Barabbas: A Closer Look

"Barabbas: A Closer Look" by Romans

We recently completed a review of the Gospel According to John. Since then, I watched, again, The Passion of the Christ, which I have not seen in years. And I watched that scene with Jesus and Barabbas standing before Pilate. Normally, when we get to that part of the Account of Jesus' trial before Pilate, we kick Barabbas to the curb, and forget about him as if he were nothing more than a meaningless and unnecessary footnote. After all, if Barabbas were never even born, or did not appear on that Judgment Platform at the same time that Jesus was being tried, the crowd would still have demanded of Pilate that Jesus should be crucified. But this time when I watched that scene, I realized that Barabbas was not a footnote in this flow of events at all. I realized, as I never saw it before, that Barabbas was a critically essential part of this story, and a significant symbol in God's Plan of Salvation.

Let's notice the flow of events from Matthew's Gospel:

Matthew 27:15    Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
16    And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
17    Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
18    For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
19    When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
20    But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
21    The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22    Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
23    And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
24    When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
25    Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
26    ¶Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Instead of kicking Barabbas to the curb as many of us, including me have done,, let's stop and zoom in on his presence, [i]at that precise moment in history[/i], on that Judgment Platform with Jesus.

Was Barabbas guilty?

Notice the Scriptural notation regarding Barabbas: John 18:40 tells us, “Now Barabbas was a robber.” Notice: It did not merely say that he was charged with robbery. No... it said he "was a robber." Also consider: Clarke's Commentary says, “Barabbas was a robber - The later Syriac has in the margin that he was a chief robber, a captain of bandits, and it is probable that this was the case. He was not only a person who lived by plunder, but shed the blood of many of those whom he and his gang robbed, and rose up against the Roman government, as we learn from Luke 23:18: “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas.  19 (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murd+er, was cast into prison.).”

And then in Mark 15:7, we read this: "And there was one named Barabbas... who had committed murder in the insurrection." Once, again, the text does not read that Barabbas was accused of murder, or was being tried for murder. Mark tells us that he "had committed murder in the insurrection."

What is an insurrection? It is a revolt... a rebellion. In this cultural setting, if Barabbas had been part of an insurrection, he would have been part of, or the leader of a gang in rebellion against the Roman occupation of Judea. Any murder that he committed would have been the murder of Roman soldiers as they were sent in to put down that rebellion. So, we see that Barabbas was the Roman equivalent of Public Enemy Number One. The Romans had quelled the insurrection, had arrested and apparently tried the rebels, and found them guilty.

So, yes, in answer to my question, Barabbas [i]was[/i] guilty. He stood before Pilate's Judgment Seat... and before a Judge who knew he was guilty. I believe it is quite likely that the Romans were planning for three prisoners to be crucified that morning. I believe that Barabbas was going to be one of those who were to be crucified.  

As I watched, "The Passion of the Christ," I paid particular attention to the Barabbas character on the screen. It was interesting how he was depicted in that movie. He was an unshaven, wild-eyed, disheveled, unkempt, snarling embodiment of the criminal element. But I looked at him in a new way, and from a perspective that I never have before. I will go into further detail about what prompted that new perspective a little later. But as I watched the proceedings, it finally penetrated my thick skull that here was a guilty individual, both fully expecting and deserving to die for his crimes. Instead, the unthinkable happened: Pilate released him.  

The Greek word for “released” is apoluo -- pronounced: ap-ol-OO'-o
it means "to free fully or pardon:"
Throughout the New Testament, apoluo is also translated as the words:  (let) depart, dismiss, forgive, let go, loose, send away, release, and set at liberty.

Jesus used this Greek word, "apoluo," in one of His Parables. In Matthew 18, Jesus is presenting the Parable of the servant who owed his master the equivalent of a gazillion dollars, as we would phrase it today. Ten thousand talents is an unimaginable sum. The servant begged his lord to not put him and his family in prison, but rather to give him the time to pay it back somehow, as if that were within the realm of possibility. [u]It was not.[/u] Then in verse 27, Jesus continued the flow of the Parable:

27 "Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed (apoluo) him, and forgave him the debt."

Just as that servant was loosed from his debt, Barabbas was also loosed... (Greek, apoluo) ... released... dismissed... freed fully.

