Composition verses Performance a reflective homily.

 

Composition verses Performance.

What is the difference between perfection and a great copy?

When I look at the life of Christ and read what the Gospel writers wrote about him, I see a perfection that we as Christians can never hope to emulate.

We are imperfect human beings, we have flaws, we have failings. But, every now and again we humans come very close to that perfection.

Think of the great composers of the 18th century, men such as Mozart or Beethoven, Elgar (my own favourite)  and we must not forget Bach. All these men composed music, they created music and as they composed, it is said that they heard the whole orchestra in their minds perform it. They brought about perfection that over the centuries has been performed by many others, but never to the same level. Some have come close but they could never perform to the same stratospheric standard as that original performance conducted by the composer themselves.

So, when I look at the life of Christ I see perfection, not just in the composition but in the performance as well. In Luke 4: 16-30 Jesus gives us a glimpse as to the composition that he is presenting to the church. A composition so perfect that we have not been able to live up to it nor emulate it, though there have been many who have tried. Many, in their imperfect way, have over the century's succeeded but others have not, but think they have.

Luke 4:

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’^[f]

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.

²³ Jesus said to them, ‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: “Physician, heal yourself!” And you will tell me, “Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.”’

²⁴ ‘Truly I tell you,’ he continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his home town. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy^[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian.’

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Jesus took this composition first penned by the prophet Isaiah and he produced perfection.

Which brings me to the questions:  are we producing at that same level? Are we faithfully bringing to the world that same composition, in the same way that Christ himself performed it?

Many try and some succeed, but it is never at the level nor the standard which Christ expects. Let us reflect and become introspective are we really performing that same composition in our churches or have we forgotten what it means to bring good news or heal the sick or set the oppressed free. Have we perhaps become more focused on the performance rather than the composition? Have we forgotten the purpose of the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.