Friday, February 26, 2021

Prison without prisoners


After Acts 5:21-32

Bring the prisoners here,
say the powers, the elites
posturing for effect and
self-congratulation and
not a little smug with
the condemnation 
they will deliver. 
Bring the prisoners here,
say the powers, the elites,
savoring the questioning
to come. 
They wait. They wait.
They grow restless
in their waiting, until
the soldiers come,
sheepishly and not
without a little fear, 
to report the empty cells
and the locked doors,
and the prisoners now
walking the streets,
doing exactly what
they’d been imprisoned
for:
giving hope.

Escorted to the courts,
the former prisoners
show no remorse, no fear,
and instead speak (rather
boldly for uneducated
men) the shocking
most revolutionary words
in history: we must obey
God, not men.

Photograph by Vidar Nordli-Mathieson via Unsplash. Used with permission.

1 comment:

Martha Jane Orlando said...

"We must obey God, not men."
Amen, Glynn! May we all be found with that conviction in our hearts.