Text: Mark 15:1-15
“Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” —Mark 15:15
Who is this man “Barabbas,” we read about in Mark 15? “Barabbas” means “son of the father.” Some manuscripts suggest his full name was “Jesus Barabbas.” He was a rebel, a robber, a murderer, and insurrectionist. He was guilty and deserving of death.
Imagine being this man, Barabbas, sitting in a dark prison cell. You have committed crimes of which you deserve to be punished. You are fully aware of the punishment coming your way—death on a cross. As you sit there, you hear the crowd outside shouting. But instead of hearing your name condemned, you hear something shocking: “Release Barabbas!” Then you hear another name: “Crucify Jesus!”
The prison guard comes, unlocks the door, and says, “You’re free to go.” You step out, confused. As you are walking to your freedom you pass by another man being brought in. Perhaps you make eye contact in that moment. Someone else is taking your place. Jesus, the innocent one, is led away to be crucified on the very cross meant for you. Christ is beaten, flogged, forced to carry his cross to his death. It’s the very cross you had imagined yourself carrying only days earlier. You think to yourself, that’s my death he’s dying.
Jesus bore the guilt, the shame, the curse, the disgrace, and the death you deserved. But you received the release, the freedom, and the life that Jesus deserved. It’s an incredible scene, and it’s a great exchange. Barabbas has a choice to make: Walk in the new freedom Jesus’ substitutionary death purchased for him, or waste Christ’s sacrifice by going back to the same old Barabbas.
The writer of Hebrews warns against the consequences of rejecting Christ’s sacrifice, profaning the blood of His covenant, and insulting the Spirit of His grace offered to us at Calvary’s cross. “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29)
We don’t know what Barabbas ever did with the sacrifice Jesus made for him. The Bible doesn’t tell us what he did with his second chance—if he repented of his sins or died in them. Perhaps the reason for this is because God didn’t want us reading this and thinking it was about Barabbas. Perhaps God left a question mark in this story because it’s more about us than Barabbas. What are we going to do with Christ’s sacrifice?
We are Barabbas!
There’s a Barabbas insurrectionist in all of us—a spiritual rebel with a sinful tendency to revolt against a holy God. As Tim Keller pointed out, we all have two “Jesuses” in our story. “Jesus Barabbas” and “Jesus Christ.” Both “son of the Father,” and yet they could not be more different. One rules by taking the lives of others, and the other rules by giving his own life. One is a rebel force holding you hostage to your own sin, while the other is the resurrected King who makes you right with God by His own righteousness.
Anything less than total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is an insurrection on our part. Which Jesus are you submitting to in your life? The carnal and fleshly nature of Barabbas, or the liberating Spirit of life in Jesus Christ?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help us to truly see the depravity of our own sinful nature. Help us to see the sin in our lives as an unholy uprising against a loving, yet just God. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Give us tears of repentance to renounce our rebellion and walk in the freedom You give. Thank you for this undeserved saving grace, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion:
- When have you experienced a really good trade?
- Pilate released a murderer and crucified the sinless Son of God, in order to satisfy the crowd. When have you compromised your conscience to satisfy others?
- What has a spiritual insurrection against God cost you in your life?
- Can you identify with the writer of Hebrews in terms of “profaning the blood of the covenant” by “sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth?”
- If Barabbas is you, and you get to decide how this story ends, what kind of life do you choose when you walk out of those prison walls?
Text: Mark 15:1-15
“Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” —Mark 15:15
Who is this man “Barabbas,” we read about in Mark 15? “Barabbas” means “son of the father.” Some manuscripts suggest his full name was “Jesus Barabbas.” He was a rebel, a robber, a murderer, and insurrectionist. He was guilty and deserving of death.
Imagine being this man, Barabbas, sitting in a dark prison cell. You have committed crimes of which you deserve to be punished. You are fully aware of the punishment coming your way—death on a cross. As you sit there, you hear the crowd outside shouting. But instead of hearing your name condemned, you hear something shocking: “Release Barabbas!” Then you hear another name: “Crucify Jesus!”
The prison guard comes, unlocks the door, and says, “You’re free to go.” You step out, confused. As you are walking to your freedom you pass by another man being brought in. Perhaps you make eye contact in that moment. Someone else is taking your place. Jesus, the innocent one, is led away to be crucified on the very cross meant for you. Christ is beaten, flogged, forced to carry his cross to his death. It’s the very cross you had imagined yourself carrying only days earlier. You think to yourself, that’s my death he’s dying.
Jesus bore the guilt, the shame, the curse, the disgrace, and the death you deserved. But you received the release, the freedom, and the life that Jesus deserved. It’s an incredible scene, and it’s a great exchange. Barabbas has a choice to make: Walk in the new freedom Jesus’ substitutionary death purchased for him, or waste Christ’s sacrifice by going back to the same old Barabbas.
The writer of Hebrews warns against the consequences of rejecting Christ’s sacrifice, profaning the blood of His covenant, and insulting the Spirit of His grace offered to us at Calvary’s cross. “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29)
We don’t know what Barabbas ever did with the sacrifice Jesus made for him. The Bible doesn’t tell us what he did with his second chance—if he repented of his sins or died in them. Perhaps the reason for this is because God didn’t want us reading this and thinking it was about Barabbas. Perhaps God left a question mark in this story because it’s more about us than Barabbas. What are we going to do with Christ’s sacrifice?
We are Barabbas!
There’s a Barabbas insurrectionist in all of us—a spiritual rebel with a sinful tendency to revolt against a holy God. As Tim Keller pointed out, we all have two “Jesuses” in our story. “Jesus Barabbas” and “Jesus Christ.” Both “son of the Father,” and yet they could not be more different. One rules by taking the lives of others, and the other rules by giving his own life. One is a rebel force holding you hostage to your own sin, while the other is the resurrected King who makes you right with God by His own righteousness.
Anything less than total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is an insurrection on our part. Which Jesus are you submitting to in your life? The carnal and fleshly nature of Barabbas, or the liberating Spirit of life in Jesus Christ?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help us to truly see the depravity of our own sinful nature. Help us to see the sin in our lives as an unholy uprising against a loving, yet just God. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Give us tears of repentance to renounce our rebellion and walk in the freedom You give. Thank you for this undeserved saving grace, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion: