Daily Verse | 2 Samuel 21:14
They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.
Today is Good Friday which, on the surface, seems like a misnomer. How can the execution of an innocent man be labeled “good”? Of course, the answer is that in the death of Jesus is found the justice demanded for our human rebellion against a holy God. Jesus “died for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). We are set free from the penalty of sin and death if we turn to Christ and his finished work on the cross.
In this last in the series of Holy Week posts I want to focus on Jesus appearing before Pilate and the “prisoner exchange” conducted with Barabbas. My interest in the topic was sparked by an article (paywall – sorry!) in the most recent issue of Christianity Today magazine, written by Andrew Wilson.
We don’t know much about Barabbas except what we learn in the biblical account, but the narrative is very rich in its symbolism. Here’s what we know.
- Barabbas (Bar-Abbas) means “son of the father.” In some ancient Matthaean manuscripts, his full name is given as Yeshua bar Abbas, (Jesus, son of the father).
- Barabbas is described as an insurrectionist and murderer who had taken part in an “uprising.”
- Barabbas is described as “a well-known prisoner.”
We also know from history that the penalty for insurrection against the occupying Romans was death by crucifixion. That means that Barabbas was being held for execution, most likely the very day he crossed paths with Jesus.
All of the gospels record Christ being condemned while Barabbas is released. Here is how Mark (15:6-15) records it:
Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
“Crucify him!” they shouted.
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The intersection of Jesus’ and Barabbas’ stories is instructive for us today.
While not sufficiently attested in manuscript evidence, the textual variant in Matt 27:16 offers the intriguing possibility that the names of the two men – Yeshua – are identical, as are their antecedents: “son of the father” (one human and one divine). Also identical is the crime the two are accused of: sedition, treason. Barabbas was an insurrectionist, someone who sought to overthrow Roman rule through a violent uprising (as the additional charge of murder attests). From the Roman point of view, Jesus also posed a direct threat to the rule of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor, by claiming to be the King of the Jews, which would be considered treasonous.
Both have the same (or nearly identical) names, both are accused of treason, and both face the death penalty. Yet one is undeniably guilty and the other is undeniably innocent. In fact, Pontius Pilate declares about Jesus, “I find no basis for a charge against him” (John 18:38).
Thus, when Pilate refers to the custom of releasing a Jewish prisoner during Passover, he gives the gathered crowd a choice: Jesus, the son of the father, or Jesus, the Son of God. Which will it be?
The crowd, stirred up by the chief priests, demands that Pilate release Barabbas.
And, in that moment, as Andrew Wilson notes, we see ourselves being freed while Jesus takes our place.
Barabbas is due to die for his sins, and he deserves to. Yet without doing anything to merit mercy, he discovers that Jesus is going to die instead. Having awoken on Friday morning expecting nothing but a slow, horrible death, by evening he is home with his family to celebrate the Sabbath. We are clearly intended to see ourselves in this man: destined for death but finding freedom and life through the death of another.
If we reflect for a moment, it becomes clear this is not merely an exchange, but a substitution. Jesus doesn’t just die instead of Barabbas; he dies in his place as his substitute, his representative.
Barabbas, who deserved to die under the law for his rebellion, is pardoned and set free, while Jesus, the unblemished Lamb, is condemned to death in his place.
We are Barabbas, charged with rebellion against God. We stand guilty before Him and condemned to death. Yet in His mercy and grace, God gives us Jesus who “’bore our sins’ in his body on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus suffers the penalty for our rebellion. That’s what is “Good” about this Friday.
Enjoy your weekend and Resurrection Sunday. Happy Easter.