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Jesus and Music

 

Was Jesus tone deaf?
Could he not hold a note?
Was he a puritan?

These are just some of the questions that members of the HODOS online community found themselves exploring at the end of February 2003.

The unexpected discussion thread sprang from one person's comments on the value of "the God who Sings" as a window into the Sacred. It was then noted that none of the extant sayings attributed to Jesus make use of music, or musical instruments.

Why this surprising silence? Could it be that in the beginning was the Word, but no music?

What follows is a collage of the relevant messages extracted from the HODOS archives to create a more readable set of reflections.

 

February 24, 2003:

[Greg Jenks writes]

Your description of the God who sings as a life-giving symbol for the Sacred strikes a chord with me. I also find song a wonderful way to explore and affirm meaning, although these days I am much more selective about the songs that I am able to sing.

< ... >

So how about a song?

Next Sunday we are baptizing 2 babies, both little girls called Charlotte who were born in November. I have gone out of my way to give members of the families roles in the Sunday liturgy so that it genuinely becomes an event owned by them. (Hopefully that will also speak eloquently against the regulars who complain about "the baptism people" as if they are some other tribe, which in a sense they are.)

One of the songs we shall be using is The Summons. Maybe it is a song we can both sing?

The Summons [John L. Bell, b. 1949]

Will you come and follow me, if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know, and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known?
Will you let my life be grown in you, and you in me?

Will you leave your self behind, if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind, and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare, should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you, and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see, if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free, and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen?
And admit to what I mean in you, and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide, if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside, and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around?
Through my sight and touch and sound in you, and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true, when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you, and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go, where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you, and you in me.

Used with Permission. Word of Life International – Licence No 2045

[Bob MacDonald writes]

I think I like that title.

I have sung for 50 years now in the Anglican Church - various places. My liturgical essays began out of a desire to see the younger singers know something of the ancient tradition. (If you start - best to start at the bottom - intro.) There are lots of songs there.

I did not learn enough of faith from singing alone - but that's another story

< ... >

Thanks for the hymn - trusting that One to call; trusting myself to respond respectfully yet with the radical understanding of his reconciling death; in the reality of the Spirit; sometimes a bit frightening - not predictable.

[Kathy Goll-Derstine wrote]

Thanks to Rachel of Gloucestershire for the lovely reference to the God who sings. I, too, seem to be wired to hear the sacred in that way. Like many of us? For ex., a tune pops up in my head, subconsciously, and when I take time to listen to it, I find it’s telling me something I need to hear.

Greg, I really enjoyed the “The Summons” so I am glad you referenced the tune. That and the rain will make a very nice baptism. I love the Iona Community! I’ve been involved in performances of several of their arrangements of sacred music from around the world.

 

February 25, 2003:

[Dennis Carpemnter writes]

Kathy, Greg, all,

I almost think the opening of this will be seen as flippant, but it's not meant to be. When I began the journey into the spirit as opposed to "going to church," it was the music of Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead and others, Johnny Winter, Brian Wilson, Roland Kirk, Muddy Waters, that sent me in that direction. After I got so sick last winter, the first thing I did for my recovery (because I was too weak to garden at the time), was spend a couple of hours daily playing the guitar, the piano, the mandolin. As a matter of fact, it is time to play right now. Music really helped me, I think, heal as rapidly as I did.

[Kathy Goll-Derstine replies]

Dennis,
I know this is starting to get off topic for this group, but wanted to say Amen to the healing power of music, wherever you find it (I dig most of those guys too!). And I found much of my healing, within and without the church, thru music. Generally speaking, I think the stuff for the so-called secular market is better. The so-called “Christian music” market too often suffers from over earnestness. Among other things. Didn’t know you played! Cool! Just got a new (used) Martin guitar tonite myself—I’m off.
Tunefully yours,
Kathy

[Greg Jenks writes]

Kathy and Dennis:

Thank you for these contributions. In my book they are not "off topic" even if they do not directly address this week's specific cluster. I may try my hand at a further reflection on the Fishnet shortly.

Alongside each week's main serve of HJ tradition, we also enjoy side dishes such as this exploration of the part music plays in our lives.

Actually, your posts got me wondering about why music plays so little -- if any -- part in the community's memories of Jesus. I cannot recall any parables or other sayings that make use of music, nor can I recall any stories that make mention of music.

For example, I can think of no Jesus saying that parallels this quatrain from Rumi:

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Or this:

For sixty years I have been forgetful,
every minute, but not for a second
has this flowing toward me stopped or slowed.
I deserve nothing. Today I recognize
that I am the guest the mystics talk about.
I play this living music for my Host.
Everything today is for the Host.

