Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good good morning to you, fellow earthlings.

Yes…I guess I’m an earthling for the time being…but not for long. You know the song…”This world is not my home…I’m just a’ passin’ through…my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue…” Laying aside my terminal human condition, the unfolding of current events is enough to convince me that it can’t be long. Another old satirical song comes to mind…”But we can be thankful and tranquil and proud, for man’s been endowed with a mush-room-shaped cloud…and we know for certain that some happy day…someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away.”

I could get carried away…but I really need to get jogging away…as Becki and I agreed to do so together about now. And Max is here to remind me that it’s time.

Have a great upward-looking day!

Love, Dad/Ray

Barabbas. I think it’s very likely that I will meet him in heaven.

There is a good deal of evidence that Barabbas was something like “public enemy number one” in Jerusalem at this time. Being guilty of murder and trying to stir up a revolution, he had violated both Roman and Jewish law. For Pilate, it was inconceivable to believe that these Jewish leaders would want such a notorious criminal released instead of Jesus. So he proposed it, probably thinking this was the perfect solution to this difficult problem on his hands. What a shock when the Jews demanded the death of a clearly innocent man and the release of a clearly guilty man.

No doubt it was a shock for Barabbas too. Up till now all he had to look forward to was a terrible death for his crimes. We can only imagine how he must have felt when the head guard announced to him that he was now free and then ushered him out of the prison. If the full impact of exactly what was taking place ever came to weigh on his mind, I find it hard to believe that he could very easily have returned to a life of crime. The very thought that Jesus was to die on the same cross that had been prepared for him would have to be a very heavy thought indeed.

Your name is not Barabbas. And you may have been a follower of Christ for a long time. But this story needs to have heavy impact upon your own heart and mind too. Think of it. If our Biblical theology is straight, Jesus was mocked, abused, and crucified for YOU. He really did die in YOUR place. It’s evidence that God really does love YOU. And if that truly grips you like it should, there is no way you can conscientiously go out there and carry on with business as usual—return to a life of crime against the law and love of God.