The pop/folk legend, Bob Dylan, spoke of a time when he crashed his 500cc Triumph motorcycle in 1966. He said that the accident caused him to withdraw from public life for a while… and during this time, he recorded a song called “Sign on the Cross” (which was released in 1971). It would seem that something spiritual was starting to stir in Bob… and he was not at all sure his life was currently on the right track. He sang:
‘Yes, but I know in my head, that we’re all so misled, And it’s that ol’ sign on the cross, that worries me.’
Now, the sign on top of the cross Jesus was crucified on said: Jesus Christ, king of the Jews.
Is Jesus really king? Is the possibility that he might be something that has ever worried you?
Whether or not Jesus really is king is a question each of us needs to get right. Either Jesus is God, i.e. Lord of all, or he is not. There is not much room to manoeuvre; so you need to make a choice. If Jesus is Lord and King of all, then he deserves all your loyalty; if he is not, he deserves nothing.
It is ironic that shortly before his murder, John Lennon recorded the song Serve Yourselfin response to the 1979 song Bob Dylan wrote in his Christian years called Gotta Serve Somebody. The song won Dylan a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
Lennon’s answer to the sign on the cross was to ignore it and “serve yourself”.
But was he right?
What do you think?
Many rock music commentators wrote dismissively about Bob Dylan’s encounter with Jesus.
Evidently, he went back to his hotel after a gig feeling pretty jaded with his celebrity world of booze, drugs, sex and endless performances. As he contemplated this, he had a vision of Jesus Christ, clearly portrayed as King of kings. This caused him to embrace Christianity and to begin a period of his career which people have dubbed the “gospel years.” This was generally reckoned to have occurred between 1979 and 1981.
The first public expression of Dylan’s newfound faith in God came with the album, Slow Train Coming. He gathered together a group of studio musicians including guitarist Mark Knopfler, and produced a batch of songs including Gotta Serve Somebody, When He Returnsand Man Gave Names to All the Animals, that left no one in doubt about his faith.
His conversion infuriated many of his fans. According to music writer Michael Simmons, the reason for this was, quote:
‘Dylan represented free thinking, anti-establishment values, you know, “don’t follow leaders.” And here he was following the ultimate leader.’
Evidently, the self-appointed custodians of rock culture would prefer that we “do what we want” and not follow any ultimate leader.
Autonomy from God; throwing God’s love and purpose in his face and living for self, is one of the best descriptions of sin I’ve heard.
In reality: the desire to be our own god, to have nothing bigger than ourselves to believe in – is a pretty shallow, sterile, unfulfilling form of freedom. It offers no ultimate good to hope for, no final resolution of evil, no forgiveness of sins, no purpose for existence, no hope of eternity, no godly transformation of character. It just offers the loneliness of being meaningless, temporary and self-obsessed. It may be “oh so trendy”… but spurning the love of the Ultimate Leader comes at a terrible cost. It comes at the cost of truth, meaning and hope. So please don’t get sucked in by it. Instead, rebel against the convention of being anti-God — and find your true meaning.
