Pieces - Jesus and Barabas

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.” 18 But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” 19 (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) 20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 22 For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” 23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will. - Luke 23:13-25

So we see the story of Jesus going to the cross and everything seems to be in order the stage is set. The religious leaders have fabricated stories, used their influence they have over the people in power and the people in Jerusalem, and they have Jesus brought before Pontis Pilate for a final time. What we know about Pilate is that he is a ruthless, vicious, iron fisted Roman soldier and now prefect of Jerusalem tasked to keep the peace between the Romans and the Jews. All that is needed now is for him to give the final order for Jesus to be crucified, but then there is this one character that seems to interrupt the narrative. His name’s Barabbas.

Barabbas is mentioned in all four Gospel account, but we don’t know much about him except that he’s a murderer a leader of an insurrection and rebel and he is on death row. By what we think we know he was the son of a Jewish Leader, arrested for trying to overthrow the Roman government in Jerusalem, and he is sentenced to death most likely for being apart of the death of a Roman solider which automatically qualifies you to be destined to hang on a cross.

However, Pilate does not believe Jesus has done anything worthy of death. Three times in the scriptures as he is talking to the crowd he tells them that Jesus has not done anything worthy of death. So Pilate begins to think of a way to get him released. He had a tradition that we don’t often see in the Roman Empire, Pilate was to keep the peace at any means necessary, so during the passover week he released a prisoner on death row as a sign of good faith to the Jews. As if being a symbolic metaphor for the angel of death that passed over the Jews in Egypt, the fate of a Roman death would passover a prisoner on death row.

Pilate just days before had witnessed crowds and crowds of people lay palm branches at the feet of Jesus as he entered into the city gates of Jerusalem, crying out hosanna, hosanna in the highest. You could talk a bit about the term Hosanna - a term of immediacy - you are a ruler NOW!  Not in the future, but now.  So seeing Jesus be subjected to the Romans would really disappoint them - so it would be eister to do what they were about to do - call for his crucifixion.  He knew the people loved Jesus and he assumed that the people would call for Jesus to be freed. But he miscalculated, he was misinformed, and misunderstood. Those who laid palm branches by all accounts came from Galilee and its surrounding areas, and those who are in the crowd are planted there by the religious leaders, under their influence and their guide there people are from Jerusalem. And we can assume they know Barabbas.

So Pilate stands on this audacious stage,  WHICH THEY HAVE RECENTLY FOUND AND EXCAVATED!   who now presents Jesus son of the living God verses Barabbas the thug and rebel and he asks the crowd “Who do you want?” There is no comparison, Barabbas is a rightful prisioner, who should be on death row, he’s a rebel against Rome, he leads a rebellion, he murders people, he’s a bad man he’s a thug and he’s a crook he deserves the chains and he deserves the crucifixtion. Jesus what has he done but heal, restore, deliver set free open blind eyes open deaf ears healed the lame and the leopards. What has Jesus done? So who do you want? Barabbas, give us Barabbas. And what about Jesus, Crucify him, Crucify him, Crucify him the crowd yells back. To Pilates shock and amazement, he a soldier who has little care for human life, in matthew’s account, tells us that he washes his hands and says he innocent of this mans blood. Meaning, he has no part in this, and the crowd yells back, let his blood be on us and on our children.

So the Roman soldiers come up to Barabbas and they unlock him from his chains and he and shackles are welcomed back by all of his thug friends, probably thinking the people love him that much that they set him free. You know there does not seem to be a conscience with Barabbas, he doesn’t turn back to Jesus, as far we know he doesn’t even acknowledge him. He walks into the crowd and the rest of his story only God knows.   It is the same for us.  The sacrifice of Jesus is offered whether or not we receive salvation or whether or not we change into someone more like Jesus.  That is what unconditional, grace-filled love does…

But think of this from Barabbas view point. The night before you knew for a certainty that the next day you were going to die. Imagine the anxiety, the fear, the disparity. Think about the prayers that you would be saying, please God free me from this, because Barabbas would have seen a crucifixion, maybe that's a part of what drove him to be a rebel. He knew that crucifixion are not a quick death but a slow burn. He had heard these once tough men who were now nailed to a cross cry out for their mom, their wives, their children. He knew most people died not from the blood loss, but from suffocation, or dehydration. And their bodies would stay on the cross for days after their death; it was a way for the Romans to intimidate those trying to be rebellious against Rome. It was a warning, try doing the same, and you’ll get the same. Bodies rotted so he smelled what a crucifixion smells like. And he knew he too would be on a cross within the next 24 hours, and he too might have to smell his own body's death.

