Barabbas or Jesus?

 

 

“They cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.)” Luke 23:18 – 19.

 

“The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.” Matthew 27:20.

 

From Palm Sunday to Good Friday is less than a week, we can measure the days. Can we measure the chasm between shouting, “Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” and then crying out, “Crucify Him! Give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus!”? Can we plumb the depths of this chasm…the depths of our own souls?

 

How is it conceivable that the crowds who were shouting “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday and rolling out the red carpet for Jesus to enter Jerusalem, within less than a week were ushering Jesus out of Jerusalem onto the blood red way of the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha?

 

And what shall we say of the priests and elders? These holy men were, on the one hand, preparing to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and on the other hand were lying and scheming to ensure the murder of Jesus.

 

These leaders of the people were inciting the people to cry, “Give us Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!” The religious and civil leaders were teaching the people to choose between the Lamb of God and a murderer and insurrectionist – they were calling the people to choose death over life, murder over peace, hate over love.

 

Pilate saw the insanity. Do we?

 

The challenge of celebrating Palm Sunday is to look in the mirror on Good Friday. Those who were shouting “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday were crying out, “Give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus!” on Good Friday.

 

When we choose insurrection, we reject the Lamb of God. When we justify insurrection, we align ourselves with Satan. Jesus tells us that Satan is a murderer.

 

The chief priests and elders taught the people to cry, “Give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus!” on one of the holiest days of the year, Passover. How is this possible? How could they not see what they were doing?

 

Jesus says that “My Kingdom is not of this world.”

 

We say, “We have no king but Caesar.”

 

The spirit of Barabbas, the spirit of insurrection, is the spirit of the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 3:3).

 

“Another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts” (Daniel 7:8).

 

“He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).

 

“Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great…It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down…and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper” (Daniel 8:9 – 13).

 

“A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue, his power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people, and through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease, he will even oppose the Prince of Princes, but he will be broken without human agency” (Daniel 8:23 – 25).

 

“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods…” (Daniel 11:36).

 

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God (2 Thess. 2:3 – 4).

 

“There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies…and he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:5 – 6).

 

I am puzzled how professing Christians can cry, “Give us Barabbas,” ignoring the fact that to do so is to also cry, “Crucify Jesus!”

 

On the Feast of Passover the religious leaders led their people to crucify Jesus by the hands of the Romans. The same thing can happen with professing Christians.

 

All but a few worshipped the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3). Do we seriously think things are different today?

 

Can we not hear Jesus saying, “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36)?

 

Perhaps the only real question on Good Friday is whether the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ is enough for us, whether He is our All in all. Perhaps the question is whether we belong to Jesus, and only to Jesus.

 

Yes, I think that is it.