Unconventional Bible Study - Jesus Walks by Kanye West

Okay, Chris Scharen mentioned this one and I hadn't seen the video - the imagery here is amazing.



The lyrics are here.

A little context: Here are some white people singing the song "I want Jesus to walk with me," if you're not familiar with it. (It's originally an African-American spiritual)

And now a little commentary: First, part of this song is testimony about Kanye West's love for Jesus,

I ain't here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I'm just trying to say the way school need teachers
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus

against the advice of the music industry.

So here go my single dog radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh?
Well let this take away from my spins
Which will probably take away from my ends
Then I hope it take away from my sins

Obviously, there's some dissonance when rappers talk about "gun, sex, lies, videotapes" and then turn around to praise God. (Here's a perfect example from the Office Space soundtrack. Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta. Check the end of verse 2, compared to the chorus. :) ) I'm not going to be able to resolve this question, but I think there's a little bit of the answer to that in this video, which is that God isn't only (or maybe at all) in the business of blessing the establishment. When the doves fly out of the packages of cocaine, it carries with it a sense of blessing that is totally unexpected to the police officers, eager to catch drug-runners in the act.

This reminds me of a text from Matthew, which suggests that people on the margins of society are sometimes more open to God's grace than the religious establishment.

Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Related to this the song and video together show powerful images of resistance to evils of authority through faith. The opening lyrics:

Yo, We at war
We at war with terrorism, racism, and most of all we at war with ourselves

I am fascinated by the end of the video, when a KKK member, who has worked hard to hew and build a cross to burn, follows it as it falls down a hill into water that quenches it. Another baptism? Perhaps into a new life in opposition to racism? The quote from Jesus that applies most clearly here:

"You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.