Wary Serpents Conceive Innocent Doves

Nothing else is worth recording about Jeshua's life until, at thirty,
he goes to have his life transformed by his cousin John.
Jeshua might have been like the prodigal son he will soon talk about:
far from his parents, lost amidst pigs, longing for the pods they eat.

**

Before John is conceived,
his old father, the priest Zachariah, in the Temple's holiest of holy rooms
on the day for atonement,
does not believe words he hears saying his wife, Elizabeth will bear him a
son.
Doubting this voice makes Zachariah unable to speak.
Elizabeth does conceive.
Like her cousin, Mary, Elizabeth seems ashamed to be with child.
Elizabeth hides for five months.
John’s mere existence in the womb, keeps his father silent for nine months.
Only after the boy is born and his father agrees to name him "John,"
although no one in the family has that name,
is Zachariah able to speak.
When John is strong enough, he escapes from his family.
He lives in the wilderness—
until, at 29, he is moved to dip people in the water, commanding them to
Let float away
misguided ways—
so breaths of air
guide you to share.

When Jeshua’s body is immersed by John’s hands,
Jeshua finally feels someone who understands:
Jeshua like John was rejected by his father.
They need to find in their wilderness
that water and air are like parents who care.
Jeshua emerges from John's baptizing water peaceful as the dove
that is drawn to them.
With Jeshua's first breath out of the water,
he feels he's a child of water and skies wherever he flies.
___________________________________


Good Friday 2010