'Funny' isn't exactly the first word that comes to mind....

The lyrics to Dave Matthews Band's newest single captures the very same theme that actually inspired the title of this blog, Redemption Groanings. The song is all about how this world is not the way it's supposed to be; it's called Funny the Way it Is:

Lying in the park on a beautiful day
The sunshine in the grass
And the children play
Sirens passing fire engine red
Someone's house is burning down
On a day like this

The evening comes and we're hanging out
On a front step and a car goes by
With the windows rolled down
And that war song is playing
Why can't we be friends
Someone is screaming and crying
In the apartment upstairs

Funny the way it is
Make you think about it
Somebodies going hungry
And someone else is eating out
Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
Somebodies heart is broken
And it becomes your favorite song

The way your mouth feels in your lover's kiss
Like a pretty bird on the breeze
Or water to a fish
The bomb blast brings the building crashing to the floor
Hear the laughter
While the children play war

Funny the way it is
Make you think about it
One kid walks ten miles to school
An others dropping out
Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
A soldiers last breath
His babies being born

Standing on a bridge
Watch the water passing underneath
It must have been much harder
When there was no bridge just water
Now the world is small
Compared to how it use to be
With mountains and oceans
And winters and rivers and stars

Funny the way it is
Make you think about it
One kid walks ten miles to school
An others dropping out
Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
A soldiers last breath
His babies being born

Funny the way it is
Not right or wrong
Somebodies broken heart
And it becomes your favorite song
Funny the way it is
Make you think about it
One kid walks ten miles to school
Another's dropping out

There is something very right about this song, and yet at the same time something terribly wrong. How can Matthews possibly say, 'Funny the way it is/not right or wrong, On a soldier's last breath/His baby's being born' That's not funny, Dave, it's wrong! It's not the way things ought to be!

But what a great joy it is to ponder that our Redeemer is coming, who will one day make all things new. How I wish I had an hour with Dave Matthews to tell him that it's okay to see something wicked and declare it 'wrong,' not 'funny', and to share the great hope of redemption with him!