(Jesus was born to die for the sins of human beings. There is no judgment that God has pronounced that Christ does not take on himself through the Cross. This poem takes as its starting point the Magnificat of Mary (Luke 1.46-55), paraphrasing verse 52 in the first stanza. Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem is represented as an unexpected fulfilment of this prophecy. Probably only a fan of G.K. Chesterton would accept this as a legitimate handling of the passage.)
Mary sang to the unborn Christ,
“The Lord on high be praised,
Who has brought down the mighty from their thrones,
and the humble to honour raised!”
And if she had heard the laughter of God,
Still she would not have seen the joke,
When her son rode into Jerusalem,
Riding his borrowed moke,
As all through the shouting jostling crowd,
And over their cloaks he trod—
The highest of all on a poor man’s beast,
And a donkey the throne of God!
© Neil Copeland