Een lied tot Jezus Christus = Song to Jesus Christ, 1967 - 1984

The Song To Jesus Christ, rather than probing his divinity, highlights his humanity. Here is one who went too far in his humanity for us to accept, one who was too much of a man for us to grasp. So wonderful a person, his death was unthinkable. This song develops ideas found in the Christmas song, In Deepest Night [JM 160}, where the miracle of incarnation lay not in God becoming man but in our brother becoming our God. This is God within the human condition. Characteristic of poet Huub Oosterhuis, this text is clear yet elusive. He dips liberally into the Scriptures as a thesaurus, leaving the singer to connect the dots, to complete the associations. Vivid images from Exodus are recalled in an attempt to understand Jesus. You passed this way refers to Passover, footprint on the sea to the crossing of the Red Sea, and to the fleeting nature of Jesus' presence within history. Fire throughout the night recalls that firebrand which drew Israel across the desert to their land of promise, while Your light flows in my blood resonates with the symbolism of the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled on the doorposts in avoidance of death. Your word hangs frayed and torn, a mantle draped and worn is an allusion to the Word in human form, hanging from a cross in what is seemingly a parody of broken promises.

These are among the definitive events in Salvation History. Yet none fully capture Jesus, who is greater than them all. His word hangs in shreds on a broken world (as on a cross), yet we still wear him as a cloak. Weare enmeshed as one. He has chosen from all ages to remain hidden in God, unfathomable and silent, yet his name burns in every living heart, as those coals which fired up Isaiah, and burning bush wreathing God's presence. This is a new song about Jesus Messiah. and it is also about us and our undying hope in a resurrection and a future.

The original composition is a setting by the 16th century French composer Jehan Tabourot. It has been made popularized in recent times by the British composer Peter Warlock in his Capriole Suite of French Dances. As a result, the melody has been wrongly to other composers. This arrangement by Huijbers may be sung as an SATB choral or as a unison song. As a chorale, the accompaniment is optional. -- Tony Barr