Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear ones, on a beautiful clear morning.

Becki is off to the Bible Study she leads at Woodburn. I’m trying to knock out some desk work before I go out and crank up the sawmill which is just outside this door at present. It may get pretty warm according to predictions.

We did our entire walk/jog this morning without any balls. All we did was tell the dogs to find a ball. They seemed to do some looking. Normally they will turn up with one, since there are so many scattered all over this property. But nothing turned up this morning—except a bunch of canine frustration. I just checked the box. There are only 8 balls left. We began with 120—I gave about 30 away—which means these dogs have lost about 80 tennis balls over the course of about 1 year.

Time to work. Blessings.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Barabbas. I would not be surprised to meet him in heaven. Let me try to offer my reasoning.

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.

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