Pilate had earlier brought to the attention of the mob, the custom he followed to release a prisoner at Passover Time, Barabbas would have been both scourged and crucified. Scourging was a brutal  flogging with whips that had bits of metal and bone embedded in the ends of the straps. After suffering the wounds inflicted by a scourging, many prisoners did not survive long enough to be crucified. Had he survived it, Barabbas would next be crucified and, as the Roman custom was, an inscription would have been nailed above him on his cross, naming both him and his crime. His would have read, "Barabbas, robber and murderer." But that inscription was never written. The mob who had been incited against Jesus called for Barabbas to be released, and for Jesus to be crucified. We read in John 19:19: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Jesus took the place of Barabbas on that cross. Jesus took the punishment that Barabbas deserved. Jesus suffered the death penalty in the place of a man who deserved to die... a man who was, instead, released without so much as a scratch... Barabbas did not deserve to be released. Like one of the crucified prisoners whom we call "the Good Thief," who said in Luke 23:41, “... we receive the due reward of our deeds,” perhaps Barabbas also knew he brought that death sentence on himself, and was deserving of it. Barabbas did not ask the judge, Pilate, in this case, to release him. It was the Judge's idea to set in motion set in motion the events the yielded for him this utterly unmerited pardon. Unmerited pardon... Isn't that how we define, “Grace.” Isn't that what Barabbas received?

[i]Isn't that [b]exactly[/b] what we receive?[/i]

Don't we receive unmerited pardon because, as with Barabbas, Jesus took upon Himself the death penalty that each of us deserves? Jesus died... for our sins... for our rebellion... and  for our iniquity.

As Isaiah phrased it in Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
 
But now I want to share with you why I paid attention to Barabbas as I never had formerly.
As I said earlier, even if Barabbas had not been standing before Pilate's Judgment Seat that morning, we would still have had a picture of the Lamb of God, laying down His Life, and taking away the sin of the world. Barabbas' presence there, however, painted for us such a perfect and more complete picture of Jesus' Divinely appointed, substitutionary role in the Plan of Salvation. We had, in that one scene, the Judge, in the person of Pilate, releasing the guilty prisoner, Barabbas... dismissing him with a full and complete pardon, and without a scratch. And then, in that same scene, the same Judge, who had repeatedly declared Jesus innocent, ordered Him to be executed.

And the reason I stopped to pay close attention to that scene in the movie, The Passion of The Christ, is because I had looked up the meaning of the name: “Barabbas.”

Does anyone know what his name means?

In Hebrew, the prefix "Bar" means "son of." Notice in these verses how that prefix is used:

Mark 10:46: "And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging."

Acts 4:36    And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,)

Barabbas means, “[i]son of the father[/i].” The innocent Jesus  literally took our place on the cross, receiving undeserved punishment for our sins, while Barabbas, symbolically taking our place, is released without punishment.

[b]Now think:[/b] Even if his name was Fred, the guilty Barabbas' being released, and Jesus taking his place on the cross, provided for us a complete picture of the mercy and unmerited pardon we have received. But think of how more clear and powerful it is for us that a man named, Barabbas, which means "son of the father," is in understanding what God has done for us.

Now, some of you may be saying, "Jesus is the Son of the Father. How can you be saying, 'Barabbas is the son of the father'?" That is correct. Jesus IS the Son of the Father. And He is "the only begotten Son of God" as we read in John 3:16. I am only pointing out that the name  Barabbas MEANS, "son of the father," providing a deeper significance to his being released unpunished, even though he was guilty. Jesus, again, is the "only begotten Son of the Father," but Scripture tells us in Hebrews 2:10    ¶For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Are we not the sons who are spoken of in that preceding verse, released, receiving unmerited pardon, and ultimately brought to glory by and through our punishment being  paid in full by Jesus on the cross? Are we ever specifically called "sons of the father"? Not in a phrase, but yes, we are in several verses:

First, consider, Galatians 4:4    But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5    To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6    And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Abba. There it is again. Abba. Father. Barabbas means, "son of the father." That is us!

Also, consider Romans 8:15: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." There is Abba, again!

How about Hebrews 12:7: "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"

Then there is 1 John 3:1: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God..."

But I don't want to overpower these references with any gender bias. We also read beginning in 2 Corinthians 6:16: "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17    Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18    And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty."

Sons of the Father? Yes. Daughters of the Father? Yes. Children of God? Yes!
Notice: Romans 8:16   The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Barabbas, as I personally and incorrectly regarded him for so long, [i]was [b]not[/b] a footnote![/i]

Barabbas on that Judgment Platform, in rich spiritual symbolism, [i]was and is me![/i]

[i]And Barabbas was and is you![/i]

Barabbas, the son of the father, came down from that Judgment Platform, not dying for his crimes, his sins or his lawless rebellion, but, rather, was freed. And he came down without a scratch, an undeserving recipient of unearned, unmerited pardon.

I have known, or [i]I thought I knew[/i] the names and the flow events of the trial before Pilate for most of my life. I thought I understood what happened. But I didn't. It had been right there in plain view, right under my nose the whole time, but I never saw it until a few weeks ago. How did I miss, for decades, the clarity of how the release of Barabbas was the very picture of our own guilt going unpunished? And now, I can never think of or hear the name Barabbas, again... I can never read of Jesus' trial before Pilate without having a far deeper understanding of the things that took place at that trial, and how they provided such a sobering and powerful picture of the Plan of Salvation.

