Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good morning, dear ones.
I’m being irregular here—partly because yesterday was such an irregular day. To begin with, I had to be at a doctor’s office in Silverton for a blood draw at 8am. Then it became so congested that I never did get to finish up the composition I began early. But rather than just leave it be, I decided this morning to simply send off my unfinished thoughts from yesterday—and leave you hanging with your own meditations. Now I’ll turn my attention to the passage for today.
We had some fun the other morning on our little walk/jog excursion. A senior couple from the top of the hill stopped and chatted for a few minutes. I asked, “Are you guys going out to breakfast?” The husband said, “No—I’m taking her to TOPS.” (Becki informed me that TOPS stands for Taking Off Pounds Sensibly.) Just for fun I impulsively asked, “Do you ever go to BOTTOMS?” The wife immediately came back with a smile, “No—but I should.” We snickered all the way back home.
I need to squeeze a lot into this day. In the mix we have two little wild boys for the weekend. Oh yes—I need to remember that it’s VALENTINE’S DAY.
Blessings on yours
Love, Dad/Ray.
Within the realm of humanity it virtually never happens to meet up with an angel of this description: “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow” (v. 3). So the spontaneous human emotion of fear is very understandable. That particular angel dropping in at the tomb of Jesus, accompanied by an earthquake, then rolling away that massive sealed stone, sure had a fearful effect on the guards. “The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men” (v. 4) The angel never told those guards, “Do not be afraid.” Instead, it seems he was quite OK with their intensity of fear. I think it was intended. And he didn’t leave immediately. There was more to do on this particular angelic assignment. He parked himself atop that stone and waited for the two Marys to show. He knew they were coming. To them the first words he spoke were, “Do not be afraid.” It’s not very easy to obey a command like that in a setting like that. They had to be surprised and freaked with a good measure of fear by this spectacular encounter, but there was something within them that prevented uncontrollable shaking and causing them to become like dead women. That special something within them had to be the special connection with the One Who was sealed in that tomb three days ago. They loved Jesus. The guards didn’t.