Can anyone think of a musical Jesus tradition?

What do we make of the silence?

Greg

[Marie cameron wrote]

I think this is a fascinating thread.

Just for Bob and any other non-Aussies, there is a program on our national classical music radio network here in Australia on Sunday mornings called "For the God who Sings". The very knowledgeable presenter, who is and has been a member of various choirs, plays some wonderful religious music (of the Christian variety).

Greg, you have raised a really interesting point that I've never thought about before. But as a muso, good music has always been vital to my life (including my religious practice). I need to think about this and will get back to hodos if I have any thoughts or insights!

Marie

[Kathy Goll-Derstine]

Greg,

I’m glad you feel that way, and glad you posed the question, where is all the music in the Jesus movement? Cuz I had asked myself just that, when trying to find a way to make this topic directly relevant to the HJ. I know there is LOTS of music and dancing mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. And since HJ was supposedly such a partier, I’m assuming even if he couldn’t carry a tune (and I hope he could; I’d like to think HJ wasn’t tone deaf), he hung with folks who could and did. I also assume music was a part of every day life in a traditional 1st cent village like HJ’s. But I don’t have specific evidence to back it up. Certainly occasions such as weddings, banquets, funerals, and the Sabbath would include music.

Kathy

February 26, 2003

[Bob macDonald wrote]

Music in the NT tradition seems rare indeed.

It is there in the Psalms and the prophets (e.g. Isaiah 35)

Matthew 26:30 and parallel Mark 14:26 - And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

Ephesians and Colossians mention hymns. (And of the primary Pauline tradition, Philippians has a hymn quoted; and the use of tongues is very musical - at least in my experience.)

Revelation is the most musical - liturgical in the extreme with the doxologies punctuating the chaistic macro structure (see a color coded study I am working on - fun but not too revealing yet). Given these are part of the posited pre-70 parts of Revelation (per Aune), it suggests that the community sang new songs. For me, Revelation tells about the death of Christ. I don't put it off into the future as the popular books do - its violence is against the Lamb and only supports non-violent resistance - witness and endurance. a lesson for all times

[Don Randall writes]

Greg, an interesting question indeed. Which for me triggers more questions:

1. Do the Dead Sea Scrolls give us any information regarding the Essenes and music? Apocalyptic sects past and present often value (if not practice) asceticism and piety that frowns on pleasuring the senses--at least most of them, food is usually excluded. Since our NT is the product of apocalyptic communities, it may be that music actually wasn't a part of their gatherings. If so, this could be another instance in which the canon is unfaithful to HJ.

2. I learned as a kid that the difference between us (Disciples of Christ) and the Church of Christ was that they did not allow musical instruments to be used in their services. Maybe someone who knows more about the Church of Christ denomination can comment on this. Were musical instruments considered "unBiblical?"

[Greg Jenks]

Don:

Yes, we do seem to have stumbled across a fascinating set of issues.

If Jesus was such an inveterate party animal, and so different from the ascetical JBap, why is he not remembered as enjoying song and dance (not to mention "wine" and "women," to complete the trilogy)? And why do some of our instincts even recoil at the suggestion of Jesus enjoying "wine, women and song?"

Cash flow may be part of the answer, as budget constraints can limit one's capacity to enjoy such pleasures.

Yet it remains the case (I think) that the Jesus tradition does not have any items where Jesus is remembered as enjoying such pleasures, or whether the aesthetic dimension of such pastimes is used for instruction.

The tradition does have some anti-female elements, although mostly in material judged not to be authentic.

In the Prodigal Son, the key character wastes his money on "loose living" but this is not defined as involving music and dancing girls, despite the rhetoric of generations of monks and preachers. Whose agenda were they revealing?

If -- as Jesus Seminar orthodoxy holds to be the case -- Jesus dined and wined his way across Galilee, exchanging witty discourse for a good meal and convivial company, why does his remembered teaching not make use of music (and other aesthetic pleasures)?

Did he see them, like traditional family ties, as an impediment to full entry into God's commonwealth?

Banquets and feasts figure in Jesus' teaching as symbols of blessing, and they would also be excluded by budget constraints. So maybe something other than poverty and lack of opportunity is at work here.

While Temple and synagogue ritual used music, it is not clear how deeply Jesus was able to participate in such events. Bruce Chilton (Rabbi Jesus) suggests that Jesus would have been excluded from village rituals and also from the Temple, as a mamzer (someone whose parentage or conception was irregular).

