Forgive them Father for they know not what they do





The horror of the recent stage play (click here) in France where the face of Christ was publicly defiled  reminded me of this poem…for Birmingham read ‘Paris’

 A famous poem by an Anglican vicar:

When Jesus came to Golgotha

they hanged him on a tree.

They drave great nails through

hands and feet,

And made a Calvary.

They crowned Him with a crown of thorns,

red were His wounds and deep.

For those were crude and cruel days,

And human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham

they simply passed Him by.

They never hurt a hair of Him,

they only let Him die.

For men had grown more tender,

And they would not give Him pain,

they only just passed down the street

and left Him in the rain.

Still, Jesus cried,

“Forgive them for they know not what they do,”

and still it rained the wintry rain

that drenched Him through and through;

the crowds went home and left the streets

without a soul to see,

and Jesus crouched against a wall

and cried for Calvary.

G A Studdert-Kennedy