Albums of the Decade #9: Is This It?

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Jason

What’s an artist to do when he / she has the terrible misfortune of producing their masterpiece on the first try? Ask M. Night Shyamalan. (The Happening, anyone?) Or the Counting Crows, who will never surpass their brilliant 1994 debut August and Everything After. Or ask The Strokes.

The Strokes' 2001 release "Is This It?"

In 2001, this NYC-based quintet exploded onto the popular music scene in both the United States and the United Kingdom as harbingers of a new era of garage-punk. Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, SPIN…all the usual suspects jumped on board to hype the Strokes as “the next big thing”. I even remember a Beatles comparison or two being thrown around. But the hype around this record undermined the fact that Is This It? is garage rock at its finest: energetic, minimalist, effortless, concise (the whole affair clocks in at a hair over half an hour.) This tightly wound piece of no-frills energy simply works on every level. Julian Casablancas projects equal parts machismo and existential indifference through a garbled amalgam of distortion and feedback. Nick Valensi’s guitar work is brilliant; see “The Modern Age” for Exhibit A. But as I listened back over the album recently, I was surprised at how exceptional the drum work is, too. The true power of this record is found in the fact that several of these songs — notably “Someday”, “Last Nite”, and “The Modern Age” — sound as fresh and energetic today as they did when I first heard them eight years ago. Its a shame that nothing they’ve produced since has matched the raw energy of Is This It?

Some want to praise this album for its prescient and prophetic qualities. (Released mere weeks after 9/11, Julian Casablancas sings “”Hard times opened their eyes / Saw pain in a new way / high stakes for a few names” on the album’s third song, “Soma”.) Others hail The Strokes for channeling Velvet Underground or reviving ’70s-era punk for a new generation. As for me, Is This It? makes my Albums of the Decade list for one reason: this is really great guitar rock that perfectly captures the attitude of a particular moment in time. Your grandsons won’t understand.

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The Sermon on the Mount 4

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Jason

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” — Matthew 4.17

Matthew prefaces his record of the Sermon on the Mount with this summary statement of Christ’s prophetic message, a call to repentance. But, we might rightly ask, “Repent of what?”

The temptation narrative that precedes this quote is instructive. Satan’s inquiry in Matthew 4.3 is often translated, “If you are the Son of God…”. But the text may also be understood differently. An equally plausible translation is, “Since you are the Son of God…”. I prefer this reading; the reader of the Gospel is already aware of Jesus’ identity as Immanuel / son of David / the fulfillment of Scripture. Moreover, Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus confirms his role as beloved Son of God (3.17). Additionally, such a reading acknowledges that the adversary surely understands Jesus’ identity, too. The question is no longer whether Jesus is the Son of God; the matter has already been settled in Matthew’s Gospel. Rather, the temptation is more about determining the kind of Messiah Jesus will become. Will he be a welfare king? A religious reformer? An imperial tyrant?

In these temptations, Jesus chooses the way of faithfulness. He emerges as a faithful Messiah, anointed by YHWH to fulfill all righteousness. As such, Jesus is uniquely qualified to issue the call of repentance. He calls us to repent of a “what God can do for you” religion. He calls us to repent of the faith that demands signs and wonders from a genie-in-a-bottle Deity. Perhaps most importantly, Jesus calls us to repent of our imperialism that elevates the power structures that feed on coercion and oppression and conquest. In the SOM, Jesus — the faithful Messiah, the fulfillment of Torah –calls us to a better way of living, one that is a more faithful representation of the will of God, one that fulfills God’s desire for righteousness to be demonstrated among His people.

Through repentance, the reality of the Kingdom of God comes near to us.

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Albums of the Decade #10: In Rainbows

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Jason

Radiohead have long been critical darlings. Their earlier works The Bends and OK Computer garnered them plenty of accolades in the ’90s. Kid A and Amnesiac, though a  bit inaccessible to a portion of their fanbase, earned the praise of critics for their dalliances into the world of electronica and techno. But for my money, the band

In Rainbows

has never sounded any finer than on In Rainbows, their 2007 / 08 release. It’s not just the more accessible sound that resonates with me, although I must confess I never really got some of the more experimental stuff. I think I love this album because it seems so much more personal than any of their other releases.

