Sunday
Sunday
Barabbas the Brigand
Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested.
Mark 15:6
We know nothing about Barabbas except what we read in the Gospels. But all four evangelists tell his story. Putting the different pieces of evidence together, it appears that he was a notorious criminal and political prisoner. He had taken part recently in an insurrection in the city and was both a robber and a murderer. In our terms, he was a terrorist who was now on death row awaiting execution.
The evangelists also refer to the procurator’s custom of granting a Passover amnesty to a prisoner chosen by the people. Pilate saw in this tradition a way of escape from his personal dilemma. He suggested to the crowd that they should choose Jesus. But to his great consternation, they chose Barabbas instead, thus foiling his plan.
It is hard to imagine Barabbas’s incredulity when his cell door was flung open and he was called out not to execution but to freedom. He must have stumbled out dumbfounded into the bright sunshine of a spring day. He was not only released but, in a sense, redeemed.
Perhaps Barabbas also felt (as we do) the anomaly of his position. The one who had given sight to the blind and had laid his hands on little children was to be crucified, while the ruffian who deserved his sentence was to go scot-free. The apostle Peter referred to this topsy-turvy situation in the second sermon he preached to the crowd in Jerusalem. They had killed the author of life, he said, while asking for a murderer to be released for them (Acts 3:14–15).
Christians see in the story of Barabbas more than an anomaly; we also see a parable of our redemption. For each of us resembles Barabbas. Like him we deserve death. But like him we have escaped death because Jesus died in our place. If curiosity drew Barabbas to Calvary (though this is purely speculative), perhaps he watched Jesus dying and said to himself, “He is dying in my place.” Perhaps the sight even touched, softened, and redeemed him.
For further reading: Mark 15:6–15