Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Matthew 27-28
Matthew 27:17
Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
Which would you choose?
Barabbas was a notable prisoner. In the gospel of Luke, we learn that he was guilty of insurrection and was also a murderer.
Jesus was a just person, that is what Pontius Pilate said. This governor’s wife also testified that Christ was just. Again, in Luke, Pilate is recorded as saying, … I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man… Luke 23:14 In John Pilate stated Christ’s innocence twice more.
So, whom would you have chosen?
They chose Barabbas. After all, their leaders, the chief priests, scribes, and elders all agreed, Jesus should die, Barabbas should go free. The majority chose Barabbas, isn’t the majority always right?
Consider this man Barabbas. He was sentenced to die on the cross with two thieves, he was the worst of all three. On that morning that his death sentence was to be carried out, the notable prisoner knew his time was up. He did wrong, was captured, tried, and sentenced to die. Yet, when the guards came to him, he was told that he would go free. Jesus would die in his place. He would be released to live whatever life he had left. What joy, what relief, imagine the confluence of emotions this man must have experienced. From being that close to death, only to be saved from that death by the death of another.
We know nothing about Barabbas after this episode. Did he live for the Lord, loving Him and thanking Him for his life? Did he continue down the path of insurrection, deceit, and murder? We don’t know.
But this we do know. Every person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior by trusting in His gospel is a Barabbas. For truly, the man who ever should have lived, died, so that we who ever should have died could live.
I am Barabbas. The thief on the cross that trusted in Christ, who went with Him to paradise that day was Barabbas. Even though that thief died, he lived again. Paul, Peter, John, Stephen, Thomas, Mary, Lydia, Martha, and all the rest were Barabbas’. Jesus died so that they could live.
Barabbas’s story is the story of all the saved. Jesus died, so they can live.
Yet, the people chose Barabbas. Who have you chosen? The notable prisoner guilty and condemned, or Jesus the Just One?
Dr. William T. Howe
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