And They Cried out for Bar Abbas

 

In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. The first line of John confounds us in its simplicity. It displays the nature of God in a way that in and of itself sparks controversy. Defining the Word of God as a separate entity yet being with God. In the beginning. That very phrase tells us that whatever this Word was or is that it was there from the start. From the beginning and since God has no creator it implies equality. Not created by God but with God.

 

Later theologians would try to define the Trinity. Jesus would exemplify this by declaring that He and His Father are one. So the logical mind could only deduce that if the Word was there in the beginning that the Son, also was there and that gives us the Trinity. And it gives us unlimited debate because if the wise among us could not count to two they most likely had issues with three.

 

These debates bleed over to atheist circles and understanding the surface definition of the  beginning of John without introspection they very quickly go to the next level only to find the same problems those of faith found. How can one be three be one? How can there be a Triune God without polytheism? Is God schizophrenic?

 

The problem is not God, it’s man! Or rather man’s understanding under the rules and laws of language. Most of us have that little voice in our head. It works us through difficult times, cheers us on or even amuses us. Ask yourself. How do you hear that voice? How does it manifest itself. Does it come as pure thought? An understanding of some concept? Or does it come in language. There are two methods you know. The long, drawn out wordy dialogue, complete with mistakes and corrections and there are the pure thought kind. The kind that you just know. All language starts with a thought. Reducing that thought to language is the problem.

 

Though we can try to define thoughts we can never quite get there. There is always an edit. A restatement or redefining. Sometimes even a denial or apology. Because the road from brain to mouth has no GPS and it’s always recalculating. Once I can get you to understand that we can move on to the reason for this piece.

 

Recently I saw a video where it was asked why Jesus didn’t leave any written works. The video supposed four theories all the way from Jesus being an illiterate carpenter to His never had existed at all and the New Testament was just a continuation of some group expounding old concepts mixed with some of their ideas that ended up being a new religion. Let’s go back. In the beginning. God didn’t have a publisher. Or an agent, or BMI, ASCAP, or any other device regulating the creations that flowed from discussions or free thought. And yet all the writings of the New Testament seem to settle on certain concepts. True, Jesus never wrote a grocery list but he was booked solid for three years. And yes He came from an area with a lot of poorly educated people. He even made some of these people disciples. I’ll also give you the fact that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not pen  the original autographs that we call the New Testament. I’ll admit that the stories were passed down orally until the Council of Nicaea finally had enough and separated the wheat from the chaff in 325 AD and will further go on to say that even then they didn’t get it exactly right. They couldn’t. They were using the words of men to define the Word of God!

 

Jesus was trying to boil complicated rabbinical theory down to a series of examples that people could understand. And at almost every event the elite would show up and try to trap him in his speech. And leave scratching their heads. “Love your neighbor,” being challenged by, “Who is my neighbor?” “The kingdom of God is within you.” And it is! It’s that inner voice, the one that you break down to words.

 

Jesus never wrote anything down because He didn’t have to. He didn’t come to write a New Testament. We did that. And that writing had nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. It was a creation of man. An attempt to sign God to a contract. And naturally atheists and lawyers rip it all apart.

 

Moses didn’t have to chisel out those Ten Commandments. Every one of them are already etched in the human gnome. Don’t lie, don’t murder, take care of your parents, don’t date someone else’s wife. You have to be told that? You know when you do wrong. Yet the Jews added 613 footnotes from how to cut your hair to how to cut your . . . well, we won’t go there. Jesus just took not working on the Sabbath and reminded the snipped crowd that they would pull a trapped animal out of a mud hole any day of the week. He led by example because the Word printed those rules on the hearts of men. That’s why they’re so easy to remember. How many of you can’t quite quote four of the Ten Commandments yet can remember the whys and wherefores of every one of them. That’s because you were born with them.

 

Of course read your Bible. It’s inspiring. But don’t kill your daughter because she had a boyfriend before she was married. And don’t engage in tangled debates with nonbelievers. They know the same truths you do. They just don’t know why.

 

And they cried out to free Barabbas. And they led the Son of the Father (Bar Abbas) to be crucified. Those who have ears, let him hear.