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We are pleased to release a new composition by musician Meaghan Burke, a response to Jesus' foretelling of his second coming in Matthew 24 in which he describes to his the disciples that all the horrors of war and famine will be a mere prelude to the sorrows of the apocalypse - only "the beginning of birth pangs."
Matthew 24:1-14
A few concerns concerning the second coming
By
Meaghan Burke
Credits:
Artist Location: Brooklyn, New York
Curated by:
James Hall
2012
Primary Scripture
Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.
But he answered them,
“You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered them,
“Be careful that no one leads you astray.
For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.
But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.
Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.
Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.
But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:1-14
Share This Art:
This image of birth led me to imagine the chagrin that earth must feel to be told that all the catastrophes it suffers, from earthquakes to civil war, are nothing in comparison to what will come. I envisoned the earth as a mother unable to believe that, after suffering over and over and over again, there is any suffering left to spare. The song alternates between the perspective of this weary world, forced to destroy the children it has borne, and that of a human being, with the very human concerns of being separated from those she loves (“what if I am taken and you are left?”) and being deceived by the so-called “false prophets” (“what if I see Him where I’m not supposed to?”). The final chorus asks, simply, in an anguished bluesy lament, why anyone or anything would build such a beautiful thing as this world, only to destroy it.
Spark Notes
The Artist's Reflection
Meaghan Burke’s debut album Other People’s Ghosts (for cello and voice) sounds like what would happen if if Jacqueline Du Pré were raised on rock and roll, and folk, and cabaret, and blues, and free jazz, and spent too long in Vienna. Or if Tom Waits picked up the cello, drank several pots of coffee, and had a sex change. Whatever that means.
Above all, Other People’s Ghosts is about stories – of bedbugs, of bedfellows, of things like love – and Burke’s rich yet vulnerable, smoky-toned voice and deep, growling cello keep these stories playing over and over in our heads long after the last track is finished.
Meaghan Burke
About the Artist
Meaghan Burke
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