A Short Story
Dear reader, indulge me a bit as I have been thinking about this idea of God 'singing' which was recently suggested by Fr. Stephen Freeman. Have you ever thought that it's fairly likely that when Jesus recited the scriptures in the Synagogue, he probably chanted them? Imagine, God the Only-Begotten chanted the Old Testament lesson!
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place
and he began to chant in Hebrew - faintly at first, but with growing strength:
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
Many there did not understand the Hebrew, since they had grown up speaking Greek and Aramaic, and Greek was more routinely heard even for Torah, but as he chanted the words seemed to take shape and each hearer had a vision, as he listened, of some nearly inexpressible joy. Afterward, recalling the moment, one would say: "it was a vision of myself, as a child, being let out off from work in the fields for a day," and another would say, "I saw myself at the feet of One, weeping in great grief, and yet my heart was light with joy," and still another, "I cannot say, except that when I heard the music of that Voice, for a moment it seemed I would comprehend the mysteries of life - that I would hear a word like Job heard the voice out of a whirlwhind, or Moses from the fiery bush, although now it all seems agains shadowy and vague -- but I know how I felt then."
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."
Then He closed the book, and gave [it] back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place
and he began to chant in Hebrew - faintly at first, but with growing strength:
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
Many there did not understand the Hebrew, since they had grown up speaking Greek and Aramaic, and Greek was more routinely heard even for Torah, but as he chanted the words seemed to take shape and each hearer had a vision, as he listened, of some nearly inexpressible joy. Afterward, recalling the moment, one would say: "it was a vision of myself, as a child, being let out off from work in the fields for a day," and another would say, "I saw myself at the feet of One, weeping in great grief, and yet my heart was light with joy," and still another, "I cannot say, except that when I heard the music of that Voice, for a moment it seemed I would comprehend the mysteries of life - that I would hear a word like Job heard the voice out of a whirlwhind, or Moses from the fiery bush, although now it all seems agains shadowy and vague -- but I know how I felt then."
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."
Then He closed the book, and gave [it] back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
posted by Hilarius at 11:44 AM
1 Comments:
Lovely, thank you.
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