Radiohead sounds like no other band I know of. Thom Yorke’s unique voice coupled with the band’s blend of guitar-rock and lilting balladry compose landscapes both grand and intimate, sometimes simultaneously. I remember when Rolling Stone reviewed this album, the guy said In Rainbows had a bit of an R&B vibe to it. Enter “Reckoner”, with its lush melody and sparse instrumentation. Or “House of Cards”. Set against a simple chord progression and a tepid beatbox, Yorke’s vocals soar into the stratosphere before gently settling in with a chorus of “Denial, Denial…” until all escalates into a cacophony of falsetto. In Rainbows sounds like a band that is both at the top of their game and enjoying every minute of the ride. Never before have Radiohead sounded as romantic as they do on “All I Need”. “Nude” is another mood piece, dripping with existential pessimism; . But, just in case we’ve forgotten that Radiohead are first and foremost a rock band, the grinding, pulsating guitar of “Bodysnatchers” serves as an explosive reminder. Maybe my favorite song on the entire album is “15 Step”, the only song that even resembles a techno-inspired track, with its tin-sounding drumbeats giving way to a smooth, jazzy guitar riff that carries Yorke’s falsetto to the song’s trippy kiddie-chorus conclusion.

Maybe the innovative albums Radiohead released earlier this decade had to be recorded — purged from the band, if you will — before they could give birth to the more melodic, accessible material that makes up In Rainbows. If that’s the case, then it was worth it. This will go down, in all likelihood, as Radiohead’s magna carta, at least in my opinion. Simply a beautiful album.

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Since We’re All Geeks…

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Jason

…I thought I’d share some geek news that I’m jazzed up about (in bullet form):

  • It’s almost the end of the year, which means it’s time for my annual year end music list. This year, through the wonders of eMusic, I’ve been exposed to more good music than any year in recent memory. Be on the lookout for my Top 20 Albums of the Year posts in the weeks to come.
  • Since we’re also coming up on the end of the decade, I’ll be writing about some of my favorite music of the 00’s in a series of posts. Music fans, I know you’ll be waiting with bated breath. Or baited breath or however you spell it.
  • And here’s the best news of all: LOST has a return date of Feb. 2. That’s a Tuesday for those of you keeping score. With American Idol and LOST, Tuesday just became Must-See-TV Night at the Bybee household.

    LOST Season 6

    Have you noticed that Locke has his back turned? What is that all about? And how about all the old favorites that are represented? Pretty cool.

Posted in Music, Television | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

We’re All Geeks

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Jason

Over the weekend, I finally witnessed the female equivalent to the Star Wars geekboy level of fandom.

At Target on Friday, I’m nearly mauled by a wild pack of teenage girls, each of them fully decked out in officially licensed Twilight apparel. One girl is wearing a shirt with Robert Pattinson’s pasty mug writ large; one of the others has a snapshot of the hunky shirtless wolfboy guy on her shirt. All of them are carrying copies of the Twilight books in their arms and after presumably ravaging the literature section, they were in transit, moving on to the CDs to scoop up any and all copies of the New Moon soundtrack. The pack was moving with the awkward / speedy gait that characterizes a female mass of junior high humanity on a group bathroom excursion. The rabble nearly bowled me over, all while I was innocently perusing the new Them Crooked Vultures album. As they plowed their way past me, in search of more Twilight product, I could only decipher a few remarks (“Oh my gosh, he’s sooo HOT!!!” and “Jamie is gonna be so mad she missed this!”) amid the cacophony of glee.

The herd rounded the aisle corner and found the soundtrack section (pity the poor guy that was looking for the Mamma Mia score) and just when I thought it was safe to go back to my Them Crooked Vultures disc, I look up and I see another pack sauntering toward me, with slightly less awkward energy but donning equal amounts of Twilight clothing (the “I heart Pattinson” shirt was a dead give-away). I might’ve been tempted to think this was merely one more drove of junior high girls if not for the exclamation from one of the young ladies at the soundtrack section: “MOM!!! We found the CD!!!” The Huntsville Soccer Mom Chapter of Twilight Devotees quickly scurried over to join their daughters in a festive jig and a celebratory “Whoo-hoo!” I promptly put down my Crooked Vultures CD and grabbed a Starbucks.

We’re all geeks.

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The Sermon on the Mount 3

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Jason

My third and final presupposition for reading the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew writes in such a way to parallel Jesus with Moses / Israel.

It seems that Matthew is interested in communicating a story that parallels the history of Israel and the story of Moses in particular. Look at the way Matthew begins his Gospel and the way it relates to Exodus:

  • In the Gospel, Jesus’ birth is threatened by an evil monarch, Herod; in Exodus, the Moses’ birth is threatened by an evil monarch, Pharaoh.
  • Jesus is born in a time of Roman oppression; Moses in a time of Egyptian oppression.
  • Following his birth, Jesus journeys to Egypt before returning home; Moses journeys to Egypt to liberate his people and take them “home” to the land of promise.
  • Each man performs mighty wonders that demonstrated the power of God; each man passes through the waters (Moses / Red Sea; Jesus / Jordan River); each one experiences temptation in the wilderness; and as Fred Craddock and Eugene Boring put it, both men “gave their authoritative teaching on the will of God from a mountain (Moses / the Law from Sinai; Jesus / Sermon on the Mount).”

