(Rabboni! meaning Master – from the Gospel according to Saint John, Chapter 20.Verse 16 when Mary Magdalene first saw Jesus after His death and Resurrection)
“Rabboni” she whispered, “Rabboni” she breathed,
Rabboni – He stood there, alive,
So savagely beaten, He suffered and died,
Rabboni? He’d been crucified.
She stood at the tomb in wonder and awe,
Amazed at the One whom she saw,
Rabboni – she peered deep into His eyes.
“Rabboni – my Master, my Lord!”
“Rabboni” – that one word only she breathed,
Then silence, so poignant with awe,
She looked up and searched His deep furrowed brow,
The anguish, the hell, – now no more!
She’d trudged through the streets of Jerusalem
From the Judgment Hall to the kill,
The crowd was out for blood that day
As they sped up Calvary’s Hill.
But this was her Lord, her Master, her Friend,
Rabboni – the One that she loved,
The mob was after a day of sport
And all they wanted was blood.
She’d stood aside, alone and afraid,
Rivers of tears marked her face,
She pulled her cloak o’er her bowed down head
As the multitude gave chase.
They laughed, they jeered, they jostled her on,
” God help us! God help us!” she cried,
She gathered her dusty skirts round her heels,
To her this was suicide –
The human race taking the life
Of the One that was sent to save them,
She climbed the Hill to see the end
Of the One that was born to raise them.
He staggered to Golgotha’s peak,
The Cross hit the ground with a thud,
He fell in the dirt, exhausted and weak –
Can this – be the Son of God?
They kicked Him and dragged Him over the Cross,
Treated Him worse than a dog,
They cursed Him, spat on Him, laughed in His face,
Can this – be the Son of God?
They brutally treated His bedraggled frame
And knocked Him about like a doll,
Took delight in wrenching His arms o’er the beam,
Can this – be the Son of God?
She shivered and shook as His beaten form
Was hammered to the Cross on the ground,
She closed her eyes at the spurting blood
As He writhed before all around.
One nail! Two nails! Three nails! Four!
Blow after blow shook the floor,
She felt the pain – “Rabboni – my Lord!”
She could not take any more.
She wanted to run away and hide
But could not move for the press,
She bitterly wept as they reared up the Cross,
Turned her eyes from His nakedness.
O the shame! The shame! The awful shame!
Her bursting heart overflowed,
She then stood back, looked on from afar
That respect for her Master be showed.
Hour after hour He writhed in pain,
Three hours passed as He bled,
Then darkness covered the land for three more
Till He finally cried, and He said –
“Eloi Eloi!” – “My God! My God!”
Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
With a loud voice He cried and gave up the ghost
Expired as a thief on a tree.
The centurion guard hearing Him cry
Said, “Truly this man must be
The Son of God! A righteous man!”
E’en a reprobate could see.
And all this time she stood and trembled,
Six hours she watched Him die,
She sobbed till she could weep no more,
Then thunder filled the sky.
The crowds dispersed, they took Him down,
And Mary stood and stared,
They wrapped Him in a linen cloth,
A rocky tomb prepared.
She could not take herself away,
She gazed and gazed and gazed
Upon the stone whereon He lay,
Stood numb with pain and dazed.
With heaving breast, she watched them roll
The great stone to the door,
Then walked away into the night,
” He’s gone for evermore!”
Could this be real? Or was it a dream?
Her hand clasped her throat, thinking back,
One day as a sinner she’d wept at His feet,
And she knew that this was a fact –
How that Jesus had said, “Thy sins which are many
Are all forgiven from this hour,”
Seven devils He’d cast from her, O how she loved Him!
She’d witnessed; she’d seen His power.
She choked back the tears, could not understand
His death far worse than a beast.
She’d seen the power of God in this man,
Her Saviour, her Prophet, her Priest.
The emptiness, the loss she felt,
Her loved one torn away,
A night, a day, she found no rest,
Then rose e’er break of day.
She walked with Mary through the dark,
Glanced up Golgotha’s hill,
The empty Cross a silhouette,
A stark and bitter pill.
The night was eerie, quiet, still,
The guards were at the tomb,
How could they roll the stone away?
Their minds were filled with gloom.
Then an earthquake mighty shook the ground,
An angel straight from heaven
In snow-white raiment rolled the stone,
Said. “He’s not here! He’s risen!”
“Why weepest thou? Why weepest thou?
Remember what He said,
He is not here. Why seekest thou
The living ‘’mongst the dead?”
Afraid, they bowed down to the earth,
“Remember what He said:
The Son of Man must be delivered
To sinful hands, then led –
To be crucified and the third day rise!
Why weepest thou?” He said,
“Because they’ve taken away my Lord,
And I know not where He’s laid.”
Grief overwhelmed poor Mary’s heart,
She’d lost Him in life, now in death,
She stared at the cold bare slab where He’d lain,
Bewildered, she could not find rest.
She turned back and forth, saw Jesus standing
But did not know who He was,
She thought Him the gardener, so humble, so plain,
Confused, deranged at her loss.
“Mary!” said Jesus. She turned herself round,
The light again flooded her being,
She knew that Voice, she knew His tone
She could not believe what she’s seeing.
She looked in His face, she wanted to cry,
The One she so loved stood there whole,
She gasped in amazement, brushed back a tear
As joy then flooded her soul.
“Rabboni” she whispered, “Rabboni” she breathed,
“Rabboni” – He stood there alive!
So savagely beaten, He’d bled and He’d died
”Rabboni?” He’d been crucified?
She stood at the tomb in wonder and awe,
Amazed at the One Whom she saw,
“Rabboni” – she peered deep into His eyes,
“Rabboni” – my Master, my Lord!”
“Rabboni” – that one word only she breathed,
Then silence – so poignant with awe,
She looked up and searched His deep furrowed brow,
The anguish, the hell – now no more!
“Rabboni” – she’d missed Him but all was restored
With resurrecting power,
To hear Him breathe, “Mary!” was balm to her soul
And healed the deep wounds in that hour.
She’d died with Him there at the Cross,
Indeed, she’d been through hell,
But His resurrection gave to her
New life that none other can tell.
Born in the cold, dark tomb that day,
In her spirit was conceived
Rabboni – none could take away,
“Rabboni!” there she breathed.
He told her to go, tell His brethren
His Father He had to behold,
” I ascend to My Father and your Father too,
To My God and your God, I go.”
She told the disciples she’d seen the Lord,
She told them He had to ascend,
But now she had Jesus within her own heart, –
Rabboni – world without end.
And although He now had to leave her,
His Spirit was with her, she knew,
To never leave nor forsake her again,
Rabboni had born her anew.
She could walk along with her Master
And whenever she felt she’d a need,
She could breathe His name, “Rabboni!”
He was there; her spirit was freed!
Peter Burt
GOSPEL CRUMBS 
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