In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that a certain O.O. and S.M. made a difference in my life.
"From O.O., I learned to map the events of the life of Jesus onto my own life, and live them over again united with him. This reinforced the lesson of the song 'Go to Dark Gethsemane' as sung by S.M. on a beloved Indelible Grace album, a long-ago gift from W.G."
Here is where I explain what that means.
O.O. is Oliver O'Donovan, the British theologian. In the second-edition prologue to Resurrection and Moral Order, he says:
Granting this axiom, that Christian thought will be concerned with all the moments of the Christ-event and all the moments will shape the lives of Christians, what can be said for the particular significance of the resurrection?
- The Christian life takes its beginning in the act of faith, an act which renders all other acts comparatively indifferent; this corresponds to the advent moment.
- The Christian life involves obedient suffering in the pattern of Christ’s own suffering.
- It confers the power of prayer and prophecy under the authority of Christ’s eternal throne.
All these are included when we speak of our ‘conformity’ to Christ. Yet when we think quite specifically about Christian action we have to single out the resurrection moment which vindicates the creation into which our actions can be ventured with intelligibility. In action the integrity of the world order is supposed, and that integrity is answered for by the empty tomb, where God has stood by the life he made and has not allowed it to be brought to nothing.
(The bullet point formatting is my addition.)
O'Donovan is saying that each moment in Jesus' life is meant to shape our lives as we live in union with Him, especially the resurrection. And we could see something similar in passages like Romans 6, about being united with Christ in His death and resurrection.
Now let's see that song. Turns out the lyrics were written by James Montgomery in 1825, and the new tune on the Indelible Grace V album was by Kevin Twit, but the lead singer on the recording I heard was Sandra McCracken (S.M.). The album was a gift to my family by Will Gilmore (W.G.), probably around 2008. I used to listen to the CD over and over again in the car.
1. Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power
Your Redeemer's conflict see, watch with Him one bitter hour
Turn not from His griefs away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray
2. See Him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned
O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; learn of Christ to bear the cross
Learn of Christ to bear the cross
3. Calvary's mournful mountain climb; there, adoring at His feet
Mark that miracle of time, God's own sacrifice complete
"It is finished!" hear Him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die
Learn of Jesus Christ to die
4. Early hasten to the tomb where they laid His breathless clay
All is solitude and gloom. Who has taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes; Savior, teach us so to rise
Savior, teach us so to rise
Notice in the lyrics above that the last line is always repeated, and when I'm listening to the recording in the car, many of the lyrics are too quiet or quick to catch, except for the first and last lines of each verse.
This has made me meditate more and more on the last lines of the verses:
- Learn of Jesus Christ to pray
- Learn of Christ to bear the cross
- Learn of Jesus Christ to die
- Savior, teach us so to rise
As I think about our human agency, at the end of the first verse, it sounds like I learn to pray by imitating Jesus. This makes me start to think that the song is about being "good" by doing what Jesus did as a great moral example... true enough, but not enough to make us truly good.
Then, in the second verse, we are told to "learn of Christ to bear the cross", and I start to think that life will be harder than I anticipated. Does this mean dying to my desires for comfort and self-will, and doing hard things? Enduring persecution and hardship? Yes to all of that? And yet "bear" reminds me of Jesus inviting us to wear his "easy" yoke.
In the third verse, we are supposed to "learn of Jesus Christ to die". Sounds suicidal, unless it means dying of old age. Is this theological gerontology? Hospice care for believers? Does it again mean dying to my desires? Or submitting to the consequences of persecution for Christ's sake? How do I learn something like this? Is dying something you can practice? I'm starting to think the original mimetic learning idea has strayed far afield...
Then finally in the fourth verse, it suddenly switches addressee, and asks the Savior to "teach us so to rise", that is, "teach us to rise just like you did". But how does one learn to rise from the dead? This kind of teaching leaves a mushroom cloud over my brain, and in the fallout I think I hear that Christ's particular kind of teaching teaches us in ways that empower us to do things we couldn't before, even supernaturally by Holy Spirit power -- such as to literally rise from the dead at the end of the age, and before that, to live as though our old self and old way of life is no longer us.
This kind of teaching is very peculiar. Are we copying, learning, following, or being lifted up by a power beyond us? Yes to all of that again?
Let's learn to love the mystery.
