Today I’m playing a piece by Bach called “These Holy Ten Commandments.” It’s some of his finest work. After a little intro, you’ll hear the melody in cannon, played on the oboe stop. A canon is a musical technique whereby a melody can be played with itself but delayed in time. It’s like Row, Row, Row Your Boat where you can sing the melody with itself in a round. Canon really means “rule of law,” so in a musical canon, one part follows the lead, or law. How befitting for the Ten Commandments!

The Commandments are held as the golden standard of morality, but they seem to have created much controversy. I’m sure that those who want to erect monuments of them in public places have broken all ten and couldn’t name but two, yet they insist on “teaching” about God’s holiness with great confrontation. Is there a better way to teach?

Monuments, bumper stickers, and flags try to “teach” by jamming the information “in.” Drilling a subject is a good way to create a backlash. When I first started teaching, I learned this the hard way. But artful people, like Jesus and Bach knew how to take deep spiritual teachings, convert them into works of art, and deliver the penetrating, soul-warming truth of God. In other words, a master teacher calms the savage beast not overtly, but creatively.

Jesus did this very thing. He took ancient wisdom and cleverly “hid” it in fictitious stories called parables. Their message pierces the soul and converts the savage beast into an enlightened being. Likewise, Bach recrafted spiritual truths in his music. He was a well-read scholar, having written copious notes in the margin of his bible. He learned something deep, and it shows in his music. Jesus’ stories were crafty, and he most likely enjoyed making them up. Storytelling is an artform. Likewise, Bach took The Ten Commandments and recrafted them into something you might think of as just a lovely piece of music. That’s exactly what he was going after.

Art takes life lessons and hard truths, like The Commandments, and converts them into symbols of God’s love. A bad teacher inflames the ego by regurgitating the material and force feeding it, thus creating a backfire. But a master teacher ingests the truth, invaginates it, and turns it into a fire that lights the world with love. A master teacher is a storyteller in a sense. Through the creative process, they lovingly deliver the message that delivers people from their ignorance.

Wise words and sublime music can teach forever and can reach countless people. That’s why you notice something new each time you rehear the parables of Jesus and music like that of J.S. Bach’s. Repetitive hammering hasn’t worked. Who would have ever thought that a parable or a lovely piece of music could teach and transform generations?

When recrafted expressively, the lessons of God will seep into the soul and echo eternally in the ethos. Monuments, flags, and bumper stickers seem most ineffectual. We’ve got to get more creative, and there are great examples to follow. Like in a musical canon, you can take the lead and invent a coercive melody. As the savage beast is subdued by its love, he follows in the dance of enlightenment. That’s how you become a great leader and teacher, but ultimately, it’s how you make the world more harmonious. Soli Deo Gloria!