If this is true, what are the implications for understanding the Sermon on the Mount? I would suggest that we understand the SOM as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s will / God’s Law. I’m afraid we too often have an improper understanding of the function of the Mosaic Law. The OT Law was intended to be life-giving for Israel. We might be tempted to think of the 613 OT laws as a bunch of rules and regulations that Israel was strapped with. But for Israel, the Law was their treasured possession, proof of their “chosen” status among the nations. Take the command to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. Moderns hear this as a restriction of what you can and can’t do over the course of a given 24-hour period. But for a nation coming out of the extreme conditions of slavery in Egypt, the command to take one day off per week was certainly a life-giving commandment. We should restore a proper understanding of how the Law functioned in the life of Israel; Scripture affirms that the Law was good (Psalm 119:39; Romans 7; 1 Timothy 1:8).

However, we might also affirm that the Law was not the complete revelation of the will of God. As we’ve seen from Paul, Christ is the complete revelation of God because in Him the fullness of God dwells bodily (Colossians 1). In the SOM, we find a new Torah, a new teaching, one that fulfills the previous one. Fulfillment is an important theme for Matthew. Matthew quotes the Hebrew Scriptures more than any other Gospel writer and he seems to be interested in demonstrating that the life of Christ brought about fulfillment to these ancient texts. To say it another way, Matthew sees all of the OT as pointing to fulfillment in Christ. The conviction that Jesus is the Christ seems to be the primary lens through which Matthew understands Scripture. This also seems to be Christ’s own self-identity. In the SOM, Jesus says things like, “You have heard it said…But I say unto you.” Jesus understands that His own teaching brings fulfillment of the Law. “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (5.17).”

In the words of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is offering new words for life, words that bring the Kingdom of God into the current sphere of human existence. Since the previous Law (or “words” as Israel referred to them) were good and intended to bring life, we can affirm that Christ stands as the fulfillment of the commands given by Moses to Israel. But His word usurps the Mosaic Law, for in the Sermon on the Mount, we have the guidance of the long-anticipated prophet who was even greater than Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-22). His words bring true life.

Posted in Gospel, Jesus, Scripture, Sermon on the Mount | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Sermon on the Mount 2

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Jason

I began this series by stating my first presupposition when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount, which is that Jesus actually meant what He said.

My second presupposition is somewhat broader in nature as it has to do with the way we read Scripture altogether.

Scripture should be read Christocentrically.

I believe all Scripture should be read through Jesus. That is, I believe all Scripture points to Him. The written word exists to bear witness to the Living Word. This makes Jesus the primary lens through which we interpret Scripture. Not the only lens, but the primary one. As a disciple of Christ, I want His words to be normative in my life.

Placing a premium on the words of Jesus leads us into dangerous territory. Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” I’ve already stated that I think He really means that. But I also have to reconcile the words of Jesus with the “eye for an eye” language that is also represented in Scripture. I mean, doesn’t it seem that Jesus is at odds with His own Jewish tradition, especially Psalm 137.9 where the prayer is for YHWH to dash the Babylonian infants’ heads against the rocks?

What I want to argue is that being a disciple of Christ means I interpret everything — the text, my life, my understanding of death, etc. — in light of His words and His life. Take nonviolence, for instance. Based on the words of Jesus, I believe nonviolence is the methodology of the Kingdom of God. (Note the difference between nonviolence and pacifism. I believe following Christ requires a commitment to nonviolence, but I cannot accept the full tenets of pacifism in light of the greater balance of Scripture. See the prophetic vision of the Messianic age as the day when swords are beaten into plowshares [Isa. 2; Micah 4]; see also the dramatic reversal of this image in Joel’s call to arms [Joel 3].) But those who are opposed to the way of nonviolence are often quick to bring up the examples of David or Samson or any of a number of OT figures who wielded the sword on behalf of righteousness. Can violence really be such a great offense to God? Isn’t God the same God that commissioned the conquest of Israel? Isn’t the David who slayed his tens of thousands also known as the man after God’s own heart?

All of this is true. But the point I want to make is this: I am not a disciple of David. Nor am I a disciple of Samson. I am a follower of Christ. And I follow Him because I believe He shows us a better way. The Sermon on the Mount is full of “You have heard it said…But I say unto you,” statements, indicating that in Christ, we have a fuller, more complete revelation of God’s will. Paul puts it this way: “He is the image of the invisible God….For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” (Col. 1.15, 19). The one who IS our peace (Eph. 2.14) calls us to the way of peace (Rom. 12.18; 1 Thess. 5.13; Heb. 12.14).

But we never get there if Christ is not our primary lens through which the balance of Scripture must be interpreted.

Posted in Gospel, Jesus, Scripture, Sermon on the Mount | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Another Abby Kate Funny

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Jason

Yesterday my five-year old daughter said to me, “Daddy, I can’t wait for my wedding day!”

