Focus: The Lovely Jesus!

Text: Song of Sol.5:16

"Yea, he is altogether lovely."

The Song of Solomon is a book of romantic poetry. It teaches us the lofty notion of love, especially within the context of marriage. Love is music to the soul. Nothing can take the place of love in relationships. Solomon teaches us of the loftiness of marriage, the sacredness of love, and the fact that the heart serves as its sanctuary.

But beyond love, marriage and sex, the Church sees the Song of Solomon as a book that speaks of the mystical union that exists between Christ and his church and the deep, high, wide and endless love we share.

It is in this light that we are looking at our text. I call it the spiritual message of the Song of Solomon. The church is here saying that Christ is "altogether lovely." Christ is our object of delight. He is good and kind. He is lovely and loving. He is utterly admirable and evermore adorable.

General Wallace, having surveyed the different branches of human learning, submits that Christ is "the loftiest ideal of literature, the greatest personality of philosophy, the fundamental doctrine of theology, the supreme problem of criticism, the cardinal necessity of religion, and the closest friend of every man."

The words of Christ are pure words and his works are perfect. In his presence everyone feels at home. He is not only lovely, but altogether so. Looking at Jesus Christ from every angle we could see a Being so perfectly desirable. He quenches the thirst of the human soul.

After speaking, his large audience said, "What a word is this!" After stilling the storm, his disciples marveled and said, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him!" The Apostle John says of him, that "his commandments are not grievous."

Every side you turn you see a man of sweet words and a figure of spotless character. He loves to the extreme, loves extravagantly, and loves to the very end. He loves utterly and forgives totally. His doctrine enlightens and enriches the soul, and his deeds gladdens and captivates the heart. He never leaves our sides, but sticks with us forever.

Beloved of God, Jesus Christ is satisfying to the soul, and I know it. He is indeed perfect man and perfect God. In him we see the perfect union of humanity and divinity, and we bow at his feet to worship. Yes, He is altogether lovely.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter