I am Barabbas!
9/24/2009 11:05:12 PM
Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified~   But they all cried out together, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas"--a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.


Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified~

But they all cried out together, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas"--a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify Him!" A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has He done? I have found in Him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release Him." But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that He should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should get granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, 'but he delivered Jesus over to their will. Luke 23.18-25



Good Morning.

Down inside a cold, dank prison, Barabbas is waiting for them to come and get him as he will soon be executed--it is just a matter of when. He can hear a ruckus outside, but figures there is just another trial going on. . . maybe he will learn more of it later. Just a second. . . the noise seems to be getting closer. . . maybe this will be the day justice is meted out to him. After all, he deserved it--a robber, a trouble-maker (in the truest sense of the word), he was even guilty of murder. But as he hears the guard's voice joining in with the throng of the approaching crowd, he realizes he is not to be killed; rather, he is about to be released. How could this be?! The Romans didn't make mistakes of this nature, and they certainly weren't kind, so what has happened?


'What happened, man, what happened?' he asks the jailer, before he starts heading up the stairs to the outside. 'Pilate gave the people their choice, agreeing to release one prisoner this season; he gave them a choice--you or Jesus of Nazareth.' 'They chose me over Jesus? Why? How could they?' But then, as he emerges, he joins a crowd of revelers shouting, "Crucify Him!"


Several roles being acted out here--five different perspectives at play:

Pilate, the governor - The civil case against Jesus thrust on him by the Sanhedrin, demanding he find Jesus guilty and sentence Him to be executed. But--Pilate doesn't find Him guilty, in fact, he wants to run from any 'guilty!' verdict. And yet, once the religious leaders yelled, "if you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar!" that did it. He had to hand Jesus over since he was terrified of losing favor. So, he subjugated his own conscience, and in a sense, sold his soul, to mollify the angry crowd and retain his position.


Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee - Also urged to render Jesus guilty and have Him executed - Well, I guess he had sense enough not to do it, but probably because he was just too distracted by his own pursuits of wanton pleasure, not because he was interested in truth.


Pilate's wife-Claudia - While she had been so troubled by her dream that she warned Pilate not to have anything to do with Jesus, she was easily refocused, once Pilate superficially 'washed his hands of any guilt.' I get the feeling that it was not because she was interested in knowing Jesus of Nazareth or saving Him even, but she just didn't want any bad karma.


The religious leaders - They were not concerned with truth, or they would have looked more closely at Jesus and how His life backed up His claims; they would have matched those to the message of their own prophet, Isaiah, for instance. They were angry, insistent, persistent, and out for blood; nothing less would satisfy them but to put an end to Jesus, King of the Jews, once and for all. (or so they thought)


Barabbas - Now, Barabbas comes on the scene--the luckiest guy in Jerusalem! How could the crowd demand his release ahead of Jesus? Would you be interested to know that Barabbas in Hebrew means "son of the father"? Barabbas and Jesus changed places. Barabbas was guilty, and he knew it; the One to take his cross and his place was innocent. Barabbas knew that Jesus Christ was for him a true substitute.


Five perspectives. . . five vantage points~ then, of course, there are the faces in the crowd. . . where do you find yourself?

>Like Pilate, do you have a thought about Christ, even a conviction, but you can be dissuaded, pulled away?

or >like Herod, are you just consumed with the pleasures of the flesh, the good fortune of the day, without remembering eternity is set by

our own choices?

>Like Pilate's wife, do you give fair play to all the popular religious viewpoints, wanting to make sure you don't offend any, all the while,

remembering that Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through me."

>If you're reading this, you are probably not in the camp of the religious leaders. . . I pray

>Like Barabbas, though. . . well, we are like Barabbas, aren't we? He became our substitution. . . Jesus changed places with us. . .

Like Barabbas, we are guilty, but Jesus willingly chose to pay the debt we could not.

Grace. . . isn't it amazing?

How then shall we live?

Christine