The Bishops in council needed to affirm that Jesus died,
for some had spread a rumour that he did not.
For some he was wafted away to heaven:
for others he was taken down alive.
But no one really escapes
a Roman execution.
He died!
On the other hand, the tale of his burial seems unlikely;
at least as Christians usually understand it.
A troublemakers body was not released
to become a centre of discontent.
He will have been buried, but
in the common midden
as regulations
specified.
The role of Joseph must be pure invention,
the tomb of Jesus a figment of the mind.
If it was later empty, it can only be
because it was never filled.
Could never have been!
However, such a burial was an essential
to provide a stage for the stories
of resurrection and an empty tomb.
In crafting the latter invention
the former is necessitated.
The convoluted conceptions of the bible,
make few concessions to the realities of power.
We read them in another age and fail to iunderstand.
One is left wondering whether
these were just wish fulfillments;
tales of what should have happened,
rather than deliberate deception,
at least originally.
The tale may be mainly invention,
but what is the message it contains?
Maybe we are driven to ask
How to respond to another's need
or the death of those without resources.