Proof Texts

Proof Texts

(“The woman came close. Then she knelt down and begged, ‘Please help me, Lord!’” Matthew 15:25)

I was formerly fascinated by each teaching encapsulated
within the phrase; a word out of position, a proof positive
that the traditions always considered Deity the first
layer spoken by commoners coming to Christ who knew
no different. She knelt down and begged, and thus I proved
the worship she gave, a classical attribution of divinity.

I formerly picked past golden broth to stick my fork in
the one piece of chicken meat I thought soup’s justification
for existence.

I’m fonder of broth now, keener of the simple and earth,
layers and linger the flavors can conjure without a single
chew exerted.

Which leaves me to ponder less often the proof texts I
string along to show the kneel means king, the worship
defines god;

If I cannot see His divinity in the tale as it flows
from healing to whole and surprise to holy;
if I cannot posit from the leaf falling that a tree
reaches far above the narrative smiling,
then my pick and choose will be biting only dust,

If His story is not startling enough as it flows
through angel meetings, Mary’s magnificat,
a boy upsitting to end his own funeral,
words spoken to poke death in the ribs
when the little one arises,
calvary foretold, forgiveness unfolds
and a tomb vacated following a weekend stay;

If all that is served like a classic risotto
and still our taste buds will not dance,

How shall the parsing of one word or the next
turn one thought to a taste for the Divine.