And why would Jesus

[Jimmy O'Connell]

And why would Jesus
(A variation on: Christian Zeal and Activity by John Adams)

And why would Jesus have been
Drawn to the man, to the man
With the withered hand,
To the man who was in the
Synagogue with the withered hand;
Why was he drawn to the man
In the synagogue with the withered

Hand, drawn to heal the man
There in the synagogue,
Drawn there to heal the man
With the withered hand,
The withered hand that became
Whole, became whole again,
To show the power of the spirit,

The power of Jesus drawn
To the man made whole;
And why was Jesus drawn
To the withered hand,
To the hand that he made whole
There in the synagogue before
All the people, healed before

The people who came and saw
The man with the withered hand
Made whole again, drawn
By Jesus in the synagogue
To the spirit and the man
With the withered hand,
To the man made whole again?

Note:
The original piece by John Adams was used in Scorsese's "Shutter Island". The voice may be Billy Graham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ceORsBT0A

[Boss]

Hi Jimmy,

Yeshu'a would have been drawn to the man with the withered hand. He was drawn to the broken, to those less fortunate, in need. I have tried, often failingly, to emulate this man from The Galilee. I know his love is indeed the sort our World needs to supplant the hate and evil apparent today. You know, I sometimes wonder where Yeshu'a would have been at say age 22? How he'd have evolved until that point. Surely he can't have been as enlightened/loving as when he was 35. With that in mind I find I still have hope to develop like he did. In any case, I believe he is in Heaven with my Dad, sister and two brothers and the rest of Humanity who have died since the first Adam. I make that to be about 7,500,000,000 people. I often wonder where they all go when 'you feel the wheels of Heaven stop'. Or as when in 1997 Bob Dylan alluded to 'when the doors of Heaven shut' or words to that effect. It brims with such beautiful souls - Moses, Karl Marx, Siddartha Gautama, Mohandas Gandhi, John Lennon Alice Miller, Mother Teresa, Mohammed and so many more. Where do they all go Jimmy when we here are set free? When G-d gives us the go ahead. When He kills death. And each of us living knows freedom and love.

I respect you Jim,
Adam

[Jimmy O'Connell]

Thanks Boss.
My poem is rhetorical in that I am not necessarily seeking an answer, more exploring the nature of Jesus and his character.
Why was he 'drawn' to the broken, the poor, the hurt, the fragile in each of us?
We, all of us, are the man with the withered hand, we are all incomplete not whole, in need of wholeness and healing.
I think Jesus wants us to know that this world is incomplete, broken and fragile. He offers hope, if we can see it, or desire it.
If we don't then we will remain incomplete.
As Lou Reed would say, 'it takes a bus load of faith to get by'.
I think that was the sense I got as I heard John Adams' piece; it moved me to write the poem, with the focus on the words 'drawn' and 'withered hand'.

[Boss]

I think he was 'drawn' to the poor and broken, us misfits, for three reasons. The first, and in my opinion probably the most important, was the care of his parents. I believe they allowed him freedom to be himself, I imagine they were unified and they definitely gave Yeshu'a and his many brothers and sisters love - so very much love. Faith too would have been instilled and that is the second reason. Yeshu'a believed wholeheartedly in G-d; in the power of G-d. Of course having good parents aids a person's faith. The final reason he felt for the wounded was because he suffered. I don't think the 40 days in the desert does a man like Yeshu'a ben Yosef justice. It is symbolic. He would have suffered more. Akin to the Buddha in Northern India, I think he spent a good deal of time before his ministry suffering. How else would he understand suffering in others? Jimmy, if you have good parents and you have faith, with suffering you become as he or Gandhi or any one of the many godly souls who have walked this earth. Good parents, faith and a liberal dose of suffering. Then you can know compassion and empathy. And you can also move mountains, literally!

In peace,
Boss

[lizzytysh]

I love how you worked all the repetition in this, Jimmy. It worked to really drill down on the questions, forcing the reader to consider them as deeply as you clearly are... or at least taking seriously how deeply you are considering them.