Barabbas, An Undeserving Recipient Series

But that’s not who Barabbas was. Barabbas WAS guilty. The gospel writers make that clear. They say this notorious thief is set free. Barabbas did nothing to earn his pardon. As far as we know, he didn’t even ask for it. There was no appeal for clemency; there was no promise of atonement; there was really no guarantee of good behavior in the future. He did nothing to receive this gift of life. He is completely and utterly undeserving.

? We Are All Undeserving Of God’s Grace

Does that sound familiar? It should. It should because with all of us God has been just as irresponsible. He’s been just as irresponsible with His love, and He’s been just as careless with His compassion, and He’s been reckless with His grace, giving it to those of us who deserve it the least. Of all the characters that surround the crucifixion, this is the one we know the least about but the one we have the most in common with. If I were going to choose one person that I would have to be, I would have to be Barabbas, this guilty man who Jesus died for.

You see, what Jesus did for Barabbas, He did for us to an even greater degree.

Romans 3:23 says that all of us, every single Christian in this room, has sinned. In other words, we’ve all been found guilty, all of us. Romans 6:23 says the wages of that sin, the sentence for our sin, is death. So basically, what that means is we’re all doomed to this eternal damnation for all eternity. We’re all doomed here on earth to basically living on death row. But the Bible says God loved us so much that He sent Jesus down to serve our sentence. He sent Jesus down to pay our price, to take our penalty upon Himself; to die on our cross.

So, Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death but…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And all we do is accept it.

So, What Happened To Barabbas? Some Speculations…

This is all we know about Barabbas. This is where his story ends. He’s never mentioned again in Scripture. We’re left to speculate about what might have been with Barabbas. Lots of people do this. As I was reading about his life, I learned that many writers like to imagine how this story could have ended. Many people like to speculate on how things might have gone. Can we do that with the few minutes we have left? Can we just kind of imagine what Barabbas did next? How do you think he responded? What do you think he did after he was released from prison? Let’s consider a few different scenarios.

Scenario #1: Barabbas Turned Himself In:

One scenario I read explained it this way. They said Barabbas was so guilt-ridden over this innocent man who had died in his place that he turned himself in to the Roman authorities and he insisted on paying for his crimes. He insisted on serving his sentence. So, in this scenario Barabbas is pictured as an undeserving recipient who foolishly refuses. He’s offered freedom, but he chooses prison. He’s offered to have the chains taken off of him, but he says, “No, I’ll leave them on. This is what I deserve.”.