The Preacher's Kid

We want a Messiah who will let us live the way we want. We want a Messiah who will stay out of the way Monday through Saturday, maybe give him an hour on Sunday. We want that kind of Messiah. We don't want a Jesus who died for our sins, because that means we would have to admit that we are sinners. We don't want a Jesus who was judged in our place because that seems to indicate we deserve God's judgment.

We don't want a Jesus who thinks he could direct our lives, and we don't want that kind of Jesus. What if someone was offered freedom because another was willing to die in their place? Today, we're taking a closer look at one of the most remarkable exchanges in history. An event that brings Jesus and Barabbas face to face. When Jesus was traded for Barabbas, a condemned man and notorious criminal, it was more than a prisoner exchange. It was an illustration of the Gospel. We'll see how this story goes deeper than a single event, reaching us with a message of undeserved freedom. What does this story say about the gift Jesus offers us?

Let's find out. In 2006, an Israeli soldier was captured by Hamas and held for more than five years. His capture became a high-profile case, an emotional issue, a national issue, very public. There was a national outcry for his release, and his status was constantly in the news. Eventually, this captured Israeli soldier was exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian soldiers who'd been captured over the years. And that exchange, by the way, sparked global controversy due to the unequal ratio and the potential harm to Israel from these released Palestinian soldiers. But Israel remained rather firm in its response that one Israeli soldier was worth that kind of prisoner exchange. Now even though that event was headlined for more than five years, now just 12 or 13 years ago, the world has since moved on. Does anybody even remember back then?

Well, I can guarantee you someone does, one Israeli soldier. He will never forget the day of his prisoner exchange. I was curious about him, actually, and now it's been 13 or 14 years. What happened to him? I found that he's chosen to live a relatively quiet life. According to the news source I researched, he has refused any public role, any society status.

He's declined at all. He's now married, has a family, raising them out of the public eye. He's simply happy to be alive. It occurred to me that there's another prisoner exchange that occurred in Israel, and to this day it's never been forgotten. In fact, it's as if God didn't want it to be forgotten because he recorded it in all four Gospel accounts. It's the prisoner exchange between Jesus and Barabbas. Barabbas is about to become a living illustration, a physical, literal, real-time event illustration of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul writes over in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 6 that Jesus Christ gave Himself as a ransom, and that word Paul used for ransom was the standard word for money that was paid to have a prisoner of war released from bondage.

Well, that's going to be played out for us today. Now to set the stage, let's go back to Luke's Gospel account. We're in chapter 23, and we last watched Pilate get himself into quite a political jam.

Pilate comes up with a stroke of genius. He happens to be holding a Jewish criminal who's been a burr in Rome's side for quite a while. John's Gospel simply calls him a robber in John 1840. That word referred to a dangerous criminal.

Today his photograph would be over at the post office, tacked up on the bulletin board, and underneath would be the words, armed and dangerous. Mark's Gospel called him a murderer. So Barabbas is not some, you know, pickpocket, some petty thief.

He is killing people who get in his way. Now with that, let's see how Luke describes him, chapter 23 and verse 19. He was a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.

Now that's an important description because it not only tells us that Barabbas was guilty of murder, it tells us who he was murdering. He was a member of this ever-present threat to the Roman government. He was a zealous Jew. He was involved in guerrilla warfare.

He was involved in a desperate attempt to remove Rome from the land of Israel, whatever it took. The Mathes account called him a notorious criminal or prisoner. The word notorious means to be marked. We would say he was a marked man.

There was essentially a mark, a price on his head. The Roman government's been searching for him for some time along with some members of his gang and they finally caught him and two other men who are partners with him. Now Barabbas isn't just a problem to Pilate.

He's a problem to the Jewish Sanhedrin. They don't want trouble with Rome. As we've already learned, the office of high priest was effectively purchased from the Roman governor, given to the Jewish leader who promised, you know, to get along, to keep the people under control and Rome would leave the Jews alone and the Jews would leave Rome alone. So the Jewish leaders were happy with peaceful coexistence.

They were happy. Barabbas had been a threat to all of that. Barabbas, and I say all of that to just sort of set the stage that Barabbas is the last guy that Rome and Israel want back on the street.

And here's his, here's Pilate's stroke of genius. It's Passover season and he remembers this unique tradition. Matthew's account fills in the details of what happens next in chapter 27 and verse 15. It reads, Now at the feast, that is the Passover feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner 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? And he's convinced it's going to be, this is a slam dunk.

I'm solving the dilemma. Jesus gets off the hook, Barabbas stays in prison. That's not Barabbas. He's public enemy number one.

He's guilty of treason, insurrection, murder, and the Roman government has finally caught him. Now I gotta give you some more background. You need to know that Barabbas isn't really a name. It's a nickname. This nickname, Barabbas, is an Aramaic term that actually just referred to his father. The first part of his name, you're probably aware if you're older in the faith, Bar, simply means son. The last part would typically indicate the name of that individual's father. You might remember Jesus calling Simon Peter Simon Bar Jonah. It's his official name, Simon the son of Jonah or John. A custom developed where the most well-known and most well-respected rabbis were called father, literally translated Barabbas is son of a father.