There is, however, yet another level of understanding that we need to examine where Barabbas is less than a perfect, spiritual symbol. He did not ask for a pardon, to be forgiven or to be freed from the death penalty that he deserved. His freedom was given him by Pilate without his asking for it. We are no more deserving of that free pardon, but we do and must ask for it. As Barabbas did not, we have to acknowledge our sins, acknowledge that we have brought on ourselves the penalty for our sins -- the death penalty. And we must ask to be forgiven. Our being forgiven by God is a beginning... it is NOT an end to the things we do in our relationship with God. It is not like signing on the dotted line of a lifetime membership. We do not sign and walk away, and never think about the terms of the contract we just signed. We must repent of our sins – do an about face – and walk away from our former sinful lifestyles, patterns, affections, mindset, and priorities. We must choose, daily, God's Way over our own former ways that conformed to and approved of the world's system of rebellion against God. And when we fail... when we fall back into a previous habit or tendency... God is there waiting to hear us confess that sin, and to forgive us. We read in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This we must do on a daily basis, perhaps multiple times per day. Backsliding into a former pattern of sin is not an option. In order to grow out of sin, the indwelling Holy Spirit helps us to win one sin battle after another, and put out one sin fire after another. It is a daily warfare that we must wage that Barabbas was not called upon to wage. Jesus said in Mark 13:13: “... he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Notice John 8:31: "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;" Jesus said this to [b]BELIEVERS[/b] [i]not unbelievers![/i]

To the idea of thinking that just believing is enough, consider the sobering words that we find in James 2:19: "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." Does that sound like just believing is sufficient? In Mark 7:6, Jesus exposed and denounced His fellow Jews regarding their counterfeit worship, "Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

Jesus also told us, "John 14:15: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." One of those Commandments to those whose sins are forgiven is that we forgive in kind: Notice beginning in Matthew 6:14, from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:  (15):  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
As we close, let's go back one last time to the Parable in Matthew 18 where the servant was loosed from a gazillion dollar debt to his lord. Once again, the word "loosed" was from the same Greek word "apoluo" that was translated "released" in regard to Pilate's handling the prisoner Barabbas. That servant in the Parable went out and refused to forgive the debt of a fellow servant who owed him some trivial $1.98 debt. Let's read how Jesus described the reaction of the lord who forgive that gazillion debt towards that unforgiving servant: And then notice carefully, Jesus' own summary which explains His whole reason for even speaking the Parable to begin with: We read beginning in Matthew 18:32: "Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:" Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? (34) And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. (35)   So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

There is very little comment necessary, here. WE, each of us, have been forgiven of an insurmountable and unpayable debt by our loving Heavenly Father. Our sin debt was paid by Jesus for us, in the same way that He was nailed to the cross originally set aside for Barabbas. Barabbas was released without deserving that release, and pardoned without punishment. We, too, are loosed from our debts. We go to the Father and ask us to do us, and He DOES. But when we ask for and receive that forgiveness, He fully expects us to pass along that forgiveness to those who have wounded and offended us on so many different possible levels. And God expects us to show our debtors and offenders the same unmerited pardon that Pilate showed Barabbas. Mercy, kindness and forgiveness even when it was not asked for! The Apostle Paul phrased that mindset like this in Ephesians 4:30   And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (31)  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (32)  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
Like us, Barabbas, whose name meant "son of the father," was released. He came down from that Judgment Platform without a scratch... free to go. And we never hear from him, again.

We, too, have been forgiven. Pardoned. Loosed. Released. Barabbas was released, and disappeared into the crown, and into history. Unlike Barabbas, our release is not the end of the matter... that is just the beginning. As adopted sons of the Father. we do not simply walk away, and are never heard from again.

We are the lights of the world, and a city set on a hill (Matthew 5:14).
We are Ambassadors for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

We are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" (1 Peter 2:9).

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).

We read of Jesus bringing "many sons unto glory." With that in mind, notice what Paul wrote in Romans 8:18-19: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God" (New American Standard Bible).

As members of the Family and Ruling Kingdom of God, after our release, [i]we do not[/i] disappear into any crowd, only to resume our former sinful and criminal pursuits. [i]We do not[/i] disappear into history and are never heard from again. [b]We have a future[/b] that goes far beyond our release from our having to pay the penalty for our own sins. God forgave us that He might give us the incomprehensible future He had Planned for us all along. To those who continue in Jesus' Words, and fight that good fight of faith, and finish the course, as Paul wrote in his final epistle in II Timothy 4:7, they will hear the incredible declaration quoted in Matthew 25:34: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Jesus made the astounding promise in Revelation 3:21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

Written by and originally delivered "live" on Thursday, July 21st, 2016.