The Repenting Pharisee

Pharisee art thou? Hypocrite in fact!
Thou reason deep in thy heart as thou sat
In high places that should thou not enter
Into the kingdom of heavens, neither
Will thou allow those whom I love that are
Entering; hogging the limelight to bar
those of pure hearts. And thou sealed off the door
To My kingdom, so that those who are poor
In spirit may be shut out just like thee.
Woe to thee scribe! Woe to thee Pharisee!

Lord, forgive me of my treacherous soul.
I convinced myself that those brothers, though
Loveth by Thee, yet they are unworthy
To be kings with cities to oversee.
Remove, Lord, this despising element
Deeply entrenched and evilly fervent
In me that I may have my heart renewed
And my stubborn thoughts completely reviewed.
Pharisee I am! Wretched scribe I am!
Cleanse me, O Lord, with the blood of the Lamb.

Woe unto thee! Theologian art thou?
Man of letters and faith didst thou avow?
Letters thou uphold, the Spirit thou quench!
Death thy companion and all of its stench!
And thou, scribe, with much pretense, praise My name
In large congregations to boost thy fame.
Sham actor! Thou’d be cast into darkness
‘Til thou confess, “H’sanna in the highest!”
Yet thou will not, will thou? Certainly not!
Thou, wretched fool, had ne'er My glory sought.

Woe be unto me, my Lord and my God!
Purge every evil thought and every plot
As I have sinned greatly, Lord, in Thy eyes.
Forgive my iniquities and my lies
Within Thy temple, divine and holy...
Renew, Lord, a right spirit within me.
Soli Deo Gloria! – my earnest cry
And, Lord, may my soul-life Thou crucify.
Let no vain glories remain; only dost
Now proclaim, “Hosanna in the highest!”

Woe unto thee, Pharisee, hypocrite!
To sea and land to make one proselyte;
And when he becometh one, thou make him
Twice as worse, and his future twice as grim.
Thou preach the gospel to gain a beachhead
That men may see thy zealousness instead!
Hypocrite! Thou irreverent creature!
Only caring for thy selfish stature!
Where then justice, mercy, and faithfulness?
Do them and the others in completeness.

O Yahweh, my Father God, Almighty,
Unto the uttermost I had failed Thee.
Where, O God, did this prideful self come from?
Despicable acts I considered norm!
May I witness Thee according to Thee,
For Thy kingdom, Thy church and not for me.
And do justice, mercy, and faithfulness,
And depart from a life of lawlessness –
May the tablets be inscribed in my heart,
That I may have in righteousness a part.

Woe unto thee, thou hypocrite and scribe!
For thou indulge in extortion and bribe.
Thou cleanse the dish and cup on the outside,
But full of filth and sin on the inside.
Wash first the inside of the dish and cup,
Next the outside shall also be cleaned up.
But thou, as always, in stubborn pretense
Will allow not thy heart with water cleanse.
Hence I shall visit thy iniquities
And my wrath upon thee shall never cease!

I am just a sinner, worthy of death!
Guilty of choosing and treading this path;
A disdainful glutton and debauchee,
Blinded by self-deceit and much envy.
And feigning godliness on the outside
Yet in abominable sins abide.
Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me,
I pray, open my eyes that I may see;
Shine on me that I may walk in Thy light
And, Lord, save me from my pitiful plight.

Woe unto thee! Thou scribe and Pharisee,
Hypocrite! Tell Me, who shall rescue thee,
Thou whited sepulchre, how beautiful
In outward appearance, yet within full
Of dead men’s bones, and of uncleanesses?
Depart from Me, worker of lawlessness,
For I, the Lord, does not recognise thee;
Though thou dost appear righteous and holy
But thou, scribe, art filled with hypocrisy
For thy wish, hope and goal is self-glory.

O Lord, God Almighty, the King of kings;
Thy voice I heard and in my ears they ring,
That with grave unrighteousness I am filled,
And the life-tree had for long from me sealed.
Rightly have Thou spoken concerning me:
I am entombed in infidelity.
Who, then, shall deliver me from this path?
For I have sinned and its wages are death!
Create in me a clean heart and renew
A right spirit in me for Thee to fill.

Thy final woe, blind scribe, woe unto thee!
Thou murdered My prophets mercilessly.
As they thou slaughter and their graves thou built,
Where is thy sense of justice and of guilt?
Yet thou will declare with misplaced boldness:
“We shall never be fellow partakers
Of the blood of the prophets whom our
Fathers killed; not even my own father.”
Serpents! Brood of vipers! How then shall thou
Escape the judgement of Gehenna now?

With what shall I ease my conscience, dear Lord
For I scourged and killed the prophets of God.
Thou sent Thy prophets here to plant the seed
Yet to their – Thy words – I never took heed.
Although with my mouth I adorn their graves;
Yet my heart their deaths doeth secretly craves
That I their voices may thus extinguish
That my joy in sin shan’t ever finish
O Lord, what a wretched person I am!
Cleanse me wholly with the blood of the Lamb.

Eirenei humin, for thou repented.
Have faith for I bought thee with My own blood.
I will cure thee from sinful condition
And fellowship in full restoration.
Rejoice, all ye angels, and be merry!
Yea, for My son has now return to me.
He who was dead and is alive again;
Was lost but now in My bosom remain.
Take courage, My child, thy faith hath healed thee,
Thy sins forgiven and take rest in Me.

Steven Foong, 23rd January 2002.