A Lenten Devotion by Debbie Clark
Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.”
Luke 18:31-33
I wrote this poem after a troubling encounter on Palm Sunday in New Delhi, India in 2008. After church, I went on a walk through the city. A young boy stood in front of me, arms outstretched, asking for money. He wouldn’t let me go around him. That evening, I went back to church for a concert. As the choir sang, “Face the Cross,” I was haunted by this little boy I didn’t want to face.
“Face the cross,” the choir sings,
faces shining with faith,
voices soaring through the church.
“Don’t turn away from Christ crucified.”
Earlier today, Christ crucified faced me down.
I tried to turn away.
I picked up my pace,
moved off the sidewalk,
even ran a step or two.
He would not let me go.
Arms outstretched to block my way,
hands outstretched to demand a rupee,
a boy in rags,
his mother and baby sister looking on.
I don’t know how to face this cross.
The rupee in my pocket would do little
but assuage my guilt;
the bill I put in the offering plate
is too far removed.
Finally a rickshaw driver stops
and tells the child to go,
leaving me to walk on,
but not in peace.
“Face the cross,”
the choir sings.
Give us courage, we pray, to face the cross. Amen