Matthew 27:15-26
An overly-ambitious American attorney who telephoned the governor
just after midnight, insisting that he talk to him about being a judge at the state capitol.
An aide eventually agreed to wake up the governor.
“So, what is it?” grumbled the governor.
“Judge Garber has just died,” said the attorney, “and I want to take his place.” The governor replied: “Well, it’s OK with me if it’s OK with the undertaker.”
The Bible calls him an insurrectionist, using a Greek word that means one who rises up against the existing authority and institutions
He is called a murderer in Mark 15:7, Luke 23:19, and Acts 3:14. He is called a robber in John 18:40
The two thieves who were crucified with Jesus Christ might also have been members of that movement. Why do we think that? At that time robbery was not a capital offense, and yet these two thieves were sentenced to be crucified.
Matthew 27:16
Barabbas was described as notorious, but this word means famous for something bad: well known for some undesirable feature, quality, or act.
Do you know someone like that, just the mention of their name and these images of what kind of person they are.
They have a stigma attached to their name.
The Crowd-Maybe the same ones who had cried out praises to Jesus when He entered Jerusalem, now are crying out to crucify Him.
Robber:
You have rob God of time, maybe you didn’t come to Christ when you were younger, maybe you did and you wander away from Him, you have spent time on recreation and not time in God’s word, or in His house, or maybe you have rob Him of His tithe!
Murder:
Jesus said that being very angry with another person is the same as murder. Wishing another person dead is murder. And honestly, as an old pastor told me years ago, spreading lies and gossip about someone else kills their reputation and good name.
Rebelled:
He rebel against the Roman government, we have rebel against God and His commandments, there have been times, by your actions or your words, that you have done what you have wanted to do instead of what God wanted you to do!
The Roman soldiery had stopped the riot and had taken Barabbas. His blood-guiltiness was established. He was flung in his cell, there to wait the moment of his death. A man who is to be hanged has difficulty in keeping his hand away from his throat where the rope is soon to choke him. I have been told by a chaplain in a prison where men are executed in a gas chamber that the condemned practice long breathing, and sometimes will hold their breath until it seems that their eyes will pop from their sockets. They know that they are going to be put into a gas chamber and that they will hear a little hissing sound of incoming death, and that the breath they are now forcing into their lungs will be the last that they shall ever know. They will hold on and on, straining at the thongs that tie them to their chair, until they are forced by the inexorable law of breathing to exhale the last breath that contained pure oxygen and take in the death that floats around them. Barabbas must have looked at the palms of his hands and wondered how it would feel to have the nails ripping through the flesh. He must have remembered scenes of crucifixion death, and the slow agony of the victims who suffered at times for a day or two before merciful death came to release them. He must have awakened with a start if he heard any hanimering in the jail, and his mind must have anticipated the sound of the clanging hammers that would bring death near to him. And then, in his prison, he heard the vague murmuring of the crowd that roared outside like the murmur of a troubled sea. He thinks he hears his own name. He can tell that there are angry cries, and fear rises in his heart. Then he hears the sound of a key in the lock, and a jailer comes to him and releases him from the chain that is wound around him, for the Bible tells that he was bound. He must have thought that his time had come, but the jailer takes him to the door and tells him that he is free.
In the mountains of Virginia, there once was a one-room school with students no teacher had been able to handle. Two or three teachers had been run off from this school in one year by the unruly students.
An old bent-over teacher heard about the school and applied for the job. There were so few candidates that he was hired on the spot.
The next morning Old Man Teacher stood before the class. He said to the class, “Young people, I came here today to conduct school. But I realize I can’t do it by myself. I must have your help.” One big boy they called Big Tom, in the back of the room whispered to his buddies, “I can get rid of this guy.”
And Big Tom tried. He tried the tack on the chair, the glue on the chair, and the snake in the desk drawer. Nothing worked. Old Man Teacher was there to stay.
Well, Old Man Teacher told the class that if they were to have school, there would have to be some rules to go by. But he also added that he would allow the students to make up the rules, and that he would list them on the blackboard. This was certainly different, the students thought! One young lady said, “No putting girls’ ponytails in the inkwells.” Another one shouted, “Be on time!” Pretty soon they had ten rules listed on the board. Even Big Tom piped in and said, “You know, I hate when someone steals my lunch. There should be a rule about no lunch-stealing.” Old man Teacher wrote that on the board, too.
The teacher then asked the class what the punishment should be for breaking the rules. “Rules are no good unless they are enforced,” he said.
“Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,” was the decision of the boys.
“That is pretty severe, boys. Are you ready to stand by it?” inquired the teacher. Another yelled, and the teacher said, “The rules stand. School comes to order!”
Everything went well for two or three days. Then Big Tom came in one day very upset. He declared that someone had stolen his lunch. After talking with the students, they came to the conclusion that little Timmy had stolen Big Tom’s lunch. Someone had seen little Timmy with Big Tom’s lunch! The teacher called little Timmy up to the front of the room.
Little Timmy admitted he had taken Big Tom’s lunch.
So the teacher asked him, “Do you know the punishment?”
Little Timmy nodded that he did.
“You must remove your coat, then,” Old Man Teacher instructed. The little fellow had come with a great big coat on.
Little Timmy said to the teacher, “I am guilty, and I am willing to take my punishment, but please don’t make me take off my coat.”
The teacher reminded little Timmy of the rules and punishments and again told him he must remove his coat and take his punishment like a man.
The little fellow started to unbutton his old coat. As he did so, the whole class saw he did not have a shirt on under the coat. And even worse, they saw a frail and bony frame hidden beneath that coat.
The teacher asked little Timmy why he had come to school without a shirt on.
Little Timmy replied, “My daddy’s dead, and my mother is very poor. I don’t have but one shirt, and my mother is washing it today. I wore my big brother’s coat so’s to keep warm.”
At that point, Big Tom spoke up. He said, “Oh that’s OK, Old Man Teacher. I’m so big and he’s so small, and I can go one day without eating. He doesn’t need to be punished.”
But Old Man Teacher said, “But he does. He knew the rules, he broke the rules, and we must follow through with the punishment.”
With that, the Old Man Teacher drew back to strike little Timmy.
Just then Big Tom stood up and came down the aisle. He said, “Wait! What’s the rule?”
Old Man Teacher turned around at the board and read word for word: “No stealing. Punishment: Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on.”
Big Tom said, “It says that punishment has to be dealt out. But it doesn’t say who has to take it.”
Old Man Teacher thought it out and said, “You’re right — it doesn’t.”
At that point Big Tom took off his shift, stooped down, and stood over little Timmy at the desk.
With great hesitation, Old Man Teacher began to lay the rod on that big back. After only five licks that old rod just broke in half.
And at the end of it all, all you could hear were sobs. From the teacher and from the class. But the one who did the loudest sobbing was Little Timmy, grateful that someone who didn’t deserve it took his punishment for him.
