I have been a music lover for as long as I can remember. There were many nights in my pre-teen and adolescent years when I would drift off to sleep with the transistor radio next to my ear listening to top 40 music such as The Beatles, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, etc. As much as I’ve always loved music, you would think I would have become a musician of some kind or least a vocalist. Singing in the church youth choir was the closest I ever got.
I’ve always loved singers and musicians who wrote and performed their own music – poets and storytellers especially. Their music moves beyond the ears and touches the soul. Recently, I began to pull up some music I used to listen to over 25 years ago. One in particular was a songwriter/singer named Bob Bennett who became popular in the Contemporary Christian music genre during the early Eighties. His music always touched a deep place in me that few others could. On my way to work one morning I pulled up one of my all-time favorite Bob Bennett songs. After I pulled into my parking space and turned off the car, I had to sit there for a couple of minutes to compose myself. I completely lost it while listening to “Man of the Tombs.” Here are the lyrics:
Man of the tombs.
He lives in a place where no one goes
And he tears at himself
And lives with a pain that no one knows.
He counts himself dead among the living.
He knows no mercy and no forgiving.
Deep in the night he’s driven to cry out loud
Can you hear him cry out loud?
Man of the tombs
Possessed by an unseen enemy.
He breaks every chain and mistakes his freedom for being free
Shame and shamelessness equally there
Like the random toss of a coin in the air.
Man of the tombs he’s driven to cry out loud
Underneath this thing that I’ve become
A fading memory of flesh and blood.
I curse the womb, I bless the grave
I’ve lost my heart,
I cannot be saved.
Like those who fear me, I’m afraid.
Like those I’ve hurt, I can feel pain.
Naked now before my sin
And these stones that cut against my skin.
Some try to touch me but no one can
For man of the tombs I am.
Down at the shoreline
Two sets of footprints meet.
One voice is screaming
The other voice begins to speak.
In only a moment and only a word
The evil departs like a thundering herd.
Man of the tombs he hears this cry out loud
“Underneath this thing that you’ve become
I see a man of flesh and blood
I give you life beyond the grave
I heal your heart I come to save
No need to fear, be not afraid
This man of sorrows knows your pain.
I come to take away your sin and bear its marks upon My skin.
When no one can touch you, still I can
For Son of God I am.”
Dressed now and seated
Clean in spirit healthy of mind.
Man of the tombs, he begs to follow,
But must stay behind.
He’ll return to his family with stories to tell
Of mercy and madness,
Of heaven and hell.
Man of the tombs
Soon he will cry out loud
“Underneath this thing that I once was
Now I’m a man of flesh and blood!
I have a life beyond the grave
I found my heart I can now be saved!
No need to fear, I am not afraid
This Man of sorrows took my pain.
He comes to take away our sin
And bear its marks upon His skin.
I’m telling you this story because
Man of the tombs I was.
You can find this story in Luke 8:26-36.
In the past few years we have seen and heard news of heinous acts of mass murder committed by men who have been described as “monsters”, “sickos”, and “cowards.” I can remember a time in my life, not too many years ago, when upon hearing of acts like these, I called for the damnation and destruction of men such as these.
Something has changed in me. I no longer feel hatred and rage toward men such as the Las Vegas shooter and the Sutherland Springs, Tx. killer. I’ve been arrested by the words of Jesus, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…”
When I heard about the church shooting last Sunday, I was overcome with sadness and immediately prayed for the families and the survivors. That was easy.
Then I prayed for the family of the man who shot them all. That wasn’t as easy, but as I chose to, I felt myself being enabled by the grace of God.
These last few days I’ve been overwhelmed with the sense that we, the Body of Christ, can prevent these sort of thing from happening in the future. No, this has nothing to do with the “let’s all carry guns to church” movement going on. Please. We can prevent these things from happening by doing it the Jesus way. What if these shooters had encountered Jesus through one of us just as the “man of the tombs” did?
May you be arrested by the words of Jesus.
Kevin