How they had waited, constantly plotting
To remove that rabble-rouser from the streets;
His uprising had led to blood-shedding,
Now he was in a cell, his own blood clotting
From wounds he had received—
Death soon would be his reward;
Another disappointing zealot, rotting
So, the leaders went on about their feast,
Their underhanded work done by Roman law,
As the lamb was chosen for the Passover
And those same rulers devoured the beast,
They began scheming to trap their next victim,
That bold, would-be-messiah the people favoured,
Treated like a king, turning them from the priest
Long had they sought to catch that pest
In word or deed, yet always he managed to hide,
Or to walk away from their upraised stones
Having exposed the sins their own hearts caressed,
Leaving them in consternation over this and
Much more, forgiving sinners as if he were God—
Surely for blasphemy they could make an arrest
Now, in the confluence of time and place,
During the Passover supper, the moment came,
One of the rabbi's followers could be bought,
He was willing to sell his master without a trace
Of remorse or guilt as the silver crossed his palm—
At last the trap had sprung! The messiah-king
Would no more be a threat to the Jewish race
"It is imperative to sacrifice one to save all,"
So the high priest had said, a grimace on his face;
Now they had removed the rabble-rousing rabbi
From before Caiaphas, to deal with the Roman law—
His beard plucked out, his back shedding blood;
How little they knew they had sent the Lamb
To be slaughtered, the Sacrifice, once for all
To their chagrin, Pilate offered a deal,
The zealot-murderer, or this taciturn king,
One he would free during the feast, one condemn,
He asked the people which sentence to repeal,
And to his horror and disbelief, as one they chose
The militant man, to be released into their midst
A man who was known to cause strife and to steal
The religious men shook upraised fists,
Unable to have both firebrands extinguished—
Still, it was expedient that one man might die
Not the whole race, so there hung Jesus by his wrists
The very Lamb of God, Who takes away all sins
The only One who could possibly save all men—
Priest and Sacrifice, Servant and King—very God he is.
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*About the title: Bentham is the founder of modern Utilitarianism
