I Am Barabbas
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Welcome to CHCC! As we continue to make our way through Luke’s gospel we are inching closer towards the cross. Jesus has been brought before Pilate and found innocent, and then presented before Herod and found innocent. And as we went through this portion last week, we did a deep dive into the person of Herod Antipas. We walked through his life as seen in the gospels; beginning with his interactions with John the Baptist.
This began when John publicly called out the marriage of Herod and his wife, Herodias. It was a marriage that was built entirely upon sin; not only was she married when he convinced her to leave her husband to be married to him. Her then husband was Herod’s half-brother! And she was also his niece!
So John calls both Herod and Herodias out on this ordeal. Herodias in particular takes offense.
And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not,
And so John was arrested and thrown in the dungeon of the fortress Machaerus, sitting high above the Dead Sea. And as R. Kent Hughes explains:
Here the Baptist and Herod resided below and above in dramatic antithesis. John was the man who kept his conscience and lost his head. Herod was the man who took John’s head and lost his own conscience.
But during his time imprisoned a very interesting relationship brews. Let us look again at Mark 6 verse 20…
for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.
There was a time in Herod’s life where he was receptive to the truth. His conscience stirred, he was open to the challenges presented to him by John. As time went by, however, Herodias was biding her time to lay the trap and have John the Baptist killed. That time came at Herod’s birthday bash. When he was filled with wine and surrounded by his friends and other leaders, Herodias trots her own daughter—Salome out before the men to dance for them.
Herod, in his debaucherous heart, is so excited by the ordeal that he promises Salome anything she would ask for up to half his kingdom. Salome returns to her mother to ask her what to request. The response? The head of John the Baptist.
When Herod hears this it tells us he is filled with grief.
And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her.
How close Herod was to receiving and accepting God’s grace we will never know. His conscience was stirred by the truth, but ultimately He silenced it out of fear of others. What they would think or say of him; how is honor may be affected. He was on the cusp of salvation and turned away because the fear of man.
By the time that Jesus is brought before Herod, however, we see that his heart has completely closed itself off to the truth. For the Truth Himself sits before him and he simply hopes to see some signs and wonders—parlor tricks for his own amusement. He even begins to mock Jesus along with his soldiers.
What is really telling in the whole questioning is that Jesus never once responds to Herod. He responded to Pilate, he responded to Ciaphas, he responded to Judas when at His betrayal. But Jesus recognized the spiritual condition of Herod and did not respond to him at all.
So this leads us to our passage this morning. Pilate found Jesus innocent and sent Him to Herod. Herod found Him innocent and so sends Him back to Pilate. Let us see what takes place next.
If you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Luke 23, beginning in verse 13.
PRAY
Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.”
Pilate passed the buck to Herod, Herod returned the favor. So for a second time now, Pilate declares Jesus innocent with the intent to “punish and release him.”
It should be noted that Jesus was found innocent both in the political arena of Rome and the religious arena of Palestine. As John Nolland points out, “The agreement of such an unlikely pair about the political innocence of Jesus renders beyond doubt the absolute guiltlessness of Jesus.”
Even Herod’s mockery of Jesus should be considered. Clearly, Herod didn’t like Jesus, yet even so, he found Him innocent. So when Jesus is brought back, Herod says he “will punish and release” Jesus.
Under Roman law, they would, on occasion, simply beat a prisoner and release them with a warning with the hopes that the accused would tread more carefully in the future. This is what Pilate attempts to do; the Sanhedrin were frothing at the mouth for Jesus’ condemnation. So perhaps Pilate can appease them a little; get them off his back a bit by giving Jesus a slight beating.
At this point, I think it is rather clear, that Pilate is trying to save Jesus. And it should be noted that this is rather significant because Pilate wasn’t a very sensitive man. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Pilate had several heartless run in’s with the Jewish people.
For one, Pilate’s predecessors had always ordered the Roman soldiers to remove the images of Caesar from their standards when they marched into Jerusalem. But Pilate refused to this and the response of the Jewish people was that of an ugly riot. In fact, Pilate only relented when many of the Jewish people began laying on the roads and revealing their necks to the Roman soldiers as a challenge to kill them rather than worship Caesar.
On a separate occasion, Herod took money from a temple treasury which was designated only for service to God and instead used the money to pay for a new aqueduct. This, again, caused an uprising with several Jews being beaten in the process.
This was followed by another event of idolatry, and would even attack Samaritans on Mount Gerazim in a religious quest. Pilate was known in the history books to be vicious and often heartless.
So keeping all that in mind, we may wonder why such hesitancy on Pilate’s part to condemn Jesus?
Well, for one likely reason, the Roman justice system prided itself on its integrity and upholding the scales of justice. Second, there simply wasn’t evidence against Jesus. Nothing that the Sanhedrin brought forward stuck.
But there is also another, very interesting and potentially spiritual reason for his hesitancy. It comes from a dream that Pilate’s wife had that disturbed her so much that she told Pilate to have nothing to do with Jesus.
Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
We aren’t given details into the dream Pilate’s wife had, but whatever it was, it stirred her conscious so strongly, she told her husband to let him go. It also tells us that the dream in one sense or another, caused her to suffer. And because of this, Pilate began to fear as we see in John’s parallel account.
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
So Pilate is put in a rather uncomfortable political position—not that I feel sorry for him. This is why he gets paid the big bucks! He declares Jesus innocent twice, that same innocence is corroborated by Herod, AND his wife tells him to be done with Jesus because of a dream she had earlier in the day.
