Page 100 - Eggs and Ashes pages

Mothering Sunday 99

as the youngest child,
he asked the Passover questions: ‘Why?’
Sometimes he went with you to Jerusalem,
and you watched him Mary.
He wasn’t a loner like John, his cousin.
He seemed to be growing up normal and strong.

Part three

Three days!
In the first hours he could have been
dead on the Jericho road.
He could have been kidnapped,
beaten, or worse.
They retraced their steps.
They asked everyone they met. Nothing.

In the city there was nowhere else to look.
All they could do now was to commit him to God
and take the other children home.

So they went to the temple to speak their prayer.
And there they saw him –
sitting
talking,
alive,
unharmed.
They couldn’t believe it.
‘Jesus – why have you done this to us?
For three days we’ve been looking for you.
We thought you were dead!’
‘Why Jesus – where have you been?
Son, I want to wallop you and
hug you at the same time.’
And the why was returned.
‘Why didn’t you know where to find me?
Why didn’t you know I’d be
in my Abba’s house?’
They looked at each other then,
Jesus and Joseph and Mary,