“They Baptized Jesse Taylor…”

I have been told I have a weird taste in music. For one thing I love the old Gospel tunes, especially the ones that speak of our eternal home. Stuff like “I’ll Fly Away,” Victory in Jesus,” Johnny Cash’s “Oh Come Angel Band” and “This World is Not My Home.” It is the messages I like as much as the upbeat music itself. This world really is not our home and if we can get our heads around that fact, it will give us a better attitude toward this life and everything in it.

And I like the love stories. Not the sleepy dreamy stuff that show up as background in the romance movies, but stories. More like “If I could walk 500 miles, then I would walk 500 more just to be the man who walks 1000 miles and falls down at your door.” And “Would you lay with me in a field of stone?” Or “I’ll bring you a daisy a day, dear.”

Some of the outlier stuff I enjoy is the Oak Ridge Boys, Mavis Staples, Cat Stevens. I don’t know where all that fits in the great scheme of things.

But one song that has gotten me some attention lately for its unusual theme is one I keep playing for people. I even played it for the two very distinguished older women who are now coming to a Bible class of sorts that we do every Sunday afternoon. It is “They Baptized Jesse Taylor in Cedar Creek Last Sunday.” 

The title tells the story. The first verse tells of the slack of business in all the local taverns “Cause Jesse’s drinking came before the groceries and the rent.” It speaks of a slack in cheating among the local women “‘Cause Jesse won’t be stepping out again,” and of the gamblers' pockets missing Jesse's money.

And the last verse talks of Nancy Taylor proudly speaking with neighbors and telling them how Jesse has “took up with” little Jim. It goes on “Now Jimmy’s got a daddy and Jesse’s got a family and 'Franklin County’s got a lot more man.'”

But it is the chorus that I can’t get out of my head.

“They baptized Jesse Taylor in Cedar Creek last Sunday!”

“Jesus gained a soul and Satan lost a good right arm.” And I love this part:

 “They all cried ‘Hallelujah!!’ when Jesse’s head went under.”

“’Cause this time he went under for the lord.”

What keeps that song in my mind is that it is about redemption. If Jesse can make it, then so can you and I and our friends and relatives that need salvation. And I really like the connection it makes between baptism and a changed life. Just like the 3000 new Christians on the day the church was established and like the Ethiopian on his way home from the celebration in Jerusalem and like Cornelius, the first Non-Jewish convert, all of whom were baptized when they were converted, and like the jailer in Philippi after Paul and Silas saved his life by staying in the prison after God opened it for them to walk out.

The church shouted “Hallelujah” when Jesse's head went under not because they had gained a convert to their way of thinking, but because Jesse had gained a relationship with Jesus – a relationship that would change his life and serve him forever.

Hallelujah!

"They Baptized Jesse Taylor..."