Trickster Savior

 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

- Luke 17:11-19

His hair the color of gasoline

his smile as wide as a wild coyote

unpredictable as an August tornado

he comes to play his saving tricks on us

He sends ten lepers to the priest for healing

wondering if any will make a u-turn when wonder strikes

doing exactly what he says is missing the point

but the trip wire for exposure of myopic seriousness

He frustrates the easy day with interruptions like cats

and watches our pressure gauges glide past red

he slips a nail under the new car tire

and waits for profanity to roll

Everyone knows there is a trickster among us

No one seems to remember that his cunning

is the way he lets us in on the joke of grace

and traps us with his playful, winsome befriending