Welcome to 2023!!! Happy New Year!!! We're glad you chose to hang out with us for a few minutes in this new year! Welcome to Tuesday's Musical Notes! This is the place to find some of your favorite music and musicians and consider a particular spin about that music that you hadn't thought about. 
I appreciate all the support the blog received over 2022 (over 7500 reads!) and look forward to expanding our musical and other boundaries as we enter this new year together. We hope that each week you find enjoyable music and an engaging message. You are why we are here each week! Tuesday's Musical Notes couldn't live without you...
It seemed the 80s were the time for the Rock Ballad. We've covered a few of them here in Notesland and encourage you to check out the archives to see if your favorite rockin' ode to your love is found in our annals.
The band Foreigner didn't disappoint when it came to the rock ballad. The #2, "Waiting On A Girl Like You", #1 "I Want To Know What Love Is", #6 "Say You Will" and today's featured song are all emblematic of the way that popular bands who were standard harder rock staples could pull off the love song. With Mick Jones' lyrics and Lou Gramm's vocals, you find the perfect mix for the rock ballad formula. Foreigner was in a small group of rock bands in the 80s that tapped into the fact that love songs sometimes need more of an edge to them and they pulled it off exquisitely.
"I Don't Want To Live Without You" is the #5 hit by the band Foreigner. (Tuesday's Musical Notes -"I Want To Know What Love Is" (Foreigner), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Cold As Ice" (Foreigner)) It was the 2nd single from Foreigner's #15 album Inside Information. It was also the only #1 hit by the band on the Adult Contemporary charts and it peaked at #18 on mainstream rock radio. "I Don't Want To Live Without You" would also be the last of the band's 9 top 10 hits as well as the last of the band's 16 top 40 songs.
"I Don't Want To Live Without You" expresses the sentiment of dependency on a loved one for every aspect of life. The lives of these two are so intrinsically attached that it seems that they are the same person at times. (Which would be correct according to the Biblical marriage standard found in The Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew, a tax collector - Chapter 19:1-12 New American Standard Bible/The Amplified Bible/English Standard Version of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel and The Gospel of Jesus according to Mark, an evangelist - Chapter 10, verses 1-12 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV, "...what God has joined together, let no one separate...") Perhaps you have even heard of the occasion where couples who have been married for an extended time, actually die within months or even days of each other. (See the movie The Notebook as a fictional example). Has there ever been a time when you have felt this way about someone? How did you go about expressing that emotion?
As we have journeyed through the great stories of the Bible, we have camped for a time on the life of Jesus. We have touched on Jesus' birth, spent a moment on His youth, and have begun to unpack some of the incredible things about His ministry that were drawing large crowds to Him. Today we want to transition toward the last part of Jesus' life and explore the disciples' reaction as Jesus begins preparing them for His death, burial, and resurrection.
As we read the above passages from Matthew we see that in three instances Jesus tells the disciples what will come to pass in the coming weeks. All three passages attest to Jesus being turned over to authorities, judged, and killed. One would imagine the disciples, who had now been with Jesus 24/7 for the past three years, were shocked. Possibly asking themselves "how can this be?" "Didn't you come to overthrow the Romans?" "Aren't you going to lead us and become our new king?" Remember that to a certain extent, Jesus' closest followers still didn't have a complete picture of Him being the suffering servant from Isaiah 53
What does the Bible say about their reaction? As we have come to expect from Peter, the Bible tells us that he began to rebuke Jesus. Rebuke Jesus? It is obvious that Peter didn't have a complete picture of what was going on and in his own way Peter was telling Jesus that he didn't want to live without Him. Jesus then turns the tables on Peter and rebukes him, going so far as to call him Satan. From the start, Jesus knew what would be His future. Peter's attempt to circumvent that was seen as an assault on Jesus' human nature, which He quickly put into perspective as Jesus tells Peter to be focused on God's purposes and not his human desires. As He always does Jesus takes a few moments and teaches the disciples that they too need to be willing (and in fact, all but one will) to lay down their lives for the cause of God's purposes.
The next reference to Jesus' future comes after a mountaintop experience that Jesus has with His inner circle. Peter, James, and John are witnesses to seeing Jesus in His real form, His glorified body. They also hear God speak declaring Jesus as His Son and that they should listen to Him. Peter again wants to take immediate action and build altars to commemorate the moment, but Jesus says to not say anything about the event until after He is resurrected, thus again referring to His impending death.
Lastly, as Jesus and His disciples were on final approach to Jerusalem Jesus draws the twelve aside and once again affirms that He is about to die. Jesus provides a few more details of what is about to transpire. We don't get an immediate reaction from the disciples in this passage. One would imagine, however, that sadness with a sense of wonder set in as they once again see Jesus doing something no one else can do, predict the future. They had expressed their devotion to Jesus time and again. Some had learned difficult lessons on the pathway to that devotion, yet they were still with Jesus. This unique relationship was about to be tested in ways that they could not imagine, yet Jesus knew what their actions would be. They had come to a point that I think Mick Jones expresses very well..."...I asked myself but there's no explanation. For the way I feel. I know I've reached the right destination And I know it's real..."
At times it seems easy to judge the disciples' actions during the next week. Yes, they split when it came time for them to stand strong. But a statement I found at "Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection" by Ben Riche, January 12, 2017 - redemptionchurchga.com is something I had never considered. Jesus tells them what is to come to pass as they ALL go to Jerusalem. They could have turned around after Jesus had affirmed the manner of His death, but they continued with Him up until the arrest. Could we do that? Do we do that?
Is our conviction about Jesus so strong that we will follow Him even when we don't understand where He may be leading? When things get tough (and according to the Bible they will for believers) are we willing to live without His love?
Friend, Jesus tells His disciples as He is telling us, "...For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?" I hope that you can proclaim as a response..."...I'm longing for the time, I'm longing for the day. I know your promise is so true and you'll never go away..."
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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