All We Like Sheep

To modern ears, the music of past centuries can seem quaint and archaic, very unlike the music of our time. For example, when listening to the music of Carlo Gesualdo, a composer born in Naples, Italy, in 1556, we might imagine that he must have been serene and saintly. But the facts tell a much different story.

His music has been called “extreme” and “eccentric.” Critics have said that his music reveals “a stubbornly individual mind at work.”

Gesualdo also had a violent temper. This became clear on this day in 1590, when he caught his wife having an affair with the Duke of Andria. Assisted by three servants, he killed both his wife and her lover.

The murders sparked a scandal, but Gesualdo never faced a trial and was able to resume his life as a composer. But he would be remembered forever as a murderer, not just a musician.

History continually demonstrates that the human heart hasn’t changed. Like Adam and Eve, we all sin and fall short. And throughout time, we’ve seen people commit murder, just as Cain killed his brother Abel.

The Bible tells us that “nothing under the sun is truly new” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). God sees the reality of our lives and knows that “the human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).

What is the solution? It is not merely education or self-improvement. Our only hope is in God.

All of us tend to go our own way. We all, just like sheep, “have strayed away.” But God sent Jesus to die for our sins, so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. The Lord wants us to be restored in our relationship with Him, able to experience the fullness of all He has prepared for us.