Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.-- Matthew 26:30 (CEV)
In his recording of the last days of Jesus' mortal life on earth, the Apostle Matthew preserved for us the events of our Lord's last meal with His disciples. Through these verses we learn that one of the twelve will betray Jesus, one will deny Him, and all will reject Him, even if only briefly. In his own terse way, Matthew also saved for us the acts and words that play the major role in our observation of Holy Communion. But Matthew gave us one more detail, and a wondrous one at that!
Before I get to that, we need to understand that Matthew was not given to flowery language or hyperbole in his writings. Before his conversion, before the Christ bade him "Follow Me" (please see Follow Me), Matthew was a tax collector. As such, he was used to recording names and numbers, amounts of taxes levied and to whom, in the books he would keep for the officials and rulers of the land. This is pretty dry stuff, and not really the type of writing one could call creative, nor that lends itself to much expression. But it did require great attention to detail. Preciseness would be far more important than ease of reading. So it is understandable if Matthew provides a simpler, more straightforward account of Jesus' life than Mark, Luke or John might have given. It isn't so much that Matthew was unimaginative, but that his style was to record what happened in simple words that all could understand while still capturing the details surrounding the events.
Now Jesus knew His remaining time as a man was rapidly approaching a close. He had ridden into Jerusalem, not as a conqueror but as a servant upon the back of a donkey, accompanied by the adoring throngs lifting joyful shouts of "Hosanna" into the air. He knew those shouts would soon turn to "Crucify him!". Judas, the betrayer, had already run from the room. The meal was finished and they prepared to depart from the room, after which Jesus and the remaining disciples would go to Gethsemane. A more solemn time I can barely imagine. Especially in the heart and mind of Jesus, who knew exactly how the coming times would play out.
And yet, in the midst of all this confusion and anger and sadness and deepening sense of coming loss, Matthew, the one not prone to emotionalize or exaggerate and event he recorded, tells us that after Jesus and the disciples finished their meal and before they left for the Mount of Olives, they sang. They sang. With all that was going on, with all that was about to happen, Jesus and His closest followers stopped, lifted their eyes to heaven, and sang a hymn to God the Father!
In this one short verse, Matthew shows us just how truly human the Son of Man was. He sang! We know he preached and taught and questioned the religious leaders and answered questions from everyone and shouted at demons and otherwise opened His mouth and spoke words on many occasions for a great variety of reasons. And now we know He also sang! He sang to God, His own Father! Singing is so much more than some expression of thought as directed by the brain. It is the expression of the joy or sorrow held within the heart and soul. Singing gives voice to our innermost feelings, laying bare our longings and desires.
I chose the Contemporary English Version (CEV) of this verse for a reason. Most other translations give the key phrase as "When they had sung the hymn". Do you notice the subtle difference - "they had sung" versus "they sang"? To me, saying "they had sung" implies that the act had little meaning other than it happened. It's an afterthought, not important enough to play even a major role in the sentence. With that phrase pushed aside, "they went out to the Mount of Olives" takes the center of attention. But the way this is given in the CEV, that they sang now shares equal importance and attention to going to the Mount. More importantly, it shows more humanity in the participants, makes them more like us. Because when we think about a church service we may think that we sang a hymn, just like Jesus and His disciples did that night so long ago. We sang, and they sang. We're not so different after all.
Jesus sang! Can't you just see it? Everyone finished eating, put their forks and napkins down, took their last sip of drink, stood up, maybe joined hands, and broke out into a song of praise to God. Eleven men and the Son of Man lifted their voices in love and prayer. Matthew does not note any hesitation or embarrassment, just that they sang.
Jesus sang. Let's all join Him on the next hymn.
