Barabbas

So today I was reading in Luke and came across an old, somewhat familiar story but saw something I’d never noticed before. Kind of. Chapter 23 tells of Jesus’ visit with the governor that was... well we’ll say it was eventful. Verse 15 is one of those underline/circle/highlight verses. Pilate says, “Look, nothing deserving death has been done by Him.” Jesus is innocent and Pilate knows it. But the crowd, heavily influenced by the Pharisees, has a much different view of Jesus. The same crowd that days earlier was “praising God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen” (19:37) is now crying out, “away with this man” (23:18). Talk about a quick turnaround. Jesus’ fans wanted him dead faster than Americans wanted freedom from Obama’s presidency. Oh, c’mon, THAT was funny. BUT the crowd wasn’t just crying out, “Crucify him!” They wanted another man released, a man named Barabbas. Now, a little back story on this dude: verse 19 says he was a “man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.” So you have a robbing, murdering, insurrectionist who gets off for free at the request of the crowd. Huh? I just don’t see this being possible. I’m not asking you to let any murders off the hook even if I do hate the guy on trial. That’s a crappy trade. Another fun fact: Barabbas literally means son of the father. How’s that for God’s providential sense of humor? Give us the son of the father! Well... you got him alright. And by him I mean Jesus, the real Son of the Father. And you got him good. You got Him right where He volunteered to be: the Cross. The man that the governor spoke of as innocent, saying, “Why? What evil has He done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death” (22), is innocent indeed. And that’s the beauty of the story. Barabbas has his place taken by Jesus. Jesus is the substitute, the replacement, the payment, for Barabbas. The Son of the Father took the son of the father’s place to make us sons of the Father. In the words of Propaganda, let that bake your noodle. But there’s something else I see here that is even more practically applicable for us. I never read any other stories of Barabbas. Not one. Now, this does not mean he did not have his life radically transformed by God’s grace, but it doesn’t mean he did either. What I see is a man who was given life by the governor by means of Jesus’ sacrifice. Beautiful, right? For us maybe. But what if many of us are living lives that mirror that of Barabbas? What if the murdering, coveting, rebellious person writing and people reading this blog have the same mindset and worldview of the one the text describes? What if we view Jesus as the one who gave us life? Now that sounds right, but I’ve always been a lover of semantics. It’s the philosopher in me that loves diction and definitions. Here’s what I mean by that sentence. Barabbas was enabled to live life; however, he was free to live however he chose. He could go out and commit the same crimes as before. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, that’s true of us, too. Grace, bro.” But according to Titus 2, grace trains us to renounce sinful pursuits and to live righteous and godly lives in the PRESENT age as we wait for Jesus to come back to/for us (11-14). I’m not being a legalist; I’m defining terms and thoughts. What if we are living as if Jesus let us off the hook, gave us a get out of hell free card AND the golden ticket to heaven, the key to a mansion, and a pat on the behind as he said, “Eat, drink, and be merry! YOLO!” I’m being very satirical, but I could not be more serious. We have a radical misunderstanding of the gospel and God’s grace when we say we follow Jesus but continue to pursue worldly things and desires. What if that was true of Barabbas and what if that’s true of you? The beauty of Jesus taking your place isn’t that he gives you life but that he becomes your life. Jesus is all you have. He’s everything. It’s not a second chance. It’s not living for him. It’s living in him. It’s living through him. It’s Jesus plus nothing. I’m not going to quote all of Paul’s letters but feel free to read through Galatians, Philippians, and Colossians and find it for yourself. This long post has one central message.

You’re Barabbas. Jesus took your place.

Jesus didn’t enable you to live.

Jesus became your life.

Jesus is your life.

The charge?

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above (Christ), where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above (Christ), not on things that are on earth. For you have died (did you catch that?), and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ WHO IS YOUR LIFE appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4

The charge? In the words of Rihanna and T.I., live your life.

Just know this:

Jesus is your life and apart from him you have nothing and are nothing.

Galatians 2:20. Do your thing, peeps. Love you guys.