菠萝视频

Come Join the Chorus

Music has been an integral part of my life since the day I was born. Choral music in particular. My dad had a rich baritone-bass voice and led and/or sang in choirs from junior high school until well into his 80’s. My mom still sings alto and loves to harmonize. From my earliest memories until the last family reunion, we are a family that loves to sing together.

Like many of you I sang junior high and high school choirs. The most meaningful part of my time as a college student at Olivet were the years I sang in Orpheus choir. I learned the importance of being able to sing in unison before singing in harmony; learned the necessity of hearing the person singing next to you; learned to sing/pray “Give me Jesus” and “My faith has found a resting place” and “Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” I always enjoy listening to or singing a good choir.

When I read the 15th chapter of Luke, the New Testament passage for this week, I began to think of it as a scene from a musical or opera. So, imagine with me a street setting with Jesus standing center stage. Surrounding him is a crowd of people, the text says they are “tax collectors and sinners.” (V.1) They may part of the large crowd mentioned in Luke 14 or they could have searched Jesus out because of what their neighbors told them, but there they are ready for whatever truth Jesus has to share with them. And this chorus of people are there cheering him on.

There’s a smaller group off to the right of center stage. It’s a male ensemble of 12 scribes and Pharisees who have been watching Jesus for some time. They don’t like what he has to say. They don’t like the things he does. And they don’t like the people he hangs around with. In fact, the ensemble is singing countermelodies to those sung by the crowd of tax collectors and sinners. There’s no harmony to be heard between the two groups.

Jesus steps forward, closer to the front edge of the stage, and he begins to sing a song about a shepherd and sheep and one that wanders off from the others and gets lost. We know the story. The shepherd finds the lost sheep and brings it back to the others. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me!” And they start to dance and sing, “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me!” The text says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” (7) Maybe they sing that song; maybe not, but the implication is for everyone join in with the angel choir. But over on the right side of the stage, the scribes and Pharisees continue to sing their countermelodies.

Jesus continues being the center of focus of the scene, but he moves to the left of the stage, a little further away from the scribes and Pharisees. His next song is a little more plaintive, a little more simple, sparingly describing the modest situation of a woman who has just ten silver coins, worth just 10 days wages, and she loses one of them. The scene is one of desperation, sung in a minor key, until after a diligent search the woman finds the lost coin. Then she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me!” And they start to dance and sing, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay.” The text says, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (10) Maybe they sing that song; maybe not, but – again – the implication, the invitation is for everyone to join in with the angel choir. And all the while, on the right side of the stage, the scribes and Pharisees sing on in a different key.

It's now time for the final scene in this setting before the musical moves on to other places. For dramatic effect and to get his point across, Jesus moves all the way from stage left to stage right, very close to where 12-member male ensemble has been dug in during this scene, letting everyone know that they don’t approve of the points Jesus is making with his stories.

The final story song Jesus sings in this scene is the most personal of all. It strikes a chord in the heart of every person hearing it, because they all know of someone who’s been a “lost son” or a “lost daughter.” Maybe they have been one, too. And as the master story singer continues to unfold his tale, the crowd of tax collectors and sinners move in closer and closer so they can hear how the story ends. And the same is true for the scribes and Pharisees, because they are sure that they know how the story should end, and they want to make sure it does. But as we all know, that’s not the case at all.

The father sees his boy a long way off. He runs and to him, hugging and kissing his son and weeping for joy. This time the “finder” does not wait for his friends and neighbors to celebrate. He turns his household upside down and starts the party on the spot. There’s food and drink and music and dancing. They’re blowing the top off to celebrate the return of the lost son and the joy of the father receiving him home. And then they begin to sing, “Joyful, joyful we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love. Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, Opening to the sun above.” Maybe they sing that song; maybe not, but – again, again – the implication, the invitation is for everyone to join in with the angel choir.

One more thing. We do know that the lost son’s older brother has a problem with the whole scene. He joins in with the 12-member male ensemble, singing his own special countermelody. The father invites him to enjoy the celebration, but we’re not ever sure that he does.

Allow me to suggest that the final words of the father to the other son are an implicit invitation for us to join the heavenly chorus. The father said, “We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” (31)

We are invited to join the chorus in joyful songs not only because the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son have been found. The invitation is also for us to sing praise to the God who pursues the lost sheep and seeks out the lost coin, the God that welcomes home every lost person who turns his way. They are welcomed home by the Lord of love.

So, let’s join the chorus and sing:

Joyful, Joyful we adore thee, God of Glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flowers before thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

- Dr. Alan Lyke serves as NBC Provost.