Keeping Jesus and the Babe

WHEN OUR ACTIONS MAKE NO SENSE, the world makes no sense. Our actions make no sense when our thoughts and beliefs make no sense. Consider, for example, religion. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ makes no more sense than, say, the selling of Babe Ruth, maybe even less. Jesus was totally innocent, and was arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and murdered under false justice, by people behaving like idiots, all too humanly. Babe Ruth was sold by the Red Sox to the Yankees in 1920 for one hundred thousand dollars to finance a Broadway play, and the Red Sox didn't even get any players in the deal. The Babe led the Yankees to glory, which lasts even unto this very day, while the Red Sox suffered much frustration for the selling of the Babe. Christians often believe that Jesus died for our sins, and they seem to find this arrangement wonderful. But do you, deep down, really want somebody else to take the blame for and to suffer punishment for what you do? Normally you wouldn't. Normally, we are all taught personal responsibility, and to be accountable for our actions, willing to accept the consequences. As wonderful as Jesus was, can you imagine how much more he could have given us had he lived another, say, fifty years? For him to die so unnecessarily, and so prematurely was and remains one of the great tragedies of human history. When Babe Ruth was with the Red Sox, he was young, healthy, the best pitcher in baseball, and he could hit a baseball a country mile, and, during his time with the team, the Red Sox had already won the World Series, and seemed to have the promise to do so many more times. Then, they sold the Babe, and the Babe did the same for the Yankees, bringing them glory and success, while the Red Sox sank into long term frustration and mediocrity. The moral of the story? If you are fortunate enough to have a Jesus or a Babe Ruth on your team....keep him.