On SBS

[Balfron]

Hey, just gave a little talk on my fav band and my 'demo' song was Sunday Bloody Sunday from Live Aid

Has anyone ever noticed the line "to fight the battle jesus won ON Sunday Bloody Sunday.

it seems that jesus dying on the cross was another 'bloody sunday'?

 

[kikehisy]

The verse is:

The real battle yet begun
To claim the victory that Jesus won
On Sunday, Bloody Sunday

My interpretation:

Yes, the death of Jesus on the cross, which actually happened on a Friday (Good Friday), was a sort of Bloody Sunday in that he was the victim of violence committed allegedly in the cause of religion. But "the victory that Jesus won" happened with his resurrection on Sunday, which demonstrated God's triumph over the curse of death under which humanity lives. Anyone who is joined to Jesus by faith will ultimately experience the same triumph over death (I can provide a much longer explanation if you'd like). So the song is saying that the "real battle" people should fight is not the nationalistic, pseudo-religious civil war in Ireland, but to acheive the true peace that can only come from God's reconciling humanity to Himself and each other through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This victory has already happened ("Jesus won" = past tense) but must be appropriated by faith in each person's life (see 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5 and Colossians, Chapter 1 in the New Testament).

You may ask, then, if Jesus won this great victory 2000 years ago, why do so many awful things happen and why does Bono write songs like Wake Up Dead Man and Peace on Earth in response? The answer is explained by a famous World War II metaphor coined by the Swiss theologian Oscar Cullman. Jesus' death and resurrection is like D-Day - it was a decisive victory and the establishing of a beachhead that guaranteed ultimate triumph, but enemy resistance was still active afterward. Jesus' second coming is like V-Day - it will bring the final downfall of evil, pain, suffering, etc. as humanity and the earth are perfected and we achieve "heaven." In between the two, as we wait, we sing "how long . . . to sing this song?"

 

[Loz]

Wow that's a really good definition of it, my take on it was that maybe because of the wars and violence in ireland was due to religion that people thought that they were fighting in the name of Jesus, and both thought that they were acting in the way he wanted, when they clearly weren't, but to claim the victory jesus won, as if they're fighting for him, and it's like he's there, and the original battle, so they're claiming it as their own, i know that makes no sense at all but i hope someone understands what i'm on about

 

[VertigoGal]

during the Slane performance I swear it sounds like he's saying "we'll claim the victory til Jesus comes" lol

 

[Varitek]

I always thought it was referring to Jesus's message of peace and love for others. Now, in the wake of this Bloody Sunday, which featured followers of Jesus being decidedly NOT peaceful, we've got to battle for his message.

 

[cobl04]

Or maybe it's just that 'on sunday bloody sunday' just follows it and has nothing to do with it?

 

[Varitek]

Not true. If you read the interviews Bono always says that he meant to make it more clear that it was a comparison between the incident in 1972 where 13 peaceful protesters died and Easter Sunday, but he says he didn't do a good enough job with the lyrics. (This is part of a thing where he says he didn't finish the lyrics to many of the works that we see as most brilliant for their vagueness and their hinting at something in a more abstract or subtle sense.)

Edit: Check out the Rolling Stone interview for more on this.