9. The Genres and Styles of the Christ-Song in the Gospels
9. The Genres and Styles of the Christ-Song in the Gospels.
“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 genres and styles of the Christ-Song found in the Gospels:
The Genre and Style. Through all the ups and downs of Jesus’ life, what styles of music did His Song contain in His ministry? With the profound variety of situations, moods, actions in Christ’s life, was there one musical language He sang, or were there any number of musical styles that He represented during His time on earth? Music has an infinite number of possible genres, and so the styles of the Christ-Song can be expressed in profoundly different ways. He sang the blues in Gethsemane, didn’t He? He aggressively barked out hardcore punk as He went all anti-authoritarian in clearing out the Temple, right? Maybe we should explore a soundtrack of the various styles of the Christ-Song and in the process be better able to understand the life of Christ.
The Divine Live Wire. Speaking of Jesus, in our “spiritual” moments we are tempted to see him blandly floating a foot or two off the ground while in the flesh. But of course He didn’t. His feet firmly planted on the ground, He had authentic human personality. The Gospels seem to suggest that He was a far cry from a predictable Yahweh-in-a-box. Instead, Christ was somewhat of a divine eccentric, idiosyncratic, and probably something of a puzzle for those who were trying to typecast the Messiah. As very God, He was the King of Glory. As very man, He was the Pioneer of live wires, and as human as it gets. Jesus was the holiest of holy fools, and one wonders what that would sound like, what genres would represent such a mystery.
The Holy Fool. The Father composed the completely unique Christ-Song before the foundation of the world. It was a New Song then, and it certainly was a New Song on earth, and it will continue to be a one-of-a-kind New Song in everlasting life with Him. The Father said to the Son before creation, I want you to be in the flesh, on the earth, God to the rescue, and singing my Song every second of the day. Did the Father send the Son on a fool’s errand? Maybe, if you mean holy fool. In His heavenly wisdom, Jesus played the earthly fool many times over… He was accurately accused of associating with the unclean, the sexually immoral, with gluttons and winos. At times He was considered out of His mind, or filled with the devil, or of being unbiblical. The Word being unbiblical? Foolishly, it seemed, Jesus invested His life and mission in a handful of zealots, fishermen, a hated tax collector, and a betraying thief. Foolishly, He volunteered to surrender to the unjust authorities, and He followed that up by submitting to torturous death at their hands. Throughout His life, Jesus presented Himself as the long-expected Messiah, the fulfillment of Scripture, the eternal Son of the God of Israel. Foolish. So in terms of everyone’s perception of Him, did Jesus ever appear foolish? Yes, very much so. But He was never shy about being a fool for the Father. Can we even venture a guess about the genres of this Christ-Song?
The Divine Extremist. The Christ-Song was the fleshing out of His personality, and it could not possibly be typecast into a typical handful of genres. Jesus was a seemingly inconsistent bundle of extreme qualities. He would ignore His mother, berate the religious, forgive the adulterous, befriend the compromised rip-off artist, kiss His betrayer, stare down a storm, call His most faithful apprentice a name from hell, weep at a death, tend bar at a wedding reception, whip the tar out of unwelcome moneychangers, hug the children, touch the untouchables, have scary duels with demonic spirits, and welcome the lepers and lunatics. Even Jesus’ own family considered him a little crazy at one point. What musical genres could fit with those lyrics?
Styles with the Titles? Even His wide variety of names and titles could be represented by any number of genres and musical styles… He was easy to describe, and impossible to define. Some of His descriptive handles were Rose of Sharon, Lion of Judah, Lamb of God, Morning Star, Stone of Stumbling, Root of David, Lilly of the Valley, Great Shepherd, Suffering Servant, Cornerstone, Man of Sorrows, Alpha and Omega, Bread of Life, Living Water, Bridegroom, Captain, Rabbi. Jesus seemed partial to Son of Man, a sort of Mr. Everyman, a Mr. One of Y’all. Jesus Christ, Y’shua Messiah… a misunderstood court jester by most onlookers as He juggled grace and truth. Any genre suggestions here?
