JOHN AT SUPPER

‘Jesus…was troubled in spirit.’
We seem to be at loggerheads tonight.
He laid such stress upon this meal,
Bade us prepare for it with such great care,
Made sure that all of us were there.
 
We are together, and now He speaks of leaving,
We jest and quarrel, but His heart is grieving.
We spoke of thrones and power and being great:
He took a towel and washed and dried our feet.
He’s trying to tell us things we cannot see.
To be beside Him is to be
At the still heart of the spinning universe,
And tonight His heart is troubled.
 
Have we ever understood a word He’s said?
He took the wine and blessed and broke the bread,
And bade us do likewise, remembering Him.
What is between us?   What unguessed-at thing
Waits at the turn of the road?
What fearful cloud
Rides in our sky?
 
© Joan Kendall.  Mothers’ Union, 1960.  Used with permission of Mothers’ Union