This Jesus Poem by Frank Avon

Whoever Jesus was,
whoever He is to me

(and these two
are necessarily divergent)

- whether of virgin birth,
whether physically resurrected,
whether a miracle worker
a magnetic leader of his cult,
whether an illiterate peasant
or a nerdy adolescent
arguing points of Law
with his elders in the Temple,
whether married to the Magdalene,
or celibate among all those women,
whether a political Zealot
on a companion of tax collectors,
sometimes a defender of whores,
apologetic to the Syro-Phoenician woman,
elevating a Samaritan,
celebrating a prodigal,
hungry on the Sabbath,
so reaping despite the Law,
folk hero in the streets,
cleanser of the temple,
nay-sayer to the irascible Peter,
threat to the Establishment,
alike to a corrupt priesthood,
and arrogant invaders,
the Elite of his day -

whoever Jesus was,
whoever He is to me,

just a lowly laborer,
a handyman, a tekton,
a teacher,
respected Rabboni.

In his era, and ours,
(academicians affirm)
thrive many messiahs,
many baptisms,
many miracle workers,
many magnetic leaders,
many zealous radicals
promising a new life,
proclaiming a New Kingdom,
and he a person of the street,
a wanderer on the hillside,
a mere tekton,
from a town forgotten,
called the Nazarean.

How can they explain
(these haughty academicians)
that he became the One
to remake his world,
to remake our world
some twenty centuries later
the Son of Man
the Son of God
one with the Spirit,
the Holy One?

Simplicity itself:
'The time is fulfilled.
The Kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe
in the good news.'

This Jesus of Galilee,
the lowest of the working class,
had gone to the wilderness
(according to the academicians
in their arrogant interpretations)
not to be tempted by Satan
but to learn from the Baptist,
that son of the priestly class,
recognized by the infallible Josephus
as fearsome to the current Herod -
he went merely to become
one of his ragged followers.
John's baptism, Josephus says,
was not for remission of sins,
but for purification of the body,
for initiation into his sect,
water the cleansing agent.

Like other gospel stories,
the academicians assert,
John's lineage and miraculous birth,
was 'a fantastical account' that
'most scholars dismiss out of hand.'

They have no faith,
these sons of the Academy,
but depend upon historicity,
though like all positivists,
they too are people of faith.
What they believe in
is the power of their own minds,
to ascertain facts through
their own sensory experience,
to interpret factual information
with logic or human reason;
hence, certitude (or Truth)
is their derived knowledge.

Whoever Jesus was,
whoever He is to me,
through Him Spirit speaks
to scribes and Saducees:
John baptized with water,
Jesus with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit and Fire.

Of God and Man,
the Son of sons.

Who Jesus was,
who Jesus is to me.

So I believe,
help thou mine unbelief.