by Drew Jackson

Luke 3:2-14

“Never forget that justice is what
love looks like in public.”
Cornel West

I went out into the desert
where the prophet speaks his word.
He spoke of things I cannot say
that I had ever heard.

His mouth was filled with power.
His eyes burned deep with fire.
But not because he hated,
it was justice he desired.

He wanted public love to roll
like fast and mighty rivers.
The things he said, they touched my core
and gave my soul a shiver.

I stood and listened closely
to hear him talk oppression,
but I could little understand
his talk about confession.

I came to hear him speak about
the sins of evil Rome,
but what he wanted was for me
to think upon my own.

Apparently, from what he says
my sins make me complicit.
He told me that repentance
is my real act of resistance.

He stood knee-deep in water
and reached in my direction.
I grabbed his hand and I stepped in,
committing insurrection.

Taken from God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming by Drew Jackson @2021 by Drew Edward Jackson.Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com. Purchase the book here.