OPEN: Someone once noted that Jesus borrowed just about everything he had while on earth. He borrowed a place for His birth, a house to sleep in, a boat to preach from, an animal to ride on when He entered Jerusalem, a room to meet privately with His friends for the Last Supper, and a tomb to be buried in. He owned it all - He was the God of the Universe. But He had nothing for His own! 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich".
One hymn writer put it this way:
“They borrowed a bed to lay his head, when Christ the Lord came down;
They borrowed the ass in the mountain pass for him to ride into town;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore were his own - the cross was his own.
He borrowed a room on his way to the tomb the Passover lamb to eat;
They borrowed a cave for him as a grave; they borrowed a winding sheet;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore were his own - the cross was his own.” (L. M. Hollingsworth)
It’s a beautiful song. But it’s wrong. Jesus didn’t even own the cross He died on. He had to borrow that just like everything else He used in this world. Do you know who belonged on the cross that Jesus died on? That’s right - his name was Barabbas.
Barabbas is perhaps one of the most infamous names in history. It was the name of a very bad man. I don’t think I know of anybody who has ever named their child Barabbas. What little we know about him is found in the Gospels.
Our text today says he was “a NOTORIOUS prisoner” (Matthew 27:16). He was notorious. Everybody knew his name. But why was he so well known? Well John 18:40 says “Barabbas was a ROBBER.” He was a thief, he took things that didn’t belong to him. If it wasn’t nailed down he took it. He would steal you blind in a heartbeat.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. Luke 23:19 tells us he was “a man who had been thrown into prison for an INSURRECTION started in the city and for MURDER.”
So Barabbas was a thief, a revolutionary… and a murderer. If anybody should have died on a cross that day it should have been Barabbas. He was not a nice man. He was not someone you wanted loose in your city. He was not a man you’d want to meet in a dark alley in the middle of the night. And yet Barabbas didn’t die that day. He was let loose and it was Jesus who died… not Barabbas.
What happened?
Well, this is where Pontius Pilate figures into the story. You see, Pilate was the Roman governor in charge of Judea. His job was to keep the peace in this Roman province, but the Jews were a difficult people to rule over. Pilate didn’t like them… and they didn’t like him much either. And Pilate responded to the Jews in ways that people often respond to difficult people – he sought to annoy them and anger them. He stole money from the temple funds to pay for an aqueduct. He marched into Jerusalem with banners flowing bearing images that he KNEW the Jews saw as the symbols of idolatry. And he held numerous executions without trial. Luke 13:1-3 tells us that on one occasion, Pilate slaughtered some Galilean Jew who were worshiping, and mingling their own blood with that of their sacrifice. Well, you can’t do stuff like that before you gain a reputation, and Pilate’s reputation made it all the way to Rome… and it didn’t set well with Caesar. Pilate’s job was on the line.
And then Jesus came to town.
Now Pilate didn’t have anything against Jesus. Jesus drew crowds but He didn’t seem to be causing any trouble. And as long as Jesus didn’t bother him, Pilate wasn’t going to bother Jesus. But the Sanhedrin was a different story. They hated Jesus. Jesus threatened their power and He seemed to mock them in all of His sermons. It had gotten to the point that Jesus angered them so much they decided that He MUST die.
The only problem was – they didn’t have the authority to execute Him. Only Pilate could do that. So the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and brought him before the governor, accusing Jesus of sedition. Luke tells us “they began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.’” Luke 23:2
Now Pilate wasn’t fooled – he knew what was going on! Matthew 27:18 says “… he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.” But Pilate had a problem. If he didn’t handle this crisis properly the Jewish leaders might send word to Caesar and destroy what little reputation he had left. Not only that, but the crowd outside was getting uglier by the moment. They were beginning to cry out “CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM!” and he knew that if he didn’t do something soon he’d have a riot on his hands.
Then a thought occurred to him. Matthew 27:15-17 tells us “… at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’”
It was pure genius! NOBODY wanted Barabbas! It was obvious to Pilate that – of the 2 – the crowd would choose Jesus over this monster. And yet Mark 15:11 tells us “…the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.” And that’s the story of how of how Jesus came to die on the cross of murderer and a thief. The Cross of Barabbas.
Now… was this an accident? Was it purely a coincidence that Jesus took the place of Barabbas? Let’s take a poll: How many of you think Barabbas’ part in this story was NOT a coincidence? (The majority raised their hands). You’re right! This was not a coincidence. As with all things in the Bible… there’s a reason why this took place. Barabbas is such a central part of Gospel story that he is mentioned in all 4 Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke & John – they all mention him.
But why? Why would Scripture include Barabbas as if he was a focal point in the Gospel story?
Well, 1st – Jesus was the Son of God.
Several times throughout His ministry Jesus referred to God as HIS FATHER. In fact one time, Jesus angered a crowd of Jews by declaring: “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one."
At that point, the Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Now, why would they do want to stone Jesus? (Wait for an answer). That’s right. They realized what Jesus was saying In their own words they were doing it “for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
They knew exactly what Jesus was saying by calling God His Father. Jesus was declaring that He was the Son of God. Literally He was “the Son of THE Father.”
Later - in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested Jesus prayed: "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.” (Mark 14:36) “Abba” was another way of saying “Father” – it was an intimate term used only by children
Now Remember That.
