Lamb of God (Offered in My Place)

Zurbaran - Lamb of God

Lamb of God,
offered in ransom for my soul,
in place of my flesh,
submitting Yourself
to an agonizing death,
nails, thorns, thirst, suffocation,
so I might find
Your father's forgiveness.

You are not
a burnt offering
on the altars of heathens.
You are flesh and blood
on a cross of wood,
a tree fashioned by unbelievers,
erected on a hill
outside the walls
of Your holy city.

Lamb of God,
You take all hatred
onto Your tortured body.
A thorn for every vice,
a spike for a thousand different sins.
You absorb the gossip and slander
of the world.
You embrace the forsaken
and the hopeless.
You forgive every betrayal
and denial,
that we might draw toward You.

Lamb offered in my place
do not count
the days of my desperate ploys
to be Pilate, Judas, Caiaphas,
rather remember the few moments
when I have cried at Your feet,
listened to Your sermons,
or waved branches in the street.




copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr