“Now on the occasion of the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Jesus Barabbas. So when they had assembled, Pilate said to them, ‘Which one do you want me to release to you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus called the Messiah?’” (Mt. 27:15-17).
At that historical trial, God and his chosen people came face to face when God himself was the prisoner on trial. There was that chance of an acquittal but that depended on the mercy of a ravenous multitude. They were given that only chance to save their Saviour and Lord or reject him forever. It was a choice offered to creatures to judge and condemn their Creator and Redeemer. For a moment they did have the power,such as what no human assembly in the past ever had; nor would in the future. It was the power of a collective vote, a referendum for or against God that decided his fate.
It was at the same time the result of a clever move on the part of the great diplomat Pilate.It was a real gamble that Pilate thought out to save the day and save himself too from condemnation. The gamble was a barter of one known as the Son of the Eternal father with another who as well, was known as ‘ Son of the father’ as the name Barabbas indicates. So when that demonic trial did take place and the two who were to be gambled
were presented to the people for their choice Pilate announced, ‘Which one do you wantme to release to you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus called the Messiah?’
It is indeed strange that two persons of the same name and both Messiahs for one reason or another were presented to the people by Pilate, for them to make a choice.It is even stranger that the people were blinded to the extent that they rejected what was good and accepted what was evil.Whether it was chance or destiny, it is a mystery; but nonetheless,this was a sign from God pointing out the contradiction in human behaviour.
True, the choice was between two persons of the same name with similar meaning but they were different at the same time – Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah. The difference between the two was like the difference between the heaven and earth, between God and man and between light and darkness.The choice was between two opposites and yet the crowd preferred darkness and rejected light. But another peculiar character of the choice was the non-compromising character of the two options: both could not be accepted together. They had to choose one and reject the other as Pilate put it, “Who do you want me to release for you , Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah”. “ Mark the words, ‘release for you’, which means the person released will be ‘for you’ and the rejected one is ‘not yours’.
Barabbas was in some sense a Messiah because he was a revolutionary as Mark tells us, “ A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion” (Mk.15:7). It is, therefore most likely that Barabbas was the one who led the insurrection against the Romans and was captured and put in prison. So there stood before the Jews two kinds of Messiahs, Jesus of Nazareth whose kingdom was not of this world and Barabbas who fought for a kingdom in this world.
As the word ‘Barabbas’ means ‘the son of the Father’ it has a parallel meaning to Jesus’ position as ‘Son of the Father’, who is the only begotten Son of the Father. The one title that Jesus claimed for himself was that he was the Son of God and so affirmed “ The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him’ (Jn.3:35) and again declared,”The Father and I are one” (Jn.10:30). The very reason too, as to why the Jews
wanted to kill him was the same, as John tells us, “ The Jews answered , ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God” (Jn.19:7),Against this ‘Son of the Father’, there is another, that is Barabbas. Though this name only has that suggestion, however, it is quite significant and symbolic because the issue under trial was about Jesus calling himself the Son of God, that is , Son of the
Father. Ironically, the people chose the wrong Son of God.
There were two candidates from whom the people could choose, one that could give them salvation and the other perdition in the spiritual sense. We might at this juncture ask as to why the people were blinded to such an extent that they rejected what was good and welcomed what was evil. We see in that situation during the trial, the reason had totally failed and hatred prevailed .Three times, Pilate tired to have Jesus released but each time the people’s fury inflamed by their leaders’ passionate appeal, drowned Pilate’s good will
and fair reasoning.
All that we can say is that there was some demonic power at work, so that they were blinded in their rejection of the true king to surrender to the wrong one, Caesar. So they Shouted “If you release him, you are not a friend of Caesar” (Jn.19:12) and “ We have no king but Caesar” (Jn.19:15).Finally they went as far as to invoke a perpetual curse upon themselves and their progeny by saying, “His blood be upon our children” (Mt.27.25). They ere indeed blinded by some demonic power to such an extent
that they rejected salvation and invited condemnation upon themselves.
The Choice we have to make
We have a choice to make, just as Pilate had his choice and the Jews too. They lost their historic chance to make a decision for life and missed what was true life that had come into this world for the salvation of mankind. The choice that Pilate had offered to the Jews was really dramatic, ‘take either Jesus called the Messiah or Jesus Barabbas’. The Jews in turn threw the ball into Pilate’s court by saying, “If you release Jesus, you are no friend of Caesar’ that is to say, “You have to choose only one, either Jesus or Caesar’. The choice is always either or, if one is to be single hearted. Jesus too had taught the people similarly to choose only him, and reject whatever was an obstacle on the way, even if they were the parents, family people, friends, property or any attachment to anything, according to the words of Jesus, “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children , brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk.14:26)
Today, our life is faced with choices. But the choice is between the opposites, between the true God and a false God, between the true Messiah and a false one, between truth and falsehood and between light and darkness.We do go at times with the crowd and shout for the rejection of the true Messiah and opt for the false one. Often they look similar even with the same mission and the same name. Choice between two opposites that look identical can be very difficult when the evil one presents his candidate as more pleasing
and benevolent than our God and Redeemer who offers us the Cross and not goodies of the world.
The choice is indeed hard. But for the faithful ones it is possible to hear the voice of the Master who said,” My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (Jn.10:27). For those who follow their Shepherd the choice is easier as they constantly hear his voice and follow him to the pastures chosen by him. That’s what the psalmist tells us,” The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me besides still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake”(Ps.23:1-2).If this is the truth why should there be a lie to guide us into the wrong pastures led by a false shepherd, a Barabbas , a wrong Messiah, a film star or a pop hero? What is worse still is when we individually or collectively, make a deliberate choice of the wrong one and reject the true Messiah, Jesus our Saviour. We should know that our Saviour Jesus made a real choice for our salvation, sacrificing his own life for us because he loved us.” He loved me and gave his life for me”, says Paul in Galatians 2:20.This realization should help us to stand always by Jesus our Saviour and not any Barabbas.
No comments:
Post a Comment