Unpredictable. The genres of the Christ-Song would have to include His unpredictable moods and emotions. When Jesus was tender, He seemed to almost wilt. When He was angry, there was a scary flash of fire in His eyes. He was openly grieving and weeping at a friend’s death, even when He knew that friend would soon come back to life. He could be abrupt and even a little rude when He felt like it, and yet He had all the time in the world for a free-loving woman at a Samarian well. And He often aroused those same extremes in others. In fact, He started His ministry by igniting His hometown with flammable speech straight from the Word; He continued it by answering serious questions with bewildering stories which often bordered on the comic; and close to the end, He irked His accusers with unflappable silence. Throughout His life on earth, His version of sainthood was never sanctimonious and practically always earthy. Christ’s version of God-talk proved to be a whole different version than ours.
The Juggler. Is it even possible to nail down a particular sound in the Christ-Song, knowing that in the earliest days of His earthly life, Jesus was a Savior fetus in a teenager’s womb? Or that then soon enough He was a God who wet diapers, a Co-Creator needing to be burped, the Lord of the universe nursing at His mother’s breast? And then, a few years later, He was the heavenly King with seared flesh and punctured scalp, passively facing mockery and torture. Is there a musical genre that would capture which of those two mysteries, the Manger Messiah or the Dead God, are the most incomprehensible and scandalous? We have to say that, in both those cases, this Man Jesus seemed to be a helpless fool to the unknowing. Fortunately, His last juggling act, of life and death, brought the house down, and went from the most mournful of blues to the jauntiest of Dixieland jazz. And better yet, Jesus is promising a triumphant encore of the Christ-Song for the Ages that we will die to see.
A Possible Soundtrack to the Christ-Song. Maybe we should give this genre exercise a game attempt. Let’s say we want to assign a musical style to each verse of the Christ-Song, a genre that might even come close to expressing various aspects of His life and ministry. Will this be a soundtrack of steady rhythm, predictable pace, smooth sanctimony and sweet sentiment? Not in the least. Instead… We would embrace the pure power of a Pavarotti one minute and the rough texture of a Springsteen the next; the silk and honey of James Taylor, then the earthy growl of Tom Waits; the chamber quartet of the Annunciation; the Baroque exuberance of the angel choir above Bethlehem; the lilting lullaby of Mother Mary that filled the stable; the mournful lament after Herod’s slaughter of the innocents; the boisterous heavy metal of the Baptist’s voice in the wilderness, followed by his hopeful African-American spiritual in his lonely prison cell; the tender ballad of the Father at His Son’s baptism; the outlaw country sounds on Temptation mountain; the Celtic fiddle of the father’s feast for the returning prodigal; the joyful bluegrass of the crowd as Christ the healer brings hope to the hurting; the DJ scratchings of Jesus’ judgments of woe on the Pharisees; the confident salsa of the Seventy upon their return to Jesus; the thoughtful Americana folk of Christ blessing the children; the buoyant South African drumbeat of the healed leper’s dance; the choral glory of the Transfiguration; the angry hardcore punk of Jesus whipping the businessmen out of the Temple; the jaunty, upbeat Dixieland jazz as Lazarus marches out of his tomb; the jukebox pop of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem; the anguished, bluesy riff worthy of Gethsemane; the soulful rhythm and blues of Christ’s last words on the Cross; the high-energy gospel praise of the empty tomb; the mellow reggae groove of Christ’s beachside breakfast; the soft whisperings of the jazz flute as the risen Jesus breathes peace on His disciples; the High Church chant of the Ascension. And rockabilly would work for a back-country Nazarene, right? The infinite varieties of music match up well with the infinite variations of experiences contained within the Christ-Song. What better ways could there be to express the life and personality of Jesus?