Free Barabbas

Matthew 27:15-26, 32-50

Sometimes in life, there is so much going on, so much chaos, so much happening so fast, that we don't fully realise the significance of the events we are caught up in. I have a friend who was at the World Trade Centre on 9/11, on that terrible day when terrorists slammed two aeroplanes into the Twin Towers. He was in the street right outside. All he heard was the terrible noise. All he saw was the falling debris. He ran for his life when the first Tower started to collapse. At the time he had no idea of the significance of the events he was caught up in. Finding safety and finding his friend were his only thoughts. In that moment he had no way of knowing what it all meant.

Sometimes in life, we just want to get by. We don't have the time or the inclination to the grapple with the importance or the meaning of whatever we're caught up in. We react, we respond but seldom reflect. Perhaps you are here today in that mode. Yes, you wanted to come but thus far you've not really engaged with Jesus. We are here to remember, to ponder and to brood over the significance of his death on the cross.

And if life has been chaotic for you this past few days, if Easter has descended upon you all to quickly, then you are not alone. You are not alone today and you would not have been alone in Jesus day.

Verse 15 of Matthew 27 tells us that the feast of the Passover surrounded the death of Jesus. It was busy in Jerusalem and I suspect that, at the time, Jesus' going to the cross was not understood by many.

Events moved quickly and chaotically:

• Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane in the middle of the night, with the Jewish temple guard led by the traitor Judas to the right location;

• In the middle of the night, Jesus was put on trial before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious ruling council. During this time, outside in the courtyard, Peter denies Jesus three times;

• At dawn Jesus was questioned before Pontius Pilate and the crowd was offered a prisoner release: a choice between Jesus or Barabbas;

• Jesus was then sent to Herod, and returned to Pilate in royal robe (as a joke);

• Pilate declares Jesus innocent before the crowd-- but the crowd insists on the crucifixion of Jesus;

• Pilate lets the crowd have its way and sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion;

• Jesus crucifixion starts at 9am—just about time our service started today, precisely 1977 years ago.

So things moved quickly and chaotically. Very few, if any, understood exactly what was taking place on the cross. But I want to suggest that there was one man, maybe two, who understood it very clearly. The first was Barabbas, the man set free by Pilate at the crowd's insistence. How is that so?

We know that Barabbas had been arrested by the Romans and was in prison awaiting execution at the time of the trial of Jesus. His crime was officially insurrection—that is, causing a riot in an attempt to overthrow the governing power. If he were alive today, we would call him a terrorist.

We're not told exactly how it happened, but imagine it this way. Barabbas is sitting in the prison, staring at his hands, which were soon to be pierced by nails, reeling with horror at his impending crucifixion. In the early morning, he hears a crowd roaring outside the prison, getting louder and louder. There are angry voices calling, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" He thinks he hears his own name. Then a jailer comes to unlock the door of his cell. Barabbas must think that the time for his execution has come as the jailer drags him in front of Pilate and the angry crowd.

Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea for a period of about 11 years, after which he returned to Rome. Most likely he was a middle ranking career administrator. Something we do know is that Governor Pilate had only a fairly small force with which to keep law and order—and serious military back up was a long way away[1]. So any uprising or threat would have to be dealt with diplomatically or swiftly, preferably both.

That explains why Pilate seems to be ruled by the crowd. He knows that Jesus has been set up by the Jewish religious authorities, that he is not a real threat to his rule. Pilate says in Luke's gospel that he finds no cause for the death penalty—he is innocent of the charge. Pilate's problem is how to placate the crowd and the religious authorities at the same time. In addition, in verse 19, we read his wife has warned him not to mess with Jesus.

On the other hand, Pilate had no concern for Barabbas--the world would be better off without him. He wanted to save Jesus and so he hit on the idea of offering the people a choice between the two. It was customary to free a prisoner at the time of the Feast of Passover. That's why he's had Barabbas brought in front of the crowd alongside Jesus.

Put yourself in Barabbas' place. You can see the crowd is agitated. But you don't know why. Pilate quietens them down and asks the question, 'Shall I free Barabbas or Jesus?' To your amazement, the crowd, led by the Pharisees and Religious Leaders, start calling your name. 'Free Barabbas!' It seems Pilate can't believe his ears either, and so he puts the question again, 'Shall I free Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?' 'Free Barabbas! Free Barabbas!' The crowd chants.

'What then shall I do with Jesus?' says Pilate. The crowd resumes it's earlier chant, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' And at that moment, you become the first man to start to understand Easter. Jesus the Christ is to die in your place.

What happens next? Maybe Barabbas, stunned and bewildered, joins the processional that is making its way to Calvary and watches as Jesus is crucified. He watches and knows that the nails that are impaling Jesus to the cross were meant for him. He sees the cross lifted high into place and knows that he is the one who should be dying on it. He says, 'That's me up there. At least, it should be me. He is dying for me.'

Perhaps the criminals either side of Jesus shared the cell with Barabbas last night. Perhaps they were his associates in the riot. And that middle cross had Barabbas' name on it, until just a short time ago.

Maybe Barabbas even looks up at Jesus as he cries,"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). He must have wondered when Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46)

I don't know if this is exactly how it happened but Barabbas was the only man in the world who could say that Jesus Christ physically took his place on the cross. But for every Christian, we can say that, spiritually and truly, Jesus Christ took our place. That's what Easter is all about: Jesus took our place before the judgment seat of God, taking the punishment that we deserve.

