4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Track three is a portrait, and it is the saddest song on the album. There was a man who built a fence around the gospel. He preached on Sunday and named the wolves on Monday. He spent forty years standing the watch - and the song follows him, with a wry Alanis-style irony, all the way to the discovery that he was guarding a gate that was never his.
The cruelty here is gentle and exact. The man was sincere. He preached the truth, the way he had received it. He wrote earnest letters to younger pastors - never shrink from naming wolves. And the verse he built his whole career on, if any other gospel preach, came back to meet him from a face with scars. He had spent his life keeping keys he never owned, and the Lord he served simply walked past him to eat with the people he refused. The chorus says it with that bemused half-smile the song never drops. He named the wolves and missed the one he was.
I want to be careful about how this song is heard, because it is not gloating. It is a warning, and I have to hear it as much as anyone. The bridge is Lord, Lord, have I not preached meeting I never knew you - the most frightening exchange in all of Scripture. A man can do forty years of confident watchman's work and never once be known by the One he claimed to serve. The gate was never his to keep. That is the whole sermon, and the song lets the irony preach it.
Lyrics
[Intro]
There was a man who built a fence around the gospel
He preached on Sunday, named the wolves on Monday too
He wrote his pamphlets in the kitchen where his wife had died
And he never noticed every door he closed had closed on him
[Verse 1]
He preached the truth, the way he had received it
He hurled Galatians at every man who saw it differently
And the verse he taught his whole career, if any other gospel preach
Came back to him from a face with scars on the morning he stood up
He wrote his letters to the younger pastors
Never shrink from naming wolves, he said
And the wolves he had named, and the men he had defended,
Were on the other side of the chasm when he arrived
[Pre-Chorus]
Isn't it strange? Isn't it strange?
Isn't it strange how the men he had quoted
Stood on the wrong side of a chasm
That had already been fixed
[Chorus]
Forty years he stood the watch
Forty years he held the line
He was guarding a gate that was never his
He was keeping the keys he never owned
And the Lord he served walked past him
To eat with the people he refused
Isn't it ironic? It's a little ironic
He named the wolves and missed the one he was
[Verse 2]
He preached the most satisfying sermon of his life
On a Sunday in the chapel his father-in-law had built
He went home, sat down at the desk to write a letter
And the heart that carried him for sixty years just stopped
He opened his eyes in a room made of light
He had rehearsed the words for forty years in the shower
He cleared his throat the way he had always cleared it
And nothing came out, because the room was too large for the words
[Pre-Chorus]
Isn't it strange? Isn't it strange?
Isn't it strange how the words he had memorized
Were the only language the room would not hold
[Chorus]
Forty years he stood the watch
Forty years he held the line
He was guarding a gate that was never his
He was keeping the keys he never owned
And the Lord he served walked past him
To eat with the people he refused
Isn't it ironic? It's a little ironic
He named the wolves and missed the one he was
[Bridge]
Lord, Lord, have I not preached?
Lord, Lord, have I not stood?
Lord, Lord, did I not name the wolves?
The answer fell like winter rain
I never knew you
The chasm opened underneath him
The feast continued in the room next door
Without him, without his blessing
Because the gate was never his to keep
[Final Chorus]
Forty years he stood the watch
Forty years he held the line
He was guarding a gate that was never his
He was keeping the keys he never owned
And the Lord he served walked past him
To eat with the people he refused
Isn't it ironic? It's a little ironic
He named the wolves and missed the one he was
[Outro]
Isn't it ironic
Isn't it ironic
He never saw it coming
The man with the watch
The man with the keys
The chasm holds the gatekeeper
The chasm holds the gatekeeper
Commentary