The night ends and the morning arrives and for him it might be his last morning he has. The soldiers place you before Pilate and some other person you don’t know, and then the prayers you prayed the night before are answered, the crows chooses you to go free and you are set free. By no act on his own, no ability to set himself free, no merit, no goodness, nothing set him free except for the fact that someone else took his place. And now you witness someone else carrying the cross that had your name on it. You see someone else take the hit over and over and over again as Jesus was being flogged, and with every hit you know that that should have been you, and every single time the Roman’s soldiers drove the nails into Jesus’s hands that should have pierced your skin, every time they drove the nails into Jesus’s feet it should have been your feet. And as Jesus took his last breath that should have been your last breath.

You see, church Barabbas wasn’t merely set free, someone else had to take his place. Someone else had to be the substitute, someone had to take on what was his. Jesus was his substitute, and we don’t have any recollection that he ever returned back to Jesus. It does not seem fair, it does not seem right but what we know is that God loves Barabbas, it was not the people who set Barabbas free, it was the love of his Heavenly Father. I’m guessing as you hear this story inside of you, and i know inside of me, the anger that gets built up, the phrase that echoes in my head “that's not right, that's not fair,” barabbas should be on that cross.

But when I look at the story, I realize who Barabbas really is, he’s you, he’s me, he’s us. God is giving us a glimpse before the event of what the outcome will look like. You are or you were once a rebel against the Kingdom of God. You might argue back, but I’m a good person, i give to charity, I treat everyone with respect and dignity, how in the world would I be considered a rebel against the kingdom of God? If you are in sin, you are in rebellion against the kingdom of God. If you are in sin you have chains on, you are imprisoned, bound to a death and a destiny that barabbas was also. Your own merit, your own goodness, your own discipline, your own devotion cannot save you from your sin.

The Bible tells us that Jesus, “suffered once for sins, the righteous and unrighteousness, that he might bring us to God.” Someone once said that the only thing we ever attributed to our salvation is the sins necessary for it. You don’t earn your salvation, nor do you deserve it, yet God freely gives it because he loves you. God sent his son for Barabbas even though he knew he would walk away and never look back. God sent his son for those who would never acknowledge or accept the free gift of being free from their sin. You and I are Barabbas we have no ability to free ourselves but, for while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

A lot of us look at a story like this and we think that's great. I'm set free, but then we go back to our old ways of trying to work our way out of sin, work our way into salvation. The challenge is to be more like Jesus and I can white knuckle this thing out, I can earn my way, I can prove to God I am worthy, I can prove to God that I am worth love, I am worthy of his sacrifice. So we think our biggest challenge is to be more like Jesus which means we have to be DIsciplined, be devoted, be focused because we have a hard time believing that God loves us enough to give us what we need not because we deserve it but because we need it.

Your greatest challenge to following Jesus isn't your discipline, your devotion or your focus, your greatest challenge is truly believing the Gospel. Could it be that there is a God with a love so scandalous, so wide, so deep, so vast, so High, so expansive, so welcoming, so inclusive. And he is saying let me have your sin! Yes there is, and there is only one, he’s the one that took your place, he’s the one that stood silently on the platform with Pilate while the crowd shouted him down to be crucified and said Yes! Let them have Barabbas take me and be free. Jesus is saying the same thing to you and to me, be free, take me instead! Take me and be free!

You see God had to treat Jesus like Barabbas in order to treat Barabbas like Jesus.

Are you free? Are you a follower of Jesus who believes in the gospel but you still feel like you have to prove yourself to God? Have you placed back onto yourself chains that Jesus freed you from? Have you forgotten that God loves you and as a follower of Jesus no matter your age, you are a son of a King, you are a daughter of a King, and that you do not need to earn your way into God’s family, its already been given to you by Jesus. Do you need to re-embrace the Gospel?

Or do you need to believe the Gospel for the first time in your life? Do you need to believe in Jesus and put your faith, your hope your trust in him?

Or do you need to believe the Gospel for the first time in your life? Do you need to believe in Jesus and put your faith, your hope, your trust, your life in him. Are you like barabbas, currently in your chains, currently in the bondage of sin, praying one day to earn your way out, to be set free? Jesus is standing next to you, Jesus has taken your place. You don’t have to have all the answers here and now, all you need to do is know that you are a sinner who needs to be set free. Repent, turn away from your sin and believe in Jesus Christ, pledge allegiance to him and be set free from your sin.

Invitation

Communion: God had to treat Jesus like Barabbas in order to treat Barabbas like Jesus.