Bible In Poetry: Gospel Of St. John (Chapter 1) Poem by Dr John Celes

In the beginning was the word,
And the word was with God,
And the Word was God,
And He was the beginning!

Every thing came to be through Him,
And without Him, nothing did not;
What came to be through Him was life,
And life was light of human race.

The light had shone amidst darkness,
And darkness hasn’t overcome it;
A man named John was sent by God
To bear testimony to light,
So that, through him, all may believe.

He wasn’t the light but came
To only testify to it;
True light enlightening persons
Was in the world which didn’t know him;

His own people didn’t accept him;
To those whoev’r accepted him,
The power to be a child of God
And to believe in his name was given.

All were born but of God alone,
And not through nature or by man;
The word became flesh, dwelt ’mongst us;
Like the Father’s, we saw his son’s
Glory too, full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried,
“This is He of whom I had said,
The one who comes soon after me,
But ranks ahead of me because
He had existed before me.
From his fullness, we all received
Grace after grace through Moses’ law,
While grace and truth came through Jesus;
None has ever seen God,
The son of God alone who was
At his father’s side, revealed him.

This is the testimony of St.John:
The Jews from Jerusalem sent Levites
And priests to John and asked him, “Who are you? ”
He admitted, “I’m not the Messiah.”
So, they asked him again, “Who are you then? ”
“Are you Elijah? ” and he said, “I’m not.”
“Are you the prophet then? ” He answered, “No.”
They queried him, “Just tell us who you are?
Let’s take an answer to those who sent us;
“What do you have to tell about yourself? ”

I am a voice in desert that’s crying,
“You make the way straight for the Lord.”
Some Pharisees then asked him, “Why baptize
If you are not the Messiah or else? ”

John answered them, “I baptize with water;
But there’s amongst you, one whom you know not,
And whom you neither recognize at all;
He is the one who will come after me;
His sandal-strap, I’m unfit to untie.
This happened in Bethany in Jordan.

On seeing Jesus the next day, John said,
“Behold the Lamb of God who washes sins away! ”
He is the one who’s expected to come
Soon after me but ranks ahead,
Because he had existed before me!

I didn’t know him but baptized with water.
So that he may be made to Israel known;
John testified more, “I saw the Spirit
Descend from the sky like a dove on him.

The one who had sent me to earth to preach
Told me, “On whomev’r you see the Spirit
Come down, remain, he is the one
Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit!
I’ve seen and testified that he’s the Son of God! ”

The next day, John was there again
With his two disciples
On seeing Jesus walk near-by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God! ”
The two disciples heard whatev’r he spoke
And they followed Jesus.

Then Jesus turned and asked of them,
“What are you looking for? ”
They said to him, “Rabbi (Teacher) , where do you stay? ”
He said to them, “Come and you’ll see.”

So, they went and saw where he stayed,
And stayed with him that day.
It was four in the afternoon.
Andrew, (Simon Peter’s brother)
Was one of the two who‘d heard John
And too followed Jesus.
He found his brother Simon and told him,
“We’ve found the Messiah (the Anointed) ”.
He brought Simon to Jesus, who told him,
“You’re Simon, son of John.
You will be called Cephas, meaning Peter! ”

The next day, Jesus went to Galilee
And finding Philip, said, “You follow me! ”
Now Philip was from town of Bethsaida.
He found Nathanael and said to him,
“We’ve found the one about whom Moses wrote
In law and prophets also did like-wise:
Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth.”

Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?
So, Philip said to him, “Just come and see! ”
On seeing Nathanael come, Jesus said,
“An Israelite true, there’s no duplicate! ”
Nathaniel asked him, “How do you know me? ”
When Jesus answered him, “I saw you ’neath the fig-tree.”
Nathanael said, ” Rabbi, You’re Son of God, King of Israel! ”

But Jesus queried him, “Do you believe
Because I saw you under the fig-tree?
You’ll see much greater things than this.”
He said to him, “amen, I say to you,
You’ll see the sky open, God’s angels come
Ascending, descending on Son of Man! ”

Copyright by Dr John Celes 5-20-2007