You ask, we answer

After Acts 4:1-14

There’s the question, tossed

lightly but landing with

a rather loud thud, asking

what power or name or

authority that the man is’

healed, that man crippled 

from birth, and that’s it,

the elephant in the room,

the asking powerful

surrounding the answering

insignificant. And the answer:

we heal in his name, you know, 

him, the one you crucified.

And if our words are lacking,

the healed man stands with us, 

a witness no one can refute.

Nothing can be done, they

mutter quietly to each other,

we’ll start a riot if we deny

the reality of what the people

see, so we come to this, 

a warning to stop the spread

of this contagion, already

afflicting thousands. 

They speak the warning,

looking into the eyes

of the future.

Photograph by Artem Maltsev via Unsplash. Used with permission.