The Man Who Can't Be Moved (Part 1)
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved was written by the Irish rock band The Script and first released in the UK in 2008. It climbed the US charts in 2009 and retains worldwide popularity to this day. When a friend introduced the song to me years ago, I was caught off guard by how the lyrics inspired me.
The song tells a story about a guy in love with a girl. To demonstrate his passion, the man camps out on the street corner where the two first met, hoping she might see him and return to him one day.
In an interview, band members Danny O'Donoghue and Mark Sheehan said the song is about “true emotion and true love” and doing something “selfless.” It's no wonder the song became such a hit. These universal desires are deeply embedded in our hearts.
But why do expressions of love sung about in this song resonate with so many around the world? What if our desire for selfless love is a compass or clue? Perhaps, just perhaps, songs like The Man Who Can't Be Moved inspire us because they unknowingly point to the source and ultimate fulfillment for those longings?
With that in mind, let's take a look at the lyrics and compare them with what some have called “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
Going Back to the Corner Where I First Saw You . . .
The place where Jesus died was a type of corner. It was actually an intersection. Christ’s crucifixion was the crossroads where God’s justice towards sin intersected with his mercy and compassion for sinners.
God is just. He loves righteousness and hates evil (Is. 61:8, Ps. 5:4-5). He cannot sweep sin under the rug. It is treason of the highest order. Sin tempts me, a finite creature, to rebel against my Creator by exalting my preferences, desires, and will above God’s.
If God ignored my sin and yours, he would be unjust. Anarchy would rule the universe. All of creation would be forever enslaved to a man-centered, seductive evil that, in the end, distorts and destroys.
Out of a deep love for justice and truth, God solemnly declares that everyone who sins must die (Ezek. 18:20, Rom. 6:23).
But God was not content to only express justice. His compassion and desire for sinners compelled him to meet the demands of his own justice. In love, God stepped out of heaven. He became human in the person of Jesus.
Christ lived a perfectly holy and blameless life. Jesus was tempted everyday in the same way that you and I are tempted, yet he did not sin (Heb. 4:15). He could not be moved.
Out of a deep reverence for God, and unconquerable love for you and me, Jesus resolved to keep himself pure and spotless. Through his obedience, Jesus fulfilled all of God’s moral laws and earned perfect righteousness (Mt. 5:17).
In his sinless perfection, Jesus willingly became the sin-bearer. God the Father somehow laid your sin and mine upon Jesus and punished him in our place (Is. 53:5-6).
The punishment that you and I deserved was not swept under the rug. It was poured out in terrifying fullness upon Jesus as he was humiliated, tortured, and ultimately executed on the cross (Is. 52:14, Is. 50:6, Mt. 26:67, Mt. 27:26)!
But that’s not all.
As our sin and punishment was placed on Jesus, God the Father took Christ’s’ righteousness and placed it on us. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
It’s one thing for a judge to pardon a death row convict. It’s a completely different matter if the judge steps down from his bench, exchanges his robe for the prisoner’s uniform, serves the criminal’s sentence, and through his execution, makes the lawbreaker “Citizen of the Year.” Yet that’s exactly what Jesus did for you and me by not moving off the cross.
On the cross, Jesus became the intersection or “corner” where God had always planned to meet you and me. In the bloodied, crucified body of Jesus, God's holy justice towards sin was fully expressed together with his indescribable mercy and compassion for sinners.
The age-old hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, describes this intersection beautifully:
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Even though Jesus is no longer on the cross, his crucifixion will always serve as the “corner” where you can encounter God, no matter how far you feel from him.
That sacred meeting place was planned before the world was created (Rev. 13:8), and it will be the centerpiece of worship throughout eternity (Rev. 5:11-13).
Continued in Part 2
