The Reversal (Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost)

The mute man with the tangled tongue and
Stoppered ears knows now the truth
That frees his tongue, says, Ephphatha!
And opens that which has been blocked.
The daughter freed from demons knows too
That dogs may eat the crumbs beneath the
Table of the king’s own children,
And her mother knows as well the
Power of audacious faith.
And the poor who die with voices
Fading in the walls around them –
Do they know this shaking truth too?
Those who hold their wealth as placards
To proclaim their right to enter,
Knocking out the poor from houses
Built for lowly ones like them –
Will they hear this truth in their ears
Stoppered as they are against the
Flooding torrent of God’s swift
Reversal of all expectations?
Do they hear Him cry the cause of
Those they stomped on yesterday?
Have they eyes to see His Glory
Manifest in all the lowly
And despised, forgotten things?