Holy Week, Monday, April 3 - Bystanders on the Way to the Cross

There was one prisoner called Barabbas, locked up with the insurrectionists who had committed murder during the uprising against Rome. (Mark 15: 7, The Message Bible)

            I wonder what Barabbas really thought and did after he was released from prison - after Jesus took his place. 

Did he count his lucky stars? Was he relieved? Grateful?  Did he appreciate the irony of the situation?  What did he think about Jesus? Did he take a better-him-than-me attitude? Did he pity Jesus? Or perhaps, Barabbas didn’t give Jesus a moment’s extra thought, just skedaddled as soon as the jail cell opened and the guards let him out.  Did he give a second thought to the other prisoners who also were in his insurrectionist gang, but left behind? Did Barabbas give up his insurrectionist and murderous ways or did he go back to his old ways?

So many questions; so few answers.

Barabbas appears on the Cross’s stage for just a brief moment. Then he is released and is gone. He is a bit player in this drama, yet all four gospels mention him by name and describe how Pilate, at the mob’s insistence, freed this man instead of Jesus. Barabbas had escaped the brutal execution of his own day on the cross.

There have been many fictional depictions of Barabbas. My research reveals that in Spanish, “barrabás” is a word for a bad person.  In Slavic languages,” baraba” pertains to someone who is a vagabond or even a scum. Some accounts have tried to rehabilitate his reputation and redeem his character. But there are no true historical accounts concerning Barabbas and his subsequent actions and demeanor after his release. He shows up, never really is seen, even then, and gets set free.

What do we know? “This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas.” (Matthew 27:16 NLT) Some translations add that his full name was Jesus Barabbas, further adding to the bitter irony. But that is it; that’s all but it implies much.

Notorious, a murderer, a criminal, a rabble-rouser, a mal-content, an enemy of the State Barabbas was a throw-away human being, a nuisance, an irritation, easily disposed of, if not now, then some other time. He was a pawn in a conspiracy between religion and state. He was a trifling scruff of humanity in a much bigger, unfolding drama.

And Jesus died in his place! Of all people, Jesus took this man’s place on the cross. Jesus suffered the pain and agony that this man was slated to undergo.

Was that fair? No. But perhaps, that is the point.

“Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.” (Romans 5: 6 -8, The Message)

Of no use whatsoever. Or to put it succinctly, “for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (New Revised Standard)

When the world has judged and condemned you or me, or when we feel like we are a lost cause, or when our past catches up to us, or when life beats us down, or when others accuse us or shame us or wish us grievous harm, then Jesus takes our place. He sets us free. He revokes our punishment. He takes on our humanity, whether good or bad, and cancels the debts we owe.

“Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer captive to sin’s demands! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. (Romans 6: 6 -7, The Message)

Thank God almighty, we are free at last!

Dale