On the Dirge of the Law and on Liberty

I.

Surely it is time, Surely this time I’ll arise to the refreshing of my soul. Can it be this time? Let it be this time, I pray, this cripple becomes whole.

I’ve no one to take me to the waters, that ocean Of mercy’s assuaging, of my heart’s desire. I find myself immobile by each painful motion. The path is so steep, my heart in a mire.

So I lie in the dirt, Enfeebled, inert, No longer having anything to assert. So I lie on the ground While others are crowned With healing and glory and faith to astound.

He approaches and asks me a question so plain, I wonder why he would ask it at all. My eyes fill with disdain, And I explain How difficult I find it to crawl.

II.

She is sitting idly at his feet. The bread will not bake itself, I huff. The meat will not crawl onto his plate. Two hands are not enough.

Don’t you care, Lord? Don’t you care? I’ve done it all; she sits quietly by, This the farthest thing from fair. She’s chosen well? Please clarify.

I’ve worries enough to go around And anxieties enough to share. She’s just sitting there on the ground. Should she not be more aware?

Am I wrong, Lord? Am I wrong? I feel your answer’s rebuff. Lord, I’m trying to be so strong. Am I not enough?

III.

I see you, child, you and your chains. I see your struggle, the way you cry. I bid you, come to me. I hear you, child, your sore refrains. I hear you labor and hear you sigh. I bid you, come to me.

For freedom, I will set you free. I bid you, come to me.

IV.

You tell me I’m captive, that I’m a slave. All I’m trying to do is be brave. You tell me you came my soul to save. You tell me you’ll rescue me from the grave.

This is something I’ve yet to learn. Am I just some thrall? To what, I wonder? There’s nothing that holds me that I can discern. It’s my own authority I abide under.

Yet in the quiet moments, I think of death. It’s brutal at worst, discomfiting at best. I try to cherish every breath; I have this one; you don't promise the rest.

I’m slave to no one, but death will take me. I’ll depart this world and all I love. Though I wish it not true, life will forsake me. Why death? Why death? Why should it a slave myself prove?

V.

I felt captive to none, Then slave to everything– To this world, to excuses, to things not god. The Law will have won. As sin’s bell does ring– Bids me join, bids me sing, bids me offer my laud.

The Curse reigns strong in my mind, in my heart. The elementary things of the world hold me fast. I’m convinced I can make it, doing my part, But sense not in the face of death’s icy blast.

At the pool, I justified my deficiency with debility. At the table, I explained I was otherwise engaged, Too busy to sit in wondering tranquility Before a Savior against whom my swollen pride raged. I’m being crushed by my culpability, Yet I continually repress the war death has waged.

The chains cut deeper; I strain all the more. The Law I’ll obey; every letter I’ll keep, And if I cannot, should my heart prove too sore, I’ll charge Him with making the way too steep.

VI.

Woe to them? The perfect, the holy? If they shall not enter, then what of the lowly? The kingdom of heaven is perfectly exclusive, Its gates so narrow, our entrance preclusive.

Hypocrites? Brood of vipers? White-washed tombs? He calls them blind guides. How much he presumes! We have but one Father, one Teacher, one Master? They’re dead inside, just covered with plaster? Now he marks them for disaster.

If they, our best, shall descend to Hell, Certainly, I’ll find myself there as well. His voice is crying my death knell. I’ll never break from this prison cell.

For freedom he would set me free? Where is the freedom he promised me?

We have but one Father, and Him in heaven, The whole loaf ruined by a little leaven.

We all are brothers, serving each other. We’ve traded one Master for another. We have one Teacher, him the Christ. Why is life so highly priced?

For freedom he would set me free? Where is the freedom he promised me?

VII.

He knows! They told him what I said? That I’d not believe he’d risen from the dead ‘Til I felt his hands and touched his side, ‘Til I was sure this the same Lord that died.

A week has passed, a week and a day, Since they brought the news of his return. Mary had seen him first, they did say. John believed, then the rest did learn.

I could not, and I spoke it–I could not accept, Though I saw their faces, that Mary had wept. He was dead, in the grave. We’ll not see him again. Yet stands he before me, my doubt to constrain.

It’s not just that he puts me at ease; It’s that he brings me to surety. They did not tell him. He simply sees And deigns to impart security.

My Lord, my God, I know I am small, Weak, imperfect, not worthy at all, Yet you rescue me from death’s dark squall. I’m no longer sin’s slave, the Law’s cowering thrall. With you by my side, what curse can befall?

VIII.

Take my bed, get up, and walk? The people around us are beginning to talk. Healed on the Sabbath is healed all the same. I realize now I don’t know his name. Who is this man, my salvation?

I believe in the resurrection. It’ll greet us at age’s end. I believe, but what’s the connection? He’d have been alive if you’d come! He’d be alive, our dear friend – You’re the Messiah, the Incarnation.

Yet I see him rise, wrapped in death’s clothes. The odor I expected does not meet my nose. Instead I see what this Jesus tried to tell, We’re blessed in heaven and this life as well. I honor my Lord with adulation!

The resurrection and the life is he, Once we’ll die, but to life we’ll rise. Bearer of heaven, he sets us free, Our peace with God, his holy prize.

He silences every allegation

For he is the Word and Sustainer of all. Not a breath is breathed without his assent. Lest by excuse, by sin's error we should fall, He liberates us from our evil bent.

Shout to the Lord with acclamation!

The Law no longer has hold on me! Death, where's your sting, your victory? I once was blind but now I see: For freedom he has set me free.

References: John 5:1-17, Luke 10:38-42, Galatians, Matthew 23:1-36, John 20:24-29, John 11:1-44, Acts 1:6-11, etc.