Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Greetings, dear ones, on this quiet cool Sunday morning.
We still have details to work out for today…some details having to do with Thano’s ailing truck and his need to get to his work shift at Safeway…and with two little boys here this weekend. I happened into a guy yesterday that may be dropping a new starter into his truck today. We’ll see.
After sending this I’ll return to the house to confer with Becki on our plans…and determine if I have enough time to do a little jog before heading in other directions.
Contrary to a lot of popular opinion, JESUS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Deal with it!..as you do your day.
Love and prayers, Dad/Ray.
I figured out that Santa Claus was a myth when I was 5 years old. I made waves early in life by declaring my belief to some of my kindergarten classmates—rocking their world. Even the teacher was not very happy with me for that. While I am reasonably tolerant of our nostalgic American traditions, I still hold some simmering contempt for Santa Claus—simply because he’s not real. He’s a fraud—a fake—he’s not the real deal. He’s only an empty distracting counterfeit of the real deal—the One Who is speaking in our reading.
While our cute traditional folklore claims that Santa Claus “knows when you are sleeping, and knows when you’re awake, and knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good—for goodness sake!”—Jesus, the All Knowing One, really and truly does know (See Hebrews 4:13). So why wouldn’t a person want to seek Him and partake of His goodness and grace?—for goodness sake!—for God’s sake!—for their own sake!
This claim to omniscience is repeated throughout these letters to the seven churches. I count 5 times in today’s passage alone. (1) “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance” (2:2). (2) “I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men…” (2:2). (3) “I know your afflictions and your poverty…” (2:9). (4) “I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not…” (2:9). (5) “I know where you live…” (2:13).
Of course there is value in exploring what exactly it is that Jesus knows about these symbolic churches, but there is also great value in simply knowing that HE KNOWS. Coming to think of it, omniscience (knowing all) is a very logical and appropriate attribute for The One Who is the Alpha and Omega—the Beginning and the End. How could it be otherwise?