Deck Cheatham: They sang a hymn

Published 12:00 pm Monday, December 9, 2019

“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” — Matthew 26:30, NKJV

Well, it was as though I came upon a wreck and only witnessed what I had observed. There were other witnesses at the scene, too. Listening to them, each reported to the police something a little different than what I saw. And being a good citizen, I stayed to report to the police what I had seen.

And who was right? All of us? None of us? Or maybe each owned his observation.

And who, having come upon the Christian wreck, doesn’t experience the same dilemma, witnessing only what we understand and spending too little time listening and searching for another perspective? Don’t we all see the wreck from different angles? Limited in view, too easy and too long did I see through the lens of the way I wanted life to be and not what God intended.

But my mind takes me further. If fate had delayed me or I had chosen another route or I had decided to leave my location earlier, I would not have seen the wreck at all. And as the case might have it, I would be innocently and tragically unaware. But I did see the wreck, the never-ending clash of wills between man and God, or to the point, God and me.

And why this analogy? Isn’t this how we read the Bible, how we form our Christian belief? I’m sure John Calvin, Martin Luther, St. Augustine and John Wesley saw the same wreck and offered to us, each differently, their witness. And each conformed not to convention but to God.

Matthew’s gospel, chapter 26, verses 1-29, reveals to us Jesus preparing his disciples for his crucifixion. We know the story. Jesus told them what would happen. A certain woman poured costly, fragrant oil on Jesus’ head. Judas left to make his deal with the chief priests. The disciples went into the city to prepare the Passover meal. At the meal, Jesus identifies Judas as his betrayer. The disciples receive their first communion.

Reading this passage fills me with its intended somberness. As if I was witnessing the wreck, I want to scream, “Watch out!” But I am powerless. My hand does not reach into history. Verses 31-75 evoke the same.

If life is in some strange way a cosmic wreck, if my nature is opposed to God, if God has his hand in fate and by grace I am on time to sense God in all, I see the manger and the cross with the same witness.

And there between, in verse 30, a light shines, “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” And what a different response this offers me. As the verse rises in my thought, so also does hope in my heart.

There in the valley of the shadow of death, they sang a hymn.

“Those who have ears to hear, let them hear” (Matthew 11:15, NKJV).

Deck Cheatham has been a golf professional for more than 40 years. He lives with his family in Dalton. Write to him at pgadeacon@gmail.com.