6. On the Bridges in the Christ-Song: The Interruptions

6. On the Bridges in the Christ-Song: The Interruptions.

“The Lord is the Song!”  (Genesis 15:2; Psalm 118:14; Isaiah 12:2).

The Song with a Body. There are a few ways to understand this recurring biblical passage… The Lord is the reason I sing. The Lord is Who I love to sing about. The Lord is the object of my singing. The Lord is Who we sing to. The Lord is the one Who inspires our singing. I sing because of the Lord, in honor of the Lord, in obedience to the Lord. Many translations put this verse as saying, “The Lord is my song.” But biblical scholars say that this passage could just as correctly be translated as, “The Lord is The song,” or even, “The Lord is the song of God.”

Jesus is The Song. So this important piece of Scripture captures the imagination as it makes clear that… Jesus Himself IS the Song. Christ is the divine song with flesh on. He embodies the Song of the universe. Jesus is God’s Song to the world. The life of Christ is itself a Song. The Christ-Song is a perfectly constructed piece of eternal music in the flesh. Just as a song is the composer’s method of self-expression, Jesus is God’s perfect and ultimate form of Self-expression. As our Savior, Jesus is the Song of Salvation. As the Redeemer, He is the Song of Redemption. As the Deliverer, He is the Song of Deliverance. As the Wonderful Counselor, He is the Song of Wisdom. As the Prince of Peace, He is the Song of Shalom.

Another I AM? Might we be so bold as to add another I AM to John’s gospel list? I AM the Song. The Lord is my song, He is The Song. This idea makes it practically sacramental. Christ’s claim, I Am the Bread of Life, for example, was fulfilled in the Eucharist when we literally welcome the Bread of Life, the broken body of Jesus, into our very being. Likewise, when we sing the Song of Jesus, when we participate in Jesus as the Song, He becomes a part of us, body, soul and mind. The Christ-Song is the spiritual music in our lives.

The Infinity of the Song. Just as music, God’s greatest gift to mankind and the very language of heaven, has an infinite number of possibilities, the Christ-Song has an infinite number of styles, applications, qualities, moods. So it makes sense that the life and mission of Jesus can be explored by taking a careful look at the elements of a song. To study the aspects of the Christ-Song in the Gospels begs us to explore the elements of a song, any song. Hopefully, this study of the elements of the Christ-Song will make Him unforgettable, much like When words are put to music, they become unforgettable. When the living Word becomes the lyrics to a song, much the same happens. Hopefully, embracing Jesus Christ as the Song will make Him unforgettable as well. The elements of the Christ-Song can be explored through the ten elements of any song, including the bridges:

“And when they had crossed over to the other side of the lake, they landed at Gennesaret and tied up there. As soon as they came ashore, the people recognized Jesus and rushed all over the countryside and began to carry the sick around on their beds to wherever they heard that he was. Wherever he went, in villages or towns or farms, they laid down their sick right in the road-way and begged him that they might “just touch the edge of his cloak”. And all those who touched him were healed.” (Mark 6:55-56).

Interruptions are the Bridges Composed by God. It’s easy to forget that Jesus had a Ministry of Interruptions. Most of His miracles seem to have been done during His countless interruptions as He went from one place to another. These interruptions served as the breaks between all those profound verses and choruses in His Christ-Song. Yes, those interruptions seemed to halt whatever continuity He had in his life. But then again, did His life have any continuity? Whatever rhythm His life had was constantly being redirected. His Christ-Song had so many changes of pace and tempo, that one wonders if these interruptions were bridges between the verses in His Song or if they actually were the Song! Perhaps the interruptions Jesus welcomed were actually the main point of His ministry, His Christ-Song. All those random detours in His ministry were embraced by Jesus as sacred moments, and not a nuisance, and of course were not random in the least. As Frederick Buechner wrote in his Book of Bebb: “I have a feeling it’s the in-between times, the times that narratives leave out, and that the memory in general loses track of, which are the times when souls are saved or lost.”

There were times when Jesus was interrupted during the interruptions! Some of those interruptions include:

1. While preaching in Peter’s house in Capernaum, a paralyzed man was lowered through a hole in the roof. Of course, Jesus was quick to forgive and heal this man in honor of the faith of his friends (Mark 2);
2. While enjoying dinner at the home of a leading Pharisee, a woman of ill repute barged into the dining room, interrupted His meal, and proceeded to anoint the feet of Christ out of repentance. Naturally, the woman was healed and forgiven, while the self-righteous Pharisee was not (Luke 7).
3. While reaching out to a crowd, the leader of a synagogue forced his way to the front and asked Jesus to accompany him home to his sick daughter so Jesus could heal her. While on the way to Jairus’ house, He was interrupted by a desperate woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She touched His prayer shawl, and she was healed. Jesus proceeded to Jairus’ house and raised his daughter from the dead (Mark 5).
4. While heading full-steam towards Jericho, the blind man Bartimaeus stopped Jesus in His tracks and asked to be healed. Of course, Jesus halted His journey long enough to heal him without a hitch (Mark 10);
5. While seeking a private place to grieve John the Baptist’s death, He was confronted by a needy crowd who practically demanded that He heal them all. Naturally, He stopped and healed them without a hint of irritation. (Matt. 14:13-14).
6. While taking a leisurely stroll with His disciples towards the village of Nain, Jesus witnesses the tragic funeral procession of a young man. He saw the situation and couldn’t help but respond for the sake of the desperate mother, and He raised that young man from the dead. (Luke 7);
7. While journeying through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples are confronted on the road by ten lepers asking to be healed. Without breaking stride, He simply looked at them with compassion and healed them right on the spot. Then, nonplussed, they just kept walking down the road. (Luke 17);
8. While praying in agony to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, a mob led by the traitor judas arrived to demand Jesus to identify Himself. He did so, and thus begins the Passion of Christ. (John 18).

The Gospels are full of other heaven-sent interruptions that Jesus welcomed. One NT scholar estimated that there were as many as 35 interruptions in the first three chapters in the Gospel of Mark alone! It turns out that Christ’s agenda was to be interrupted! His to-do list was to be constantly detoured. The bridges of the Christ-Song were kairos moments, opportunities that presented themselves to Him in the fullness of time. Interruptions were accepted as timely moments for the Lord to sing His Song of compassion, mercy, patience, and grace. With Christ, He didn’t worry about whatever project He was working on. Mere efficiency of His time wasn’t even close to a concern of His.

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own’, or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life – the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination.” (The Letters of C.S. Lewis).