Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Parable of the Composer

Once upon a time a great composer wrote a symphony whose beauty had never been heard. The themes were timeless, the intricacy brilliant, and the structure flawless. The composer, recognizing his achievement, commissioned an orchestra to perform the piece. Upon hearing it, the players were honored to play the piece. However, upon performing it they considered their lives’ work as musicians complete. As such, they decided to indulge in drunkenness to celebrate their victory. The party was so long that the musicians were still drunk when they arrived to play the next performance the following day. The piece was played in a sloppy manner and in no way resembled the masterpiece they originally performed. The rest of the showings were cancelled due to the lack of precision required to play the piece. Upon hearing of this travesty the composer was fainthearted of knowing that his work would never again be heard. He therefore took it upon himself to take the entire orchestra into his home, sober them up, and re-teach them how to play the piece. It took several attempts and failures for the composer to realize that he himself would have to play with them in order to show the passion and beauty of his work. As the orchestra listened to him they were moved to tears at the fervor and emotion with which he played. Empowered with a new sense of purpose the orchestra endeavored to imitate his passion. It took several attempts and much time for them to re-master the piece but with the composer playing along side them they finally found within themselves the music that had eluded them. The next performance not only equaled the last but, with the composer playing the lead violin, it surpassed it in beauty, passion, and greatness. The entire country heard of it and consequently came from miles and miles around to hear the music of life.
Such is the Kingdom of God. Yahweh, the great composer, created the most beautiful and complete work in his great creation. He commissioned humanity to play this great symphony of life and taught them the music of love. However, they became drunk with corruption and could not play the music of love anymore. Try as they may they could not live life as it was written by the Great Composer. He himself had to become part of his creation, his orchestra. This we find in the person and work of Jesus the Christ. He humbled himself to be one of us in order to teach us how to live and love. Upon experiencing this love humanity is moved by his performance to imitate him and thus restore the music of life – love. The Church, the orchestra, still fails to love and mess up the performance but with the inspiring presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of His people we not only perform, we shine. The whole world will turn out to hear this good news, this symphony of love and thereby experience life as it was meant to be.