We don't know who the father is, but this indicates because of the use of Abbas, this was some famous rabbi. So well-known, he didn't need his name. Everybody knew who he was. Sort of like the apostle John, if you read his last few letters, those little note cards, 1, 2, and 3 John. By then, he refers to himself with the nickname that everybody's given him. It's simply the elder, the old man. He's so well-loved. Everybody knew him, so he would write his letters.

This is from the elder. Everybody then knows Barabbas is the son of some famous rabbi. He's a rabbi's son. We would call him today a preacher's kid. Barabbas had grown up in the home of a rabbi, a preacher, a teacher of the law, an expositor of the Old Testament, the Torah. Now, how faithful he was to the Word of God, we don't know. But we do know that somewhere along the way, Barabbas has rejected his father's teaching that he'd grown up under and he'd turned to a life of crime, becoming a murderer, a thief, a leader among a gang of men who now had Roman blood on their hands. It's interesting when you consider what his past had been. Now, we still don't know his first name. With the help of some ancient Syriac and Armenian manuscripts were given his first name.

It's going to be later ignored, fairly quickly in fact dropped from the record. And that's because Barabbas' first name was Yeshua, Jesus. Now you've got to understand that Jesus was a common name. In fact, if you ever watch Major League Baseball, you can see Jesus step up to the plate.

You know he can't strike out, but then he does. He's not the Jesus we know. This is the New Testament counterpart to Joshua.

It means deliverer. Lots of little boys running the streets in these regions and around Jerusalem would have been named in honor of Israel's, one of Israel's most valiant soldiers, Joshua. It'd be the desire of a Jewish couple that their son would grow up to be a godly leader, standing for truth like Joshua of old, as well as loyal to the nation Israel. So this rabbi and his wife have a little boy. And they're so devoted to their people and their land and their nation and their god, they decide like you might have done, you know, what are we going to name them?

You get the little book out from Walmart, you know, all the names that rhyme with whatever. And they decide, let's name him Yeshua, Joshua. In the Greek language it's Jesus, Jesus.

Ken Hughes writes in his commentary that the church father Origen, writing in the late second century, long ago, said that this criminal leader's name was Iesthus Barabbas. So here you have this boy growing up in a home where his father is becoming a famous rabbi. And he grows up to be as equally loyal to the nation as his father. But as he grows, you can imagine the heated debates around the dining room table. His father would be all about protecting the status quo, protecting Jewish tradition, protecting peaceful coexistence with Rome.

But Barabbas is getting older. What about the injustice of Rome? What about the murderous acts of Pilate who murdered unsuspecting Jewish worshippers on one occasion? What about Pilate stealing money from the temple for a building project?

And his blood would be boiling. Well, what about Israel's subjugation to this foreign empire? We don't know when.

We don't know how. I'm just tossing out the idea that at some point Barabbas begins to live out the meaning of his name but in a violent manner. He's going to do his part to overthrow Roman rule.

He's going to spill blood if necessary and it was evidently necessary. I mean, isn't it time, he would think, for another Joshua? Isn't it time for another deliverer? Something has to be done. I will become this deliverer.

Think of it. I'm going to be the messianic figure this nation wants. So Pilate thinks he's out of the mess he's created and it's only gotten deeper, which by the way, it sort of explains the distinction he makes. Again, Matthew's record in chapter 27 and verse 17 says this, whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ.

One ancient Syriac manuscript reads, whom do you want me to release for you? Yeshua Barabbas or Yeshua Christ. In other words, do you want Jesus, the son of the famous rabbi, or do you want Jesus, the anointed son of God?

Here's the question. We can understand it even more bluntly today. Do you want to get rid of the son of the rabbi or the son of God? This is about to become in many ways the most ironic, the most staggering prisoner exchange in human history and the crowd unanimously shouts for the Messiah they would rather have. Somebody who was willing to kill, not die.

Now at that same decision point, frankly over the last 2,000 years, we're still here. What Messiah would you want? We want a Messiah who will give us what we want. We want a Messiah who will let us live the way we want. We want a Messiah who will stay out of the way Monday through Saturday.

Maybe give Him an hour on Sunday. We want that kind of Messiah. We don't want a Jesus who died for our sins because that means we would have to admit that we are sinners. We don't want a Jesus who was judged in our place because that seems to indicate we deserve God's judgment. We don't want a Jesus who's going to make life more difficult.

We want a... if He'll make us more comfortable. We don't want a Jesus who thinks He could direct our lives and tell us what we can't do and what we can do. We don't want that kind of Jesus. That's still our world out there today, isn't it?

That's still the question that people are having to answer. Now facing a potential riot on His hands, unable to get Jesus off the hook so to speak, Pilate makes this prisoner exchange back in Luke chapter 23 verse 23. But they were urgent, ending with loud cries that He should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they asked. But he delivered Jesus over to their will.

And again, I just want to go back into this scene and wonder. We're not given any details by the way of Barabbas' release from his cell. He's there in the nearby fortress of Antonio. He would have heard the crowds chanting his name.

