Before
we begin our adventure today, The Notes would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for your continued patronage. You see, this
past weekend, Tuesday's Musical Notes surpassed the 10,000 blog "hits".
We are truly humbled. It is our hope that together we have learned more
about music, but more importantly we have seen our lives changed by The
Messiah. Transforming more into His likeness everyday. That is what
Tuesday's Musical Notes is all about...Thank You!!!
Welcome
to Spring!!! Welcome to Tuesday!!! Welcome to the first Tuesday of
Spring!!! Welcome to the first Tuesday's Musical Notes of Spring!!! It
is the time of the year where "new" seems to be sprouting up
everywhere. The trees are budding, Time is back where it should be.
There is a seeming freshness about the air and there is an outflux, if
you will, of people getting into their yards and gardens. There is a
freedom that being outside expresses as we shake off being "stuck inside
these four walls..."
It
would be Paul McCartney's fifth foray into album land after his
departure from The Beatles. It would be the third collaboration with
wife Linda and bandmate Denny Laine, making up Wings. McCartney wanted a
tropical location for recording and chose Lagos, Nigeria. It is
fortunate that the album ever made it to print as the original demo for
today's single and title track from the album, as well as other demos
and lyric sheets were stolen at knife point while in Nigeria.
"Band
On The Run" was taken from a comment that George Harrison made while
all of the exBeatles were in litigation with Allen Klein, the manager of
their Apple Records label. After the breakup of The Beatles, the "Lads
from Liverpool" had felt increasingly trapped by their label
responsibilities and were looking for fresh starts. Klein as manager of
the record label was integral of stirring up the animus that existed
since the breakup. After obtaining a separation of Klein as manager of
Apple Corps, strains amoung the former band members lessened. A freedom,
if you will, was obtained by the dissolution of their association.
The album "Band On The Run" would mark the last record produced by The
Beatles' Apple Record label, thus marking a formal end to the
collaboration of one Rock-N-Roll's most iconic bands.
While
not a musical band, there is a band of men in the Bible that went on
the run when put under extreme pressure. You can find out more about
them in the excellent book Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur.
This book tells about the collection of tradesmen, fishermen, a zealot
(religious fanatic), and a tax collector who made up the disciples of
Jesus.
These
men left their given professions and passions to follow Jesus in the
hopes that, as The Messiah predicted in their Scripture (our Old
Testament), he would through off the rule of the Roman empire and begin a
Hebrew kingdom that had not been seen since the time of David and
Solomon. What they didn't realize is that Jesus was not that sort of
king. And when the pressure was applied at extreme levels they very
soon became a "Band On The Run".
Their
pressure point occurred in a garden. This would mark the second time
in history where mankind would come to a crossroads in a garden...more
about the similarities between Eden and Gethsemane next week. In
Matthew 26:36-56 we read about Jesus going to pray. He requested His
disciples accompany Him and asked them to stay at a distance to watch
and pray as He goes for an agonizing quiet time with God the Father.
Taking the inner circle of Peter, James, and John a little further into
the garden, Jesus' submits to God's authority, full knowing the horrors
that are about to become His reality. It is at this point, that the
humanity of Jesus is most clearly displayed. After His prayer time,
Jesus returns to the disciples to find them asleep. "Couldn't you stay
awake an hour?"
As Jesus prayer time ended, soldiers that were sent by the religious ruling class arrive with Judas the betrayer in tow. They arrest Jesus and as Matthew recounts..."Then all the disciples deserted him and fled." For context on the last moments of Jesus with His disciples, read the entire chapter of Matthew 26 New International Version of the Bible/The Message Paraphrase of the Bible parallel and Mark 14 NIV/The Message parallel."in the town their searching for us everywhere, but we never will be found..." John and Peter would be the only disciples that stayed close enough to see what was going on with Jesus. The boldness of John as one of the "sons of thunder" was now replaced by the extreme fear of what was coming to pass. Peter, who had proudly proclaimed, "Even If all fall away, I will not" was now reduced to yelling at a girl, "I do not know the man"...
We
know little about what the remaining disciples did during this long
night. They obviously did not want to be seen for fear of recognition
as a disciple. It is so easy to be critical of them all. But we must
remember this time in the disciples lives as a reflection of our own
walk with Jesus. How do we, like Peter, deny Jesus? How do we like
John, hover in the shadows? How do we like the remaining disciples hide
away, not wanting to be recognized as a follower of Jesus?
After
Jesus' resurrection, the disciples were transformed. While they still
did not completely understand what would be required of them to spread
The Gospel, the were engaged. After seeing Jesus alive, the prophecies
that Jesus had made regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, as
well as why He did it, began to make sense. It made so much sense to
them that later they and the apostle Paul would be accused of "turning
the world upside down". Acts 17 King James Version/The Message parallel
Today,
we have a choice. This very moment, you get to choose. If you do not
have a relationship with Jesus, The Messiah, you can do that today.
John, the disciple tells us that Jesus said, "whoever believes in Me
will not perish, but have eternal life." Believe. It's that simple.
If you find this hard to fathom, please email me at rawacr@gmail.com.
I'd love the opportunity to visit with you about this more. If you
don't want to do that, look over a few of the other Tuesday's Musical
Notes. For you email readers, go to tuesdaysmusicalnotes.blogspot.
Again,
today you are confronted with a choice. What we believe is
demonstrated by our actions. Will you become a follower of Jesus and
turn the world upside down, or be just be another member of a "band on
the run"...the freedom you seek is found only in Jesus.
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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