And They Said, "Barabbas"

​Sunday of the Passion – A                                                                       LSB #’s 758, 430:1-5, 436
Text – Matthew 27:21
 
The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”  And they said, “Barabbas.” 
 
And they said, “Barabbas.”
 
 
“…from that day on they made plans to put Him to death.”  (John 11:53 ESV)    You may remember those words from the sermon text for last Sunday.   Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, who had been in the tomb four days by then.   The Pharisees were afraid that if they allowed Jesus to continue doing miracles they would lose their positions of power & privilege. 
Something had to be done to stop Jesus.   Yet, He’d outwitted them in their every attempt to discredit this upstart teacher.   Not only did He dare to ignore their laws, He had called them out in public for being hypocrites. 
After Jesus called Lazarus out of his tomb, “Many of the Jews… who had come with Mary & had seen what He did, believed in Him.”  (John 11:45 ESV)   The only thing the Pharisees & chief priests could think of now, to stop this whistleblowing miracle worker, was to kill Him.  However, under the rule of the Romans, they no longer had authority to execute criminals. 
They needed to convince Pontius Pilate to give that order.   As the Roman ruler over Judea & Samaria, Pilate possessed an almost absolute authority, though it was mitigated by competing circumstances imposed upon him by the Emperor – rule & keep the peace. 
Brought before Pilate, Jesus was a Galilean Jew of lowly birth & status.   Therefore, Roman law did not apply to Him.  Pilate could function as prosecutor, judge & jury.   His own sense of right & wrong would compete with his need to balance the opposing interests – Roman & Jewish – in the area under his jurisdiction.  The leadership of both despised each other. 
Due to his position, Pilate dealt with many criminal cases & he’d seen the patterns of
character that were common to the criminal type of human being.  He didn’t see those patterns in this Jesus of Nazareth, the supposed King of the Jews.   It was clear this man hadn’t done anything deserving of the death penalty.  And if He deserved to die for seeking to overthrow Caesar, Jesus certainly didn’t look like any other “king wannabe” that Pilate had met. 
Pilate’s instincts were telling him to dispose of this matter in some lesser way:  “For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up.  Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of Him today in a dream.’”  (Matthew 27:18-19 ESV) 
And that’s where Barabbas came in.  He was a notoriously evil man.  Pilate thought to put Jesus & Barabbas side by side & allow the crowds to choose which man would be set free.  Remember, Pilate knew that the Jewish leaders were so invested in killing Jesus because they were envious of Him.  The crowds were not likely to suffer from that kind of envy. 
 Unlike the crowds of common people, the Jewish leaders had their private security detail to protect them.  If the crowds were sufficiently afraid of Barabbas, they could choose to have the innocent Jesus released instead.  In that way, Pilate could abdicate his responsibility & tell the Jewish leaders that it was their own people who had chosen to set Jesus free. 
It was the quintessential move of a career politician.   In a similar move, the Jewish leaders worked among their people & convinced them to act against their own self-interest.  When Pilate asked the crowd again, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”  …they said, “Barabbas.”  (Matthew 27:21 ESV) 
  Politicians love to pass blame for anything difficult, & they love to take credit for anything that’s successful.  As for the crowds, the people were duped by unscrupulous leaders who didn’t care about the welfare of the people.  Everything was backwards from the way any just society should behave, & the heavenly Father knows that.  He took into account the weak & vacillating leadership of a career politician such as Pilate.  God understood how the false & unbelieving religious leaders would look out only for their self-interests.  Our Lord knew the ignorance of the masses & how they could be duped into voting against their own safety. 
The good news in all of that disfunction is that Yahweh also understands how backwards our minds work.  He knows the corruption under which every one of us functions, & still today He accomplishes His will through you   & through me. 
A lot of our politicians seem more concerned about criminals than they are about victims.  They’re more concerned about the guilty than about the innocent, but ultimately, they are far more concerned about themselves than about the people they are supposed to serve, no matter what their political ads may tell us. 
From this text in the Gospel of Matthew, once again we see that nothing is new under the sun.  Yet, the book of Hebrews tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday & today & forever.”  (13:8 ESV)  He is always looking out for our best interests – even when we make foolish choices.  “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”  (Hebrews 13:6 ESV)
God used the weakness of Pilate, the corruption of the Pharisees & the ignorance of the people to sacrifice the Lamb of God for the sins of all people – from Adam & Eve to you & me.  The sins of everyone involved in crucifying Jesus were forgiven if only they saw the grace & mercy of Yahweh in the life, death & resurrection of His Son. 
Barabbas became the quintessential example of the salvation Christ offers.  Barabbas was a notoriously evil man & yet was released that Jesus might be executed in his stead.  That is the good news taught to us this morning by the Gospel of Matthew.  As Isaiah wrote in the OT lesson, “Morning by morning He awakens; He awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.”  (Isaiah 50:4b ESV)  Our Lord & Savior calls us to hear His teaching, to listen to His Word, just as He called the dead Lazarus to listen & walk out of his tomb that he might live.  Whatever tomb your sins have locked you into, the life-giving Word of God can call you out of it.  As Jesus took the place of Barabbas, Jesus also took the place of each one of us. 
As the crowd called for Barabbas to be released, so we call to our Lord & Savior in order that we might be released.  In the world of Christianity, we call that prayer, & our Lord loves to answer prayer.  He loves to save those who are lost.  His greatest desire is to take all who have failed & raise them to heaven where they will never fail ever again. 
We don’t know if Barabbas ever came to faith in Jesus as Lord & Savior, but we do have the words of the centurion in Matthew 27:54, “Truly this was the Son of God!”   In seeing the crucifixion & death of Jesus of Nazareth, he apparently came to understand God’s love for him.  It is the greatest desire of Jesus that you come to understand as well.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Sometimes they strew His way & His sweet praises sing; resounding all the day Hosannas to their King.  Then “Crucify!” is all their breath, & for His death they thirst & cry.         They rise & needs will have my dear Lord made away; a murderer they save, the Prince of Life they slay.    Yet cheerful He to suffering goes that He His foes from thence might free.       My song is love unknown, my Savior’s love to me, love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be.   Oh, who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh & die?  Amen.   LSB 430:3, 5, 1.