You see, the Bible says that the fact that we are fundamentally self-centred instead of God-centred means we deserve to die. Placing ourselves or anything other than God as 'first', in the place of God, means that we sin. And, says God, the consequence of sin is death; but not just dying in the sense that, sooner or later, our human bodies seem to wear out, break down and decay. The consequence of sin is capital 'D' Death-- spiritual Death: permanent separation from God and from all his goodness. Biblically speaking, Death is a power—an awful and ugly dominion that exacts judgment upon our souls long after our bodies have perished. That is the Death that Jesus was dying on the cross: God's rightful anger at our sin was poured out and exhausted upon him. He experienced the active rejection of his Father—no wonder he felt 'forsaken'. You see, Death is an aberration—it not how it's meant to be, but it is the result and the consequence of sin.

It is in that sense that Jesus died. He was condemned, punished, killed and entered Death for our sins. He was a substitute, a scapegoat if you like. He willingly brought down the judgment of God upon himself, instead of it falling upon us. He died our death for us.

That's where Barabbas helps us understand the cross. He illustrates physically what happens spiritually for the Christian. To complete the illustration, we could make these 5 statements:

1)     Barabbas stood under the righteous condemnation of the law. He was a convicted terrorist. We, too, are condemned by God's law as rebels. At some point in each of lives we have refused him as God. The consequence of this sin must be death.

2)     Barabbas knew that the One who took his place on the cross was innocent. Pilate knew that, the Roman centurion knew that, and we know it too.

3)     Barabbas knew that Jesus Christ was for him a true substitute. In a physical sense, Jesus got what Barabbas deserved. Similarly, before the judgment seat of God, Jesus got what we deserved: death.

4)     Barabbas knew that he had done nothing to merit going free while another took his place. The same is true for us. There is nothing we can do to deserve forgiveness or to earn a reprieve. God has freely done this for us.

5)     Barabbas knew Christ's death was for him perfectly effective. There was nothing for him to add to it. Just because Christ was dying, he was living. The only question before Pilate was whether Christ should die or Barabbas. When it was decided that Christ should die, Barabbas was set free: a full pardon. He could never be punished for the same crime. Similarly, there is nothing more that we can add to Jesus' death on the cross, nor can we be held to account for the sins that Jesus died for in advance.

So now, beyond those chaotic moments of the first Easter, we too know these things about Jesus' death on the cross. The principle is this: life for a life. God made a trade, Jesus' life for yours. These are truths recorded for us in the Bible, sure and certain.

We may reflect on many examples of noble people giving their lives for another. You might know the story of Kimberley Dear, a young Australian girl who went sky-diving for the very first time in the United States last August. The plane she was in suffered engine failure and began to plummet towards the ground.

Kimberley was going to do a tandem jump with skydiving instructor Robert Cook. When he realised the plane was actually going to crash, he grabbed Kimberley, told her what to expect, clipped their harness together and put his arms around her. He said to her: 'As the plane is about to hit the ground, make sure you're on top of me so that I'll take the force of the impact.' During those final moments, Kimberley became a bit disoriented, but she felt Robert actually twist his body around until Kim was on top of him when the plane hit the ground.
He took the full force of the impact. Kimberley suffered injuries but survived. The instructor did not.

Noble actions like these illustrate Barabbas' situation. One human gives their life so the other might live. But Jesus' self-sacrifice goes further because he does something that no human could do for another. You see, in order to take the impact of God's judgment on behalf of someone else, you have to be perfectly innocent in the first place. It's all very well for [Bob] to offer his life up for [Mary], the problem is that before God [Bob's] life is already required to pay for his own sin—he can't substitute for some one else. That is why Jesus' death is unique: he is holy and perfect such that his death could be effective forever in winning forgiveness for sin. By it Death itself was defeated—Jesus' resurrection proves it. The punishment our sins deserve was justly completed so that it no longer hangs over us as a sentence. The sting of death has been removed.

In fact the effectiveness of Jesus' death is highlighted by Jesus' words to one of the men crucified with him. If Barabbas was the first man to gain insight into the significance of Jesus dying on the cross, then I reckon that this guy was the second. Remember, there were two others hanging on crosses alongside Jesus— were they friends of Barabbas? We don't know. Matthew has both of them sledging Jesus. But according to Luke, one must have had a change of heart because he then acknowledged Jesus' innocence and kingship[3]. This is the man, crucified alongside Jesus, who said,

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)

And Jesus, with the sure knowledge of the effectiveness of his death, even in the midst of the dying, answered him, 'Today you will be with me in Paradise.' Jesus could make this promise, knowing that his death was effective for anyone and everyone who would make him their king.

Barabbas would have understood Jesus was his substitute, but this second man was the one who reaped the benefit. Because Jesus became his substitute before God, his sin was forgiven—absolutely and completely—and so he was welcomed into Paradise with Jesus that very day.

The two men crucified alongside Jesus show us very clearly that Jesus died for everyone and anyone; but not everyone surrenders to Jesus' offer. Some, unmoved to the end, refuse to recognize Jesus for who he is. Instead of making him their King, they treat him as their servant. But others welcome Jesus' as their King and make themselves his servants, his followers.

Have you made Jesus your King? Or do you suppose that you are the master of your own destiny? Today is called Good Friday—not because it was good for Jesus, but because it is good for all who surrender to Jesus' offer of forgiveness.