Rhyming Redsong: Matthew 17 (The Transfiguration; The Temple Tax and the Fish)

Rhyming Redsong: Matthew 17 (The Transfiguration; The Temple Tax and the Fish)

Then, after six days, Jesus took with him
James, Peter, John (James’ brother, they were kin)
and led them up a mountain that was high,
and all, themselves, alone, how they were, by.
And, there before them, he, transfigured, was.
His face shone like the sun, became, his clothes
as white as light, the. Just then there appeared
before them, who, with Jesus, they conferred,
both Moses and Elijah. Peter said
to Jesus, “For us to be here, it’s good,
Lord. I’ll construct three shelters, if you would–
one each for you, Elijah, Moses, too.”

While he was speaking, still, a bright cloud came,
them, covered, and a voice from the cloud said,
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I’m
well-pleased. Now listen closely, you, to him!”

When the disciples heard this, facedown, fell,
they, to the ground, and terrified as well.

But Jesus came and said, as them, he touched,
“Get up. Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up
they saw him, Jesus, and nobody but.

The mountainside, as they were coming down
instructed Jesus, them, “Not anyone,
don’t tell them what it is that you have seen
until, raised from the dead, the Son of Man.”

Asked him, disciples, the, “Why then do they
the teachers of the law, that he, they say,
Elijah must be, to come, the first one?”

Replying Jesus, “To be sure, he comes
and will restore all things. But I tell you,
Elijah has already come, and they
did recognize him, not, but have done to
him everything they wished. In the same way
the Son of Man is going to suffer at
their hands.” Then the disciples understood
that he was talking to them, him, about,
the Baptist, John. When they came to the crowd,
to Jesus, did approach and knelt, a man,
before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,”
he said. “He, seizures, has, he greatly is,
and, suffering. Into, he often falls
the fire or also in the water, too.
I brought him to, disciples, the, who’re yours,
but they, heal him, could not.” “O you, perverse,
and, generation, filled with lack of faith,”
replying Jesus, “How long shall I stay
with you? How long will I put up with you?
Bring the boy, to me, here.” Jesus rebuked
the demon, and it came out of the boy,
and at that moment he was full-restored.

To Jesus, the disciples, how they came,
in private, and they asked him to explain,
“Why couldn’t we drive it out of the boy?”

Replied, he, “‘Cause there’s, in your faith, a void.
I tell you truly, if your faith is weighed,
as light as that, a single mustard seed,
this mountain, to, what you can say, words, these:
‘From here, move over there,’ and it will move.
For naught will be impossible for you.”

When they, together, came, in Galilee,
he said to them, “The Son of Man will be,
to wicked men’s hands, a delivery.
They will, him, kill and on the third day, he
will be raised back to life.” Disciples, the,
were filled up in their hearts with, great grief, a.

Once Jesus and disciples, his, arrived,
Capernaum, in, of the temple tax,
those who, for Rome, those drachmas, two, derived,
came up to Peter and, this, him, they asked,
“Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”

“Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came
into the house, was Jesus, first who spake.
“What do you, Simon, think?” he asked. “From whom,
the kings of earth, do, taxes, they collect,
as duty, children, their, or others, from?
“From others,” Peter answered, what he said.

“Then children, the, exempted all are they,”
said Jesus to him. “But so that we may
not cause offense, go over to the lake,
the first fish after throwing out your line,
its mouth, up, open, you will find a coin,
four-drachma. Take it and give it to them
to pay my tax, it, for yours, also spend.”