The Gospel According To U2: "Breathe"

From the 2005 book, Conversations with Bono:


"Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?

Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.

Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that.

Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.

Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.

Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.

Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.

Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.

Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled… . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?

Bono: No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we've been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had "King of the Jews" on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched …"

I've been a U2 fan for years.  The appeal has never been that they merely sound good, but that there is something so much deeper beneath it all.  An incredible gift of the rock and roll era has been the fusion of the two great artforms: poetry and music.  I don't mean to take away from visual artists, who certainly can be immensely gifted.  Yet a painting or a sculpture doesn't have the potential to speak to our souls like music or the written word can.  The visual representation also is much more static and far less organic while music and the written word actually enable the creativity of the listener or the reader.

Think of a novel.  The creativity in the description and in the story can be incredible and exhibit an author's idea, but they are also creative enablers.  You, as the reader, visualize the descriptions.  The chair you see will not be the chair the author sees nor will it be the chair I see.  So it is with characters as well - right down to how you visualize their tone of voice.  Music can accomplish the same feat, stirring different feelings in each person.  Combined, the two are powerful allies.

This is where U2 come in for me.  Their work is infused with Biblical reference and deep, thoughtful observation concerning it.  A single post tackling all of this would be book length.  It begins with their first album from 1980, Boy, and continues through their most recent album, No Line On The Horizon.  Not a single U2 record comes without Biblical subtext - not one.  It's woven into the fabric of the music and when you read the excerpt from above, you can understand why.  Some has not been as bright - their work in the 1990s was their darkest, examining what happens when despair creeps in and torments faith.

Their last album represents a faith journey itself, going from despair to outright praise while challenging those of faith to get out from under our beds and stand up for faith - literally, some of the lyrics state that unequivocally.

Yet the crescendo of the album comes towards the end, the penultimate song that comes before a warning closes out the record.  I must admit, this was my least favorite song on the album at first but has since become one of my favorite U2 tracks.  It is a challenge to the listener and a paradigm for sharing the Gospel.

This song now gets me charged up like few others have.  It is a call to live out your faith, but not through any kind of showmanship.  Instead, it is a call to face the fear which keeps us from loving one another and bearing each other's burdens.  It is brilliant.  

So I'm going to share the song with you and then go verse by verse through it.

 16th of June, nine-oh-five, door bell rings
Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There's a few things I need you to know
Three

It's not odd to find Bono embedding scriptural references in his lyrics.  The cover on their 2001 album, All The You Can't Leave Behind, was altered to reflect Jeremiah 33:3 and that number was inverted earlier in this album in quite an ingenious manner when God came calling the singer in Unknown Caller.  

Jeremiah 33:3 - "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (NIV)

Here we do not see a direct scripture reference, instead it is a subtle reference to Revelation.  People often associate the number of the Beast with 666, but there is a common textual variant - 616.  Notice the date is June 16 in the American form?  We'll find a reference to John later in the song too.  Bono is setting a timeframe here, possibly merely referring to the Last Days which are the time we've actually been in since Jesus' ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

That leads us to the guy at the door, who is clearly a door-to-door evangelist.  A few things you need to know - three - is a reference to him telling the singer about the Trinity.

Coming from a long line of
Traveling sales people on my mother's side
I wasn't gonna buy just anyone's cockatoo
So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home
Would you

These days are better than that
These days are better than that 

Here comes the criticism of treating the Gospel as nothing more than a sales pitch - it causes people to be skeptical.  The man is a stranger sharing this with him.  There's no relationship here.  Why would you listen to this man when the first thing he speaks of is this - when he's more interested in selling you the Gospel than knowing you or caring for you?

These days are better than that - these final days.  This is a time when God's Spirit dwells in believers and empowers them.  It is not the time prior to the coming of Jesus - it is a time when a personal relationship is possible, where restoration has occurred through Christ's work on the cross and the man at the door is treating this as nothing more than a sales pitch.  

Every day I die again, and again I'm reborn
Every day I have to find the courage
To walk out into the street
With arms out
Got a love you can't defeat
Neither down nor out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now

The chorus presents us with a different paradigm.  The concept of being born again daily is one that has been in U2's work for a long time.  I think the first time we see it crop up is on 1983's New Year's Day off the War album.  It is not an idea that salvation can be lost or anything like that, but instead it is the concept of having to lay yourself down every day.  There's a constant battle with the flesh going on that we have to be aware of and we will not always be able to claim victory at every moment.

Instead of going door to door, the idea here is finding the courage to reach out to people in the street.  I think the arms out is more an expression of loving others as opposed to the wordy sales pitch at the door.  He reaches out with love that cannot be defeated because he understands the world can offer him nothing - there is no need to fear because this love does not come form ourselves.  

But a key here is realizing that the world has nothing to offer instead of clinging to the things it offers.  When we cling to it we find it much more difficult to breathe.

16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I'm coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju man
Doc says you're fine, or dying
Please
Nine-oh-nine, St. John Divine on the line, my pulse is fine
But I'm running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease

So many things to be fearful of.  A shift in world power, a bird flu, and thinking that the events described by John are here - yet the pulse is fine.  No worry, no fear.

Yet there is still some conflict as he goes out.  He's out there, running around, but there is the temptation in his mind, the band playing the striptease.  There is always the temptation of the flesh.

The roar that lies on the other side of silence
The forest fire that is fear so deny it

This is one of my favorite lines anywhere.  Fear and silence so often combine to allow evil to continue.  The first image that comes to mind when I see the roar is to think of C.S. Lewis' Aslan, who is representative of Jesus, the Lion of Judah.  The roar is always there, but fear keeps us from seeing it.  That earthly fire is no match for His roar, so we must deny it and refuse to be silent.  When we speak in His power it becomes His roar, does it not?

Walk out into the street
Sing your heart out
The people we meet
Will not be drowned out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
Yeah, yeah

A line of encouragement here - walk out and sing (we'll get to what the means explicitly in the next verse), but to also listen and care.  These people you meet are not just numbers - no person is a number.  Everyone has an eternal destination, either with God through Jesus' sacrifice or separated from Him.  The call to share with others is far more important than mere obedience and if we don't care for them in earnest and see them as only people to make a sales pitch too then we've got a problem.

There's no reason to be fearful of loving others, caring about them, and sharing with them.

We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown 

This line is far more profound than you may think at first glance.  It is not a mere reference to our propensity to enjoy song, but instead a reference to the Creation account in Genesis and its elaboration in The Gospel Of John.  

We are people borne of sound, spoken into existence by The Word of God.  Speech and song are in us because of this, so there's no need to muzzle them.  

The source of the crowns are also apparent here, coming from the sound itself - not from ourselves.

Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
I've found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it's all that I found
And I can breathe
Breathe now 

A final note of encouragement.  We see the reference to the sound again, the originator of grace.  And the idea that the song does not come from us that we share is here to.

This is a very joyful rendering of evangelism through reaching out and caring, not through superficial means.  It's not about selling something or inviting someone to church - it's about denying fear and reaching out, building relationships with others by finding a love that is not our own through Christ.  

The world is not transformed through pot lucks, car washes, and Easter altar calls, it is transformed by laying ourselves down and surrendering to Jesus daily so that we may hear His voice and show His love. 

And I find this song to be a great encouragement in that regard.