Let me ask this question again: Whose Cross did Jesus borrow to die on??? That’s right: Barabbas. Now, his name is interesting – it’s made up of two Jewish words. “Bar” means “son”, and Abbas means “Father”. Bar-abbas - his name literally meant “a son of the father”. Thus, Jesus, THE “Son of the Father” died in the place of Barabbas “a son of the father”. Is that intriguing? You bet. Jesus could have borrowed the cross of any of those other criminals (whose names we don’t know), and yet God set it up so that it was Barabbas that escaped his cross.
Now, why would God do that? Well, to drive home that this was not a coincidence. This was a deliberate part of the God’s message for us.
You see… Bar-Abbas deserved to die. Paul wrote “…scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a GOOD MAN someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8
Was Barabbas a “good man”? Of course not. Everybody knew this man was evil. Everyone knew he should have died. And yet – Jesus took Bar-Abbas’ place. Jesus died FOR Barabbas. Jesus died so that Barabbas might live.
That’s the whole Gospel message wrapped up in the name of this ONE man – Barabbas.
You see – you are Barabbas. And I am Barabbas. You and I are the sons/daughters of the Father. We were created in the image and likeness of our heavenly Father. Did you know that? Did you realize that - if for that reason alone – we have value and purpose built into us? We, like the mortal Barabbas of that day, are loved by God and longed for by Him because we were made in His image.
But like the earthly Barabbas, we’ve messed it up. We’ve sinned and fallen short. How many of you have sinned and have fallen short? (Everybody raised their hand). Good, you agree with God on that. Romans 3:23 tells us that “… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. And then in Romans 6:23 God tells us that “the wages of sin is death”. We all deserved to die - but Jesus died in our place. Jesus borrowed your cross when He died! And He borrowed my cross.
You know, you cannot become a Christian if you don’t understand that. Jesus died for sinners, and if you can’t accept that you are a sinner… Jesus can’t do anything for you.
ILLUS: You ever hear of a singer named Billy Joel? Years back he said “I wasn't raised Catholic, but I used to go to mass with my friends, and I viewed the whole business as a lot of very enthralling hocus pocus. There's a guy... nailed to a cross and dripping blood, and everyone's blaming themselves for that man's torment, but I said to myself, 'Forget it. I had no hand in that evil. I have no original sin. There's no blood of any sacred martyr on my hands. I pass on all of this.”
That’s the mindset of the lost: “I pass on this. I don’t need the blood of Jesus. I can do this all on my own.” They don’t want somebody else dying for them because they’ve done enough good in their lives, they’re convinced it will weigh out against the bad, and they’ll have done enough good in their life that they can buy a place in heaven and their self-righteousness will earn them a spot in the heavenly choir.
But the Bible says – that ain’t never gonna happen! Neither you nor I will ever be good enough to be good enough to make it into heaven. There’s nothing we can do that buy us even a small part of heaven. The story of Jesus dying for Barabbas drives home the fact that Barabbas was just like us… unworthy of being saved.
Ephesians 2:4b-9 tells us that “because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
CLOSE: When we hired Scott Jewell (our Family Minister) an intriguing part of his resume was that he’d spent time in the inner city of St. Louis reaching out to gang members. He and his wife bought a house there and held Bible studies with many of the young men in the area. One of the ways that he started making friends there was by going down to the place where the young men played basketball and just shooting hoops with them.
Now Scott stood out for 3 reasons. 1st he was a white guy in a black community. 2nd he’s bigger than the average bear. And 3rd – he wore an earring in his ear. The earring was a real conversation starter… because they knew he was a preacher and preachers didn’t do stuff like that. So when they asked him why he wore the ear ring he would reply that in the Old Testament, a slave could freed from slavery OR they could choose to stay with their master. The ceremony to choose to stay in slavery with involved driving an awl thru the ear of slave, and placing an ear ring in their ear lobe. This earring was the mark of ownership. They now belonged to their master forever.
Scott explained to the gang members that his earring was his way of declaring that he belonged to Jesus. Jesus was now his master. That, in turn, would lead the gang members to talk about the fact that they didn’t think God would want them. They’d done so many bad things that they were beyond hope.
It was then that Scott told them the story of Barabbas. He described what an evil man Barabbas had been… and then he told them of a legend about Barabbas. According to the legend after Barabbas was released and Jesus took his place, he went back to doing what he’d always done before… being a criminal. He went back to stealing and killing. But after a while he was captured again.
This time he was placed in exile on a prison island, and the prisoners could be identified by an earring they wore that bore the mark of Caesar – they were his property now. Now, by this time Christianity had spread across the Roman world, and many of the prisoners on that island were Christians. As Barabbas worked side-by-side with these Christians, he began to learn who this Jesus was - this Jesus who had literally died in his place on the cross. And the message so shook him that he eventually gave his life to Christ. To demonstrate his change he scratched off the emblem of Caesar from his earring and he replaced it with something else. What do you think he replaced it with? That’s right - a cross; the symbol declaring that he now belonged to Jesus.
I want to close with the words to the last verse of that hymn I quoted at beginning of the sermon
“The thorns on His head were worn in my stead, for me the Saviour died.
For guilt of my sin the nails drove in when Him they crucified;
And though the crown that He wore and the cross that He bore were His own--
(Pause) They rightly were mine!"
Jesus borrowed your cross to die on. He died for you, and He died For Me. He died that we might live.
INVITATION
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES: What The Cross Meant To…
• The Centurion At The Feet Of Jesus Mark 15:33-39
• The Man From Arimathea Matthew 27:57-66
• The Cross Of Barabbas Matthew 27:11-26
• Victory In Jesus I Corinthians 15:35-57
