March 18, 2012
Preface
The morning sun has risen in the sky and it’s now around 7 AM. It’s been quite a night. After
commemorating the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus led them out of city and down the
Valley of Kidron to an olive grove called Gethsemane. There he prayed in anguish over what
was about to happen, but he was resolved to do God’s will. Around midnight, a bunch of temple
guards with torches and swords and clubs, found their way to Jesus with the help of one of his
own disciples, a guy named Judas Iscariot. Jesus was seized by the guards, his disciples split,
and he was pulled back up the valley to the home of the high priest about a mile away.
He was thrown into a pit while the council of the Sanhedrin held a sham trial in the great hall
above. Ultimately charged with blasphemy, he was handed over to the Roman prefect of Judea,
Pontius Pilate, who alone had the authority to pass a sentence of death.
Pilate had a rocky relationship with the Jews. The historian Josephus noted that while Pilate's
predecessors had respected Jewish customs by removing all images and effigies on their
standards when entering Jerusalem, Pilate allowed his soldiers to bring them into the city at
night. When the citizens of Jerusalem discovered these the following day, they appealed to Pilate
to remove the ensigns of Caesar from the city. After five days of deliberation, Pilate had his
soldiers surround the demonstrators, threatening them with death, which they were willing to
accept rather than submit to desecration of Mosaic Law. Pilate finally removed the images.
There was another incident in which Pilate spent money from the Temple to build an aqueduct.
When Jews again protested his actions, Pilate had soldiers hidden in the crowd of Jews while
addressing them. After giving the signal, Pilate's soldiers randomly attacked, beat, and killed
scores of Jews to silence their petitions.
In describing his personality, Philo wrote that Pilate had "vindictiveness and furious temper,"
and was "naturally inflexible, a blend of self-will and relentlessness."
The prefect lived in the coastal town of Caesarea Maritima, but would come to Jerusalem during
the major festival days to keep things peaceful and in order. He stayed in a Roman fortress just
next door to the Temple called the Antonia Fortress. It was here that Jesus stood before Pilate,
charged not with blasphemy, since the Roman prefect could care less about such things, but
sedition against Rome by opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar and claiming to be King of
the Jews, which was a capital offense.
Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews and Jesus gave a cryptic answer. All he said,
according to Mark, is “You say so.” The members of the Sanhedrin brought all sorts of charges
against Jesus, but Jesus remained silent. He baffled Pilate, who was amazed at his silence.
Clearly the Roman prefect did not see Jesus as any major threat and was inclined to let him go.
Whatever conflict was going on between this Rabbi and the religious leaders was their problem.
Ah, there’s the answer. As a generous act of mercy each year, he normally released a prisoner
during the Passover. He had two in custody. One was an insurrectionist named bar-Abbas and
the other was this quiet teacher named Jesus. He put it before the crowd, but he was pretty
certain that they would release the rabbi rather than the rebel.
Let’s listen to the way Mark narrates the story…
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Scripture: Mark 15:1-15
Sermon: 24 Hours that Changed the World - 4) Jesus, Barabbas, Pilate
There is so much for us to consider as we peer out over this scene one April morning in
Jerusalem. Here is Jesus standing bound before Pontius Pilate, the unpopular Roman prefect of
the region. Then there’s Barabbas, the insurrectionist that had been captured and held on charges
of robbery, murder and rebellion against the government. And the crowd, we can’t ignore the
crowd, crying out “crucify him” in response to Pilate’s question of what they wanted him to do
with this man called “The King of the Jews.”
There is much too much for us to take in today in our worship as we are transported, with the
help of Adam Hamilton’s book, 24 Hours that Changed the World, into the story unfolding in the
military garrison in Jerusalem called the Antonia Fortress. So I’m going to narrow it down a bit
by focusing for a few minutes on a character that I haven’t given much thought to before –
Barabbas, the prisoner that was released instead of Jesus.
I.
A. Barabbas and the people like him were a real problem for the Romans. Apparently, according
to the research Hamilton had done for his book, there were from 8 to 13 people between the
time of Jesus’ birth and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70AD who called
themselves “messiah,” or who were hailed as the messiah by the Jewish people. Every one of
the would-