He's close enough. But he wouldn't have known why. In fact, several commentators expanded my imagination when they pointed out the fact that Barabbas would not have been able to hear Pilate saying to the crowd, whom do you want me to release? But he would have heard the crowd chanting, Barabbas!

Barabbas! Then he would not have heard Pilate ask, what do you want me to do with Jesus the Christ? But he would have heard them shouting, crucify Him!

Crucify Him! And his heart would begin to race with terror. So imagine the next thing he hears are footsteps coming down the corridor of that fortress, that stone pavement. Perhaps he hears the first door unlock and he hears his two friends being grabbed and carted away. Then he turns in the lock of his door.

This was it. He was going to die. It must have flooded over him that his life had been lived in vain. But there, when the door swings open, stands the warden who says to him, get up. The other Jesus who claimed to be the Christos, the Messiah, he's going to die in your place. You're free. Now get out of here.

Go. Don't you wonder what Barabbas did with the rest of his life? But I do believe that he ended up living such a quiet, private life that nothing surfaces about it.

In history, commentary, church tradition, Scripture, in the writings of the early church fathers, absolutely nothing. God evidently wanted the biographical entry of Barabbas to end with simply this fact. Jesus took his place, just like he took yours and mine.

There was a prisoner exchange. Barabbas lived. Jesus died. And that's really the gospel. I hold up the mirror of the Word and I would see that we could be like Pilate here who wants to protect himself, his reputation.

He listens to the voices of the majority opinion. We could be like the crowd carried away in a foolish direction. We could be like the religious leaders who are offended that Jesus dared to challenge their lives. But we are most like Barabbas. We're guilty. We're incarcerated.

That is bound to this body of flesh confined to a sinful mind and heart and the heap of sin just increases. We're hopeless before the purity of God's discernment and the prediction of Jesus that there will be a final judgment and the books that have recorded every deed and every thought of every unbelieving human being of all of human history will be revealed at that time. We don't stand a chance.

We're as good as dead. But then a key turns in our cell door and it swings open and Jesus says to you, I have paid the ransom for your freedom. Are you interested in a prisoner exchange? My life for yours. My sacrifice for your sin.

All of them, past, present, and future. My redemption for your admission that you're a sinner. You can't save yourself.

How have you responded? Barabbas, I imagine, could have sat there and then said to his jailer, look, I really appreciate the offer but I'm not leaving until Pilate apologizes. Or maybe, you know, look, I appreciate what you're saying but I have sinned too greatly. You don't know the half of what I've done. I deserve to die. I don't deserve to go free. We can all say that. Barabbas could have said, okay, but let me stay in here for a few years to pay off some of this stuff I did.

Yeah, I've heard answers kind of like those over the years. What did Barabbas have to do to go free? Walk out of that cell. The beneficiary of a prisoner exchange, his freedom paid for by the final Passover lamb who came to die for sinners like Barabbas and you and me. When Jesus began his ministry, he preached his first sermon and we covered it back in Luke chapter 4 and he read from the prophet Isaiah and then he claimed to be the personal application of that text and that text includes that he had come to set the prisoner free. And to this day, his death on the cross, your cross, my cross, he is setting captives free. I close with this true story written by M.R. DeHaan.

I've had it in my notes many years. He founded the Daily Bread Ministries. DeHaan was a converted medical doctor and he loved to tell the true story of an elderly man who was known around town as Old Man Cline. He was unkind. He was self-centered, kind of like a Scrooge.

Children taunted him. People avoided him in general. One particular Sunday night in the 1920s, he was taking a walk and he was walking near this little church in the neighborhood whose members had often invited him to attend and he'd always refused their invitation.

It was a warm summer night and the windows of that little chapel were open and the congregation was singing and the music just sort of floated on the wind and down the sidewalk where Mr. Cline was walking. No one knew it, but he'd grown discouraged in life, troubled by his shortcomings, filled at times with despair. He knew he had not been the man he should have been, a good man, a kind man.

He deserved his reputation. But most unsettling was the fact that he knew he had no hope, no answer, no prospect beyond the grave. He stopped. The music just sort of breezed toward him and circled around him and he couldn't believe his ears. They were singing that Jesus had died for mankind and Jesus died for me and his hearing wasn't very good at all, so he walked closer to listen. He thought they were singing about him. Sure enough when the congregation came again to that chorus, Jesus died for all mankind, he thought they were singing Jesus died for old man Cline.

Could it be, he thought. He entered that little chapel, sat through the service, heard the message of the gospel that Jesus had indeed come to die for him and right then and there, he believed the gospel message trusted in Jesus as his deliverer. Let me tell you, a prisoner exchange was made that night. In Barabbas we see a picture of ourselves set free because of Jesus' sacrifice. This is Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Today's lesson is called The Preacher's Kid. If you haven't already, sign up for a free membership in Friends of Wisdom. Each Tuesday Stephen sends an email with biblical insights, answers to Bible questions and helpful resources. You'll also receive free monthly content. Signing up is simple, just visit wisdomonline.org forward slash friends. Fill out a short form and you're in. Sign up today, then join us back here next time as we continue through this section of Luke on Wisdom for the Heart.