Barabbas Series

Barabbas’ silence

But that was Friday and today is Sunday. Tradition says that Barabbas followed the procession to the cross and watched as Jesus was crucified, that makes sense, curious about this man that took his place. Barabbas above all people knew that it should have been him on that cross. I wonder if Barabbas made his way to the tomb to watch as they buried Jesus? But that was Friday and today is Sunday. On Friday Barabbas was the winner and Jesus was the loser. On Friday Barabbas lived and Jesus died, on Friday love hung on a cross and hate walked free. But that was Friday and today is Sunday.

History is measured not from Friday but from Sunday. And on Sunday Jesus became the focal point of human history and Barabbas became just a footnote. We know nothing else for certainty about Barabbas, he walked away from the cross on Friday and walked into obscurity. Tradition tells us that he was later killed while involved in another rebellion attempt, how sad.

We would think that Barabbas would have been more aware of the fact that Jesus had taken his place on the cross and when the stories of the resurrection began to surface that if only out of curiosity he would have checked the stories out. And that as a result of the resurrection that Barabbas’ life would have been turned around and he would have become a Christ follower. But there is no evidence of that at all, and as rich as tradition is with stories of the disciples and other early followers of Christ there is no mention of Barabbas.

What about you? What will you do with Jesus? We need him to take our place. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Romans 4:25.

The idea for this series came from George Wood at: http://sermons.georgeowood.com/SiteFiles/102297/Content/Luke/67%20THE%20RE-TRIAL%20OF%20JESUS%20OF%20NAZARETH.pdf