He shared the moment with a concert audience in 2017, an image that perhaps Cory Asbury and his two musical collaborators, Caleb Culver and Ran Jackson, could not get out of their minds. And so, as Cory sang and told the story to the audience, this “Reckless Love” that seemed to best describe what was so fundamental about the character of the Messiah was why they were on stage singing and inviting the crowd to worship with them. That’s the part of Him that draws people’s attention. Why would God be so concerned about us, or especially about one lonely sheep when He has 99 others that are standing with Him loyally? (See Jesus carrying the lost sheep on His shoulders.) To hear Cory describe it, His is the most absurd, irrational attitude. But, consider that He’s the Creator, the one who is the original bearer of the image which you and I are supposed to mimic. Do we have a choice, really? He made me, and so at least a piece of Him – or, is it much more than a piece? -- is involved with me and my life. That’s why He goes after me, and you too. He knows something innately will draw us to Him. That’s His most basic characteristic, and His best way to reach me.
Cory, Caleb, and Ran must have shared more than a few moments with each other in the first seven verses of Luke 15 when they were first conceiving the lyrics and the music of ‘Reckless Love’. The story begins with the religious legal eagles berating Jesus for eating with people they thought were the throwaways in their midst – tax collectors and other sinners. So, to them, the authorities who were so learned, Jesus was indeed reckless. But, the poetry that Cory, Caleb, and Ran penned begins by reminding us that He made us, was ‘singing’ over and ‘breathing’ into you and me (v.1), and thereby exulting over and investing a part of Himself in us before we even emerged from our mothers’ wombs. In verse two, these three songwriters project the human life into the time after birth, when the fully-formed person makes his/her own choices, even to be His ‘foe’, or perhaps to become despondent when one feels ‘no worth’ in existence. In any circumstance, He goes out to find and lift that person onto His shoulders, to bear his/her pain. Cory’s words at the 2017 concert reminded people that God’s not calculating His own cost at doing this ridiculous thing. Indeed, the depth of His apparent folly just might be the method for getting our attention; He hopes that you and I will take a long look at Him, and respond in kind. There’s nothing really reckless in God’s nature, Cory said at the concert. But, the way He’s loved is so far outside of the box of what we consider reasonable, that it helps us accept how and why He could choose the cross over His own safety. Think about for a moment…what if He had not decided to be so reckless?
According to Cory, Caleb, and Ran, this God-Man did something that showed His love so completely, that it goes on, perpetually. There are other stories that Jesus told that get across the same point (like the lost/prodigal son story, later in the same bible chapter in Luke’s gospel). It doesn’t matter how many times I mess up, for He wants me back every time. He keeps ‘coming after me’ (song’s chorus) with this unrelenting desire to take down ‘a wall’, climb a ‘mountain’, or expose ‘lie(s)’ or ‘shadow (s)’ with His light to get to me. The hardest thing sometimes to understand about this Almighty, Omnipotent One is that He won’t force me to do anything. If He’s so powerful, why not just make me? But, He’s got a better way, and it’s not supposed to make earthly sense. Kindness and goodness, that’s how these three songwriters had re-discovered God’s way to ‘overwhelm’ (chorus) you and me. If you don’t respond to His way, consider the alternatives…and then choose which method/s you prefer.
Read about the song’s development here: Reckless Love (song) - Wikipedia
See the song performed and the story of its background told here: Reckless Love (Live with story) - Cory Asbury | Heaven Come 2017 (story told at 5:35 - 9:38 of video)
See information on the graphic here: File:Champaigne shepherd.jpg - Wikipedia…This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930.