuscles a dance in which
\nhe retunes the wavelengths
\nof the energy around him<\/p>\n

so when he tells a mountain
\nto throw itself into the sea, it
\nobeys him casually as though
\nthe universe were his poetry;<\/p>\n

the way his eyes shift
\nso quickly from fierce to
\ndelightful like a child
\nwho is also the ancestor;<\/p>\n

his chocolate skin when
\nhe swims in the nude
\nwith his fishermen friends
\nand when he hunches over<\/p>\n

a fire, his muscles glistening
\nas he makes breakfast
\nlike the mother hen he always
\ntalks about being, especially<\/p>\n

while chasing the street
\nchildren around in made
\nup games that proper rabbis
\ndon\u2019t play with children.<\/p>\n

Men with human fathers
\nunderstand that religion
\nis serious business that has
\nnothing to do with children<\/p>\n

who are born totally depraved
\nand need to have their wills
\nbroken by fathers who are
\nnot afraid to use the rod.<\/p>\n

But some men don\u2019t have rods
\nand children know instinctively
\nthey are safe with them
\nbecause children are the ones<\/p>\n

who know the way to heaven,
\nwhich is what he tells us
\nall the time as he sits
\nwith half a dozen little bodies<\/p>\n

climbing all over him, their
\nmothers knowing he will never
\nharm them because they see
\nthe way he talks to animals<\/p>\n

and the ferocity with which
\nhe denounces the powerful
\nwhenever they trample on his
\nlittle ones, being himself<\/p>\n

a shepherd who walks like
\na young lamb in adolescent
\nconfidence entirely synchronized
\nwith ancestral wisdom as though<\/p>\n

true wisdom never ages but
\nonly grows in its prankish myrth
\nso the highest enlightenment
\nis to become a child at play.<\/p>\n

The best moments of my many
\nlifetimes have been lying next
\nto the fire with his arms
\naround me as we gaze into<\/p>\n

eternity together without words.
\nAnd in those moments, I feel his
\nheartbeat in my body and I know
\nI am the disciple whom Jesus loves.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My messiah is exactly the kind of man you\u2019d expect without a human Y chromosome: offensively delightful; utterly gorgeous when he\u2019s angry; a carpenter\u2019s hands with fingers soft enough to open eyes that were blind from birth; every movement of his muscles a dance in which he retunes the wavelengths of the energy around him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1934,"featured_media":17743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1411,3974,1847,3050,2783],"class_list":["post-17740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-jesus","tag-lgbtq","tag-messiah","tag-queer","tag-transgender"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Messiah<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My messiah is exactly the kind of man you\u2019d expect without a human Y chromosome: offensively delightful; utterly gorgeous when he\u2019s angry; 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