Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear ones…

On this cooler fall morning. It feels like it won’t be long before we see frost on the ground.

There is so much chaos in the house with Becki so busy with getting breakfast amidst the quest of all three little boys (Thano being one of them) vying for her attention, that I gave up trying to get her attention so as to approve the final draft below. She did approve the first draft—so I’ll presume that she would this one and go ahead and send it. I admit that it became rather lengthy.

Some top items on my list are to put in some sawmill time, repair lighting on my flatbed trailer, stockpile some firewood inside beside the stove, and assemble some sign panels. I’d also like to assemble some applesauce. We’ll see.

With so much negative stuff out there, I hope your day is a positive one.

Love, Dad/Ray.

That is a tall order. If we try to take in all that Jesus is saying and do our utmost to understand and embrace this disclosure as TRUTH, I think it is intellectually impossible to not be amazed—that is, to not be in awe, to not marvel, to not be spell-bound, yet believing , with intense gratitude for it all. That’s the positive version of amazement in this case. I sure don’t think that’s the kind of amazement Jesus wishes to denounce. He has to be referring to the negative version—one that is shocked that anyone would put forth the idea of resurrection from the dead, as though that is incredulous, absurd, impossible, and worthy of complete rejection.

Let’s review some of the amazing things Jesus is saying in this encounter—things no ear has ever heard before. “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:24-30).

I know enough about living things to know that once they completely die, all physical life functions that characterized their living come to a halt—there are no more responses to stimuli. If your dog is dead, you can call him all you want to, but he won’t come—you can put out food, he won’t eat—poke him with a stick, he won’t wince—scratch his belly, his back leg won’t kick. Of course, the antagonists of Jesus know all this too. So when Jesus announces to them that dead people who are so dead they are completely decomposed are going to one day actually hear His voice, be recomposed, and empowered to respond to that call to the extent that they come out of their graves and live?!?!—that’s just more than they can bear! This guy has to have a major screw loose in his head! He’s crazy! This is absolutely ridiculous!

Just a minute, guys. Not so fast. Think about it. Grab a handful of dirt or gravel. Do you observe any ability to see, hear, smell, breath, move, or think? Of course not. Do you also see what has happened here? We human creatures tend to be so familiar with life and living things, so conditioned by that familiarity, so accepting of the proliferation of life, that we take it for granted, as though it were a force in and of itself— something very natural—and fail to recognize it for what it really is—a God thing—a supernatural phenomenon —an absolute physical impossibility independent of the Life Giver. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:3-5). Wow! Amazing! So here’s the deal as I see it: If God spoke the universe into existence in the first place and chose to infuse certain combinations of rock and water with His life-giving Spirit so as to make them live, how could it be such a big deal if He chose to reassemble those same living creatures, and cause them to live again? I have no alternative but to conclude that this is NO BIG DEAL whatsoever for the amazing Author of life. With no hesitation I urge you to bank on it!

While we are properly being amazed, this could be another appropriate occasion for singing “AMAZING GRACE.”