The Nowhere Man vs. the Son of Man

“He’s a real nowhere man sitting in his nowhere land making all his nowhere plans for nobody.” (Nowhere Man, by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, 1965) In the fall of 1965, while trying to come up with one last song to conclude the Beatles’ Rubber Soul album in his home of Kenwood in Weybridge, England, John Lennon found himself facing a case of severe writer’s block. Try as he might, Lennon was unable to come up with any ideas, so after struggling unsuccessfully for some five hours he did what many of us do while facing similar circumstances: he gave up! It was not until he finally “surrendered” to his writer’s block that Lennon was able to come up with this very enjoyable song. As he later described what transpired that day, Lennon said, "I'd actually stopped trying to think of something. Then I thought of myself as Nowhere Man – sitting in his nowhere land." He later added, “I'd spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then Nowhere Man came, words and music, the whole . . . thing as I lay down." Although this song came about because John Lennon began writing a song about his inability to write a song, it is much more than that. It is an introspective look at how Lennon was feeling at the time. “Doesn’t have a point of view. Knows not where he’s going to. Isn’t he a bit like you and me?” John Lennon felt that he was a victim of his own fame. What is ironic is that although he was a multi-millionaire living in a beautiful mansion, his material possessions had left him feeling unfulfilled. He was trapped in his “nowhere land making all his nowhere plans.” Young people, in particular, looked to him and his fellow band members for all the answers to all their questions, and John Lennon was telling them, if they would but listen, that he did not have any. He was in just as much need of assistance as they were. What is even further ironic is that later on Lennon was right in saying, “All you need is love.” Unfortunately, however, the love that will truly save was not the love of which Lennon spoke. The Apostle John (and not John Lennon) tells us rightfully that “God is love” in 1 John 4:8, and He demonstrated His love for mankind by giving us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). He did this while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8) and His enemy (James 4:4). It is the love of God and a love for God that will truly save. It is His love that is all you need. John Lennon may have owned a mansion, yet the Son of God was homeless. As He said of Himself in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head.” And yet, in spite of this, Jesus Christ was also able to tell us in Matthew 11:28-30 what John Lennon could not: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” It seems to me that John Lennon would have been better off if he would have reached out to the Lord and learned of Him. May we all learn this valuable lesson in our own lives today so that we will never again be unfulfilled, feeling ourselves to be “nowhere men,” but give our lives to the Lord and drink of the “spring of water welling up to eternal life,” (John 4:14).