The Man, Christ Jesus

The Man of joy
delighted to do
his Father's will.
His mind and heart
enraptured by every
command.
For the joy set before him,
Calvary's shame he endured.
Now the oil of gladness pours
from him and anoints the heads of
his once sin-sad people.

The Man of sorrows
was acquainted with
grief.
His and ours.
Ours the grief of
cursed existence.
His the pain of the
Father's momentary, infinite
absence. An eternity
of wrath propitiated
in due time by
the sacrifice of the Son.

The Man of peace
came to conquer
the serpent's seed.
His heel was wounded,
while the serpent's head
he mercilessly crushed.
Peace he gives,
by his blood-bought
justifying grace.

The Man of love,
moved with compassion
at the sight of a lost
humanity,
took the likeness of our
sinful flesh.
Greater love the world
has not seen.
He died,
Friend for friends,
Shepherd for sheep,
Sinless for sin.
But many waters could
not quench Love.
He rose to the Father's
loving embrace, lovingly
stirred to life by the gentle
Spirit.