Jesus at the Grammys?

The Grammy Awards, the American Music industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, were held last week. I have no great interest in them to be honest, but my eye was caught by a clip of one of the winners.

Standing with a tattooed face, and holding a small pocket Bible in one hand and his award in the other, was a man with the improbable name of Jelly Roll. He’s a country singer—not quite my genre, I’m more of a rock man—and he won a string of awards in a variety of categories.

It was the small Bible that caught my eye—something unmistakable about the size and shape. So I watched the rest of the clip and was rather surprised to hear what he said:

“First of all, Jesus, I hear you and I’m listening, Lord. I am listening, Lord. I would have never changed my life without you. I’d have ended up dead or in jail. I’d have killed myself if it wasn’t for you Jesus. I thank you for that. There was a time in my life, y’all, that I was broken. That’s why I wrote this album. I didn’t think I had a chance, y’all. There was days that I thought the darkest things. I was a horrible human.”

Holding up a pocket-sized Bible, he continued, “There was a moment in my life that all I had was a Bible this big and a radio the same size and a 6-by-8-foot cell. And I believe that those two things could change my life. I believe that music had the power to change my life. And God had the power to change my life.”

“I want to tell y’all right now, Jesus is for everybody,” he added. “Jesus is not owned by one political party. Jesus is not owned by no music label. Jesus is Jesus, and anybody can have a relationship with Him. I love you, Lord.”

I don’t know much more about the man. I’ve listened to some of his music this morning—some of it full of dark themes like addiction, relapse, and self-destructiveness. The language is rough sometimes, the experience, no doubt, far rougher. There is a rawness about it all. But he seems to have hit a turning point in his life and the songs capture that vividly. I’m not going to endorse either him (I don’t know enough about him) or his language—like all of Christ’s people, he’s a work in progress, and I know Christ still has work to do on me too. But I am going to endorse his message: Jesus is for everyone.

There was a sheer power and passion to his words—find the clip online—that captured the dynamic power of Jesus Christ to transform a life, to bring hope where there was no hope, freedom where there was bondage, to give a new identity that is better than any other.

And that is what Christ does. He still transforms lives. He still gives hope. He still forgives sins. He still removes shame, guilt and fear.

Something else struck me. It was refreshing to hear someone actually mention Jesus by name. Over the last number of years it’s been ok to talk about being spiritual (big applause for that) and even to talk about God in some generic sense, but to name the name of Jesus often makes people uncomfortable. So it was great to hear someone being unashamed in speaking about what Jesus Christ meant to them, and specifically his power to save. It is only knowing Jesus that we can be forgiven and helped. He is the only way to God. Generic ‘Godness’ isn’t enough. We need Jesus. 

Jesus is indeed for everybody. Doesn’t matter who you are, or what you have done. Whoever comes to him, he will never turn away.