Jesus or Barabbas

We read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and there’s one part that seems odd.

There’s a character who appears out of nowhere and ends up being in this text that will be read for thousands of years.

It’s this man named Barabbas!

This guy just POPS up for a few scriptures and then is gone.

Why would God want such a random person to be part of the story of Jesus?

Matthew 27:15-26 “Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted. 16 This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. 17 As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)19 Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night.” 20 Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. 21 So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?” The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!” 22 Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” 23 “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?” But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!” 24 Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!” 25 And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children!” 26 So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.”

Pilate didn’t feel good about sentencing Jesus. He didn’t see what he had done wrong.

His own wife urged him to have nothing to do with him.

But Pilate as custom during the Passover allows the people to choose what prisoner they want to set free.

He has them choose between Barabbas and Jesus.

So who is Barabbas?

Barabbas was a rebel, a murderer, and a thief.

Mark 15:7 “One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising.”

John 18:40 “Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.”

Jesus was falsely accused.

Even Pilate thought he was innocent.

He healed the sick

Made the lame walk

The deaf hear

The blind see

What did he do to deserve to be here??

But Pilate gives the people a choice!

A choice between wickedness and righteousness

A choice between sinfulness and holiness

A choice between darkness and light

The crowd was influenced by the priests and the elders.

They chose Barabbas.

So they unchain him and he goes running into the crowd, greeted by all his thug friends.

There’s no record of him turning and saying “thank you Jesus, you set me free.”

Jesus stood quietly because He knew what had to be done.

He knew that He had to be treated like Barabbas so in the end Barabbas could be treated like Jesus.

You see Barabbas thought that the crowd set him free, but in reality it was the love of God.

When you really look at this story to see what was going on you realize a couple things.

The first thing you realize is that Barabbas is me, he’s you.

You see God loved Barabbas.

But he’s a bad man!

God wanted him to go free.

But that doesn’t make any sense. God knew that he would probably walk away and never acknowledge the free gift that has been given to him.

Jesus went to the cross knowing that many people still would not acknowledge who He is.

But He did it because He wanted to make sure we ALL at least had a chance.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus took our place like he took Barabbas’!

HE messed up. HE deserved to be punished.

But Jesus took that penalty for him.

And because of what Jesus did we can be free.

Free from sin, guilt, from shame, etc.

Sometimes we put ourselves in Barabbas’ shoes and act like we can’t go free because we deserve this pain, this guilt, this punishment.

Jesus says receive my gift!

Romans 8:1 “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

Jesus went to the cross so we could be free.

You might say, “But you don’t know what I’ve done.”

I don’t have to know because I know WHAT JESUS did on the cross!

And then I think about in this story of the people who had the choice to pick Jesus or Barabbas.

Just like they had a choice, so do we.

We choose every day between Jesus and Barabbas.

Between God and Sin.

We liked to say that we would always choose Jesus but so many times we don’t. It’s hard.

What can make it hard sometimes is the influence of others.

Did you notice how it said that the people were influenced by the priests and elders?

We can’t let ourselves be influenced by others.

And so many believers today are being influenced by our world and culture and we’re choosing the world over Jesus.

We need to seek after God and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us in all areas of our life.

Pursue God and read His Word.

80% of Christians don’t open their bible Monday - Saturday.

How can we keep from being influenced by others when we don’t allow ourselves to be influenced by His Word?

And I think to myself, how can we choose Barabbas (sin) over Jesus after all He went through for us?

Matthew 27:29-30 “ They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it.”

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”

Isaiah 52:14 “But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.”

Jesus went through that for you!

All He asks in return is for you to live for Him.

Read “The Wounded Warrior”

“They started spitting on him, insulting him. They pulled out chunks of his beard. They jammed a crown of thorns into his skull. They took him to the whipping post, and tore his back to shreds with a cat-o-nine-tails. Those are the historical facts written down for us to read. Here are the spiritual facts: When they hit Jesus, they were hitting him for you. When they spit on him, it was because of you. When they insulted him and pulled out his beard, it was meant for you. The Wounded Warrior went to battle for you. Hell came at him with everything in its arsenal. Someone hit him and jerked out bits of his beard because someone someday in a drunken stupor hit you. It’s called abuse. Jesus knows what it feels like. Someone spit on him and called him a series of nasty names – including racial slurs – because evil men with hate in their hearts would do the same later to the black man or to Jews and others. It’s called prejudice. Jesus knows what it feels like. When they whipped him, he felt much more than the 39 stripes they tore into his back. He began to feel sickness like you or I have never known. With every lash came a series of illnesses. Cancer, emphysema, AIDS, Muscular Dystrophy, sugar diabetes, multiple sclerosis, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease, asthma, blindness, leprosy, malaria, ….those pieces of bone and glass on that cat-o-nine-tails would rip into his flesh, and Satan would spread more infection throughout Jesus’ body. And The Wounded Warrior was willing to take it for you and for me. The Satanic crowd cried out, “Crucify Him!” and The Wounded Warrior was sentenced to die. They took him out into the streets, stripped him, and forced him to carry the heavy crossbeam across his bloody shoulders. That’s what you could see. What you couldn’t see was the weight of sin he picked up with it. The Bible says, “he carried our infirmities….the punishment that brought us peace was upon him…the Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all.” The demons could smell blood. They could see The Warrior was getting weaker. So they attacked relentlessly. They hit him with murder. They pushed him to the ground with rape, incest and lies. Drunkenness and drug overdose were heaped on his back. Abortion, adultery, prostitution, homosexuality – every sin you can think of was added to the weight. He carried much more than the crossbeam. He carried the weight of the sins of the world on his shoulders. Remember how you felt when you were weighted down by the guilt of your sin. Now, multiply that guilt and shame times every man and woman who would ever live. That’s what Jesus carried. He was a Wounded Warrior.”

My challenge to you today is to remember exactly what Jesus did for you on the cross and what it represents.

How like Barabbas he took our punishment so we can be free.

Now we need to walk in that freedom by walking in the Spirit.

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