I mean, it couldn’t be more clear what was the correct decision here. But we mustn’t forget, Pilate is a politician through and through. If there is one thing above all else he is going to protect it’s his own hide. And at this point, his popularity among the Jews is hitting record lows. So maybe a little boost in the approval rating is what he needs.
Because now, it isn’t just the Sanhedrin who are calling for Jesus’ life. It is the people as well. Let’s take a look, verse 18.
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 be 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.
This was the turning point of Jesus’ trial. He had been found innocent on every occasion—twice before Pilate and once before Herod. But it was the crowd turning against Him that would ultimately send Him to the cross. Because up to this point, it was the crowds that served as a sort of protection, in a sense.
And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
And just a chapter prior in Luke’s gospel…
And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.
The crowd turning against Jesus is somewhat ironic. First of all, this was the crowd that just a week earlier had laid their cloaks on the ground as Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem, and were shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk. 19:38)
Now their shouts are filled with hatred and anger. You can imagine the spittle flying from their mouths as they shout, “Crucify! Crucify!”
Secondly, and we will touch on this a bit more this morning, they elected Jesus to receive the punishment befit of one who had began an insurrection and had murdered, and let us not forget—had been found guilty already!
Third, and this is interesting, as R. Kent Hughes points out:
Barabbas means “son of the father.” The people cried out for the release of one called “son of the father” and rejected the One who really is the Son of the Father!
ONE MORE CALL FOR INNOCENCE
But Pilate continues to try to avail Jesus and appease the crowd.
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.”
When looking solely at Luke’s account of the situation, one may think, “Hey, there’s a chance Jesus gets off here! Sure the crowds have turned and he may be arrested again, but he’s been declared innocent and the governor himself is fighting for him!”
It seems that Pilate is doing his duty as a political leader! He’s standing in the gap for justice! But John’s account gives us a bit more detail that reveals that the enemies went so far as to blackmail Pilate.
So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
John MacArthur explains the situation well:
This statement by the Jews was loaded with irony, for the Jews’ hatred of Rome certainly indicated they too were no friends of Caesar. But they knew Pilate feared Tiberius Caesar (the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion) since he had a highly suspicious personality and exacted ruthless punishment. Pilate had already created upheaval in Jerusalem by several foolish acts that had infuriated the Jews (as we have already discussed), and so was under the scrutiny of Rome to see if his ineptness continued. The Jews were intimidating him by threatening another upheaval that could spell the end of his power in Jerusalem, if he did not execute Jesus.
So for Pilate, he had to answer the question: Is this one man’s life worth my political career? And for him, the answer was “no.” So Pilate caved in.
But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be 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.
We may ask ourselves why would Pilate do something like this? And of course we could respond aptly by simply noting that this was the will of God and Pilate was but a pawn in the story.
But Pilate also held skepticism—which was the common mind of the Roman educated. John’s gospel has a wonderfully detailed account of Jesus and Pilate’s interaction, where Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” Let’s take a quick look at the conclusion of this conversation.
Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.
This is a question that skeptics continue to ask today. And it’s not a bad question. I think everyone must come face to face with this question in their own life. Interestingly, Pilate literally was face to face with Truth when he asked the question.
For Pilate, the truth was less important than his political power. While he stood tall against the Sanhedrin, he gave in when the crowds began to pressure him.
May it not be so for us. If you are here this morning looking for truth, I pray you would not be swayed by general consensus of the world, but would receive the truth of God’s Word for yourself.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus gave clear answers over and over to the question, “What is truth?” He backed it up by fulfilling the Law and Prophets. He backed it up by living a perfect life and thus becoming a perfect sacrifice for our sins. He continues to back it up even today by giving eternal life to all who come to Him in faith.
I AM BARABBAS
I remember when I came across this passage for the first time as a child and being appalled by Barabbas. And perhaps even more appalled that the crowds cried for his release in return for Jesus’ death. And it is still appalling today, don’t get me wrong.
It’s gut wrenching. But I see myself in the story now. And I am Barabbas. I am a sinner who, according to God’s Law, is entirely deserving of death.
For the wages of sin is death,
I haven’t murdered or caused insurrections, but I’ve most certainly sinned and continue to battle the flesh and temptation every day. I stand there before the throne of God fully deserving of condemnation, but Jesus took my place!
This whole moment with the trading of Barabbas for Jesus is telling the story of His substitutionary atonement! Barabbas! The one guilty of death, was pardoned, and Jesus, the innocent one, died in His place.
Is that not the very story of every one of us? I can no longer look down on Barabbas without looking down on myself. Because I am Barabbas.
This is the entirety of the gospel! Jesus dying as a substitute for us on the cross. That cross was meant for me, but He took my place in order to save me. He took your place in order to save you. As our substitute, he took all our sins upon himself, then gave us his life and righteousness.
The great D.A. Carson makes a very interesting point. He says:
The fact that three crosses were prepared strongly suggests that Pilate had already ordered that preparations be made for the execution of the three rebels. If so, Jesus the Messiah actually took the place of the rebel [Jesus] Barabbas because the people preferred the political rebel and nationalist hero to the Son of God.
D. A. Carson
The whole illustration of Barabbas here is meant for us to see ourselves in him. New Testament theologian Darrell L. Bock states:
The substitution of an innocent Jesus for a guilty Barabbas is a metaphor for the entire experience of the cross.
Darrell L. Bock
The reality of the gospel is so beautifully simple. It is Jesus saying, lovingly, to every one of us: ““It’s my life for yours. It’s my purity for your sin. Will you take it? There is no other way.”
I want to share one last verse with you and then I am going to close a little differently this morning that I normally do. I want to close with a song if that is okay.
Then we will partake of communion together as we consider the cost of salvation and the love of Jesus to save us from certain death.
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
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