The Hostage Deal
Between the rolling of the stone
and the crying of the name
came the agonising.
Shuddering, Jesus stares into the tomb,
Making a deal with death in the depths.
A greedy exchange is strangely agreed:
Lazarus comes out and he will go in,
The prize of life for the price of death.
The hour of starkness fully come,
The Dealer is struck and laid in the tomb.
Then is the end, but the end is of death:
Through terrifying life in the depths,
Death is destroyed, exploded inside.
Before the rolling of the stone
and the coming of the women
came the rising.
by Graham Kings
from Signs and Seasons (Canterbury Press, 2008)
The Rt Revd Dr Graham Kings is Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely and Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.