With the exception of the (?? unhistorical ??) Last Supper tradition with its hymn prior to departing for Gethsemane, there remains the loud silence of the extant Jesus tradition.

Not a single proverb about the God who sings?

The Essene community seems to have valued singing, and the large Hymn Scroll (1QH) is powerful testimony to their continued composition of songs.

The post-Easter Christian communities, at least the Christ Cult that Paul was a part of, was familiar with psalms, songs, and various musical instruments.

Skipping ahead ca 1800 years<!!>, my understanding of the controversy over the use of organs in the chapels of the Campbellites, was at least partly due to the instrument being seen as a "worldly pleasure" because of its popularity in the theater. As I recall, the organ became a visible symbol for other underlying divisions over a range of other issues among the "Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ" people.

Maybe someone else here is more in touch with those issues than you and I are these days?

Curiouser and curiouser, methinks?

 

February 27, 2003

[Marie Cameron]

I've thought about this one, and haven't come up with anything terribly profound. Just a few thoughts:

* As Jesus was a worshipping Jew, he would no doubt have participated in whatever the music was - singing Psalms, etc - in synagogue worship, even if, as Greg says, he wasn't welcome in the Temple.

* Maybe Jesus wasn't a musical person! Why do we have to expect the historical Jesus to be perfect in every way, when he was human? The places where he did most of his teaching and healing probably did not conduce to breaking forth into music, anyway. Most of his followers may have been too poor to own musical instruments. Jesus did things his way - and the opportunity, and perhaps the ability, to use music were not present.

* All of this does not mean that we cannot enjoy our music! There is music that is truly divine, that transports me to union with the Divine, not all of it overtly religious. For me, it is the music of Bach, Mozart and Messiaen (among others), and Faure's "Requiem", which forms part of what I think of as Heaven. I cannot conceive of any sort of ongoing existence without this music. And after all, Jesus in his earthly life did not have the opportunity to become familiar with any of these great composers (poor fellow!) If he had, maybe he would have been more overtly musical...!!

Fortunately, I know that Hodosians will not have me burnt for flippancy and heresy in speaking about Jesus.

Marie

[Greg Jenks replies]

Marie:

I think one of the good things about this unexpected thread is that it is flushing out some of our unexamined assumptions about Jesus, as well as highlighting how much most of us seem to find music a valued part of our
spiritual exercises.

Your middle paragraph is especially important, it seems to me. Why do we portray Jesus in superlatives? Most sweet, most pure, most gentle, most holy, most ... Such descriptions are driven by devotion, not by any historical memory of the person's character, actions, teachings, etc.

So maybe he could not hold a note, although since Easter the heavenly choirs of angels have doubtless done their best to rectify that shortcoming in the Holy One. <g>

My hunch is that poverty would not have excluded music from Jesus' experience, since some of the best songs come from the most oppressed people.

To the extent that he was "a worshipping Jew," Jesus would have participated in corporate singing, processions, etc. As a mamzer he may not even have been allowed to participate in the local village prayer circles on Sabbath eve, but he would still have heard the tunes and his body would have moved to the rhythms.

Yet, he is not remembered as ever using musical themes in his aphorisms and parables. Odd. Thought-provoking

Mind you, as a supposed carpenter and son of a carpenter (or what ever "teknon" is supposed to mean), it is also strange that he has so few -- if any -- aphorisms and parables that draw their inspiration from his own direct experience with timber and stone, nail and mortar, hammer and chisel. Another unexpected silence from the great wordsmith!

In the beginning was the Word, but there was no music ... ?

That surely cannot be true, even if it is historically accurate!

Greg

[Don Randall replies]

Marie, personally I like to think of Jesus as playing jazz lute (or whatever stringed instrument those Galileans had). And you know me, if I think it then it must be true! <g>

Greg, HJ taught 1-3 years or longer. How much teaching did he produce in that time? Assuming, as most of us do, that some of it was accurately preserved, how much of his total teaching is represented? 1%? 5%? 10%?

The nice thing about seeing HJ as just one of many enlightened Teachers, is that you don't have to rely on his teaching alone. You can view it as just a part of the package of Spirit wisdom given to us by many masters.

[Jeff writes]

Hi all,

Actually, it pleases me a lot to think of Jesus as someone who really couldn't carry a tune but who sang anyway. I've known people who don't sing "well" but who feel the need to let it fly just the same and they always make me feel quite happy when I'm around them. Maybe it's the lack of shame or inhibition. It's just that they don't judge themselves too harshly and so I know they will extend the same courtesy to me.

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