I asked her, “Why is that?”

“Because on your wedding day, you get a pretty, pretty ring.”

I said, “I’ll bet you’ll also be excited about the boy that comes with the ring.”

She replied incredulously, “A boy comes with the ring?”

This confirms a long held belief of mine that the groom is one of the least important accessories in a girl’s wedding day vision.

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Abby Kate Funnies

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Jason

Abby Kate has been sick all day, so she’s been hanging out with me today. Prior to our doctor’s appointment this morning, she had me in stitches with some of the things she had to say.

  • “Dad, I just wish I was sixteen.” When I asked her why, she said, “Because it just sounds so much older than five.” What do you say to that?
  • On the way to the doctor, she goes, “Dad, how is it that God can see through our house.” I tried to explain that the Bible says that a man’s ways are always before the eyes of the LORD (Proverbs 5). But that didn’t seem to work.
  • On the way home, she goes, “Dad, do you know why I love pigs?” I said, “Because you like bacon?” to which she replied, “No, silly. Because they’re pink!”
Posted in Family, General | 2 Comments

The Sermon on the Mount 1

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Jason

The Sermon on the Mount has been called the most important sermon ever preached.

It’s also been called the most ignored sermon of all time.

What if both statements are true?

Recently, I’ve been teaching a class at church on the Sermon on the Mount. I thought I’d begin a series of posts on my thoughts on the SOM. I have a feeling this sort of series will be fairly episodic in nature, spread out over several months. There’s just so much to be said here. (Case in point, I’ve been teaching for about 4 weeks now, and we’re up to the 3rd Beatitude!)

I want to begin by laying out some of my presuppositions that shape the way I approach the SOM:

Jesus meant what He said.

There is a common approach to reading a text like the SOM in which we want to “spiritualize” what Jesus has to say. I think we do this in particular with the SOM because we find Jesus’ words to be too challenging or too difficult to live out. That is, we write off what Jesus has to say as “spiritual guidance” or “matters that apply in the spiritual world”, but we ignore them as being very relevant to day-to-day life in the “real world”. Others can argue this in more compelling ways, but I believe this sacred / secular dichotomy is rooted more in Greek thought (specifically, Neo-Platonism) than Scripture. In fact, the Jewish worldview seems to be summed up quite nicely in a text like Psalm 24.1, The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it. In Jewish thought, there wasn’t as much room for this division of sacred & secular; from the Psalmist’s perspective, there is only one world and since that realm belongs to YHWH, it is necessarily a “spiritual” world. But when we operate with this firm sacred / secular division in our minds, it encourages an overly-spiritualized reading of the text. It allows me to read the SOM and say, “Yeah, Jesus says to love your enemy, but what He really means is that you should love him in your heart.” And this loving in your heart has very little to do with how you go about treating said enemy in the “real world”.

When I was in kindergarten, I had a problem with fighting. My mother would tell me things like, “When you hit somebody else, that makes God very sad, Jason. Jesus told us that we were to turn the other cheek and not fight.” But what she didn’t know was that my Dad would pull me aside and tell me that “in the real world”, I needed to be ready to stand up for myself. He didn’t give me permission to start a fight, but he made it clear that if anybody ever picked a fight with me, I had his permission to finish it. So when Blake King picked a fight with me in kindergarten, I bloodied his nose in front of the whole class. My Mom lectured me when I got home. When she was done, my Dad patted me on the back.

The way of Jesus is always at odds with the way of the world. But to assume that the way of Jesus is impractical and irrelevant to the “real world” is an affront to Christ’s lordship. When we reduce the Sermon on the Mount as applicable only to the interior (loving our enemies “in our hearts”) or, even worse, when we write it off as impractical for living in the “real world”, we ignore the true call of discipleship. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus puts forth an ethic of Kingdom living that shaped His life, even leading to His death. Perhaps we would do well to heed His teaching about “No servant is greater than his master. (John 13.16)” By ignoring the words of the Sermon on the Mount, do we, His followers, assume that we are somehow greater than our master? This is not to say that Jesus is not using hyperbole in certain places in the Sermon on the Mount; what I am saying is that I find it incredibly dangerous to “spiritualize” away the sections of the SOM that I find bothersome or difficult (which has been our default interpretation for far too long).

I believe that the categories of sacred / secular are false categories. I believe that disciples of Christ can’t have one way of living on Sunday and another way of living when it comes to the “real world” of Monday through Saturday. Simply put, I believe Jesus meant what He said in the Sermon on the Mount. I believe the Kingdom of God is the “real world”. With that presupposition in place, I can be about the business of trying to squeeze my life into this understanding of His words and His life.

Posted in Gospel, Jesus, Scripture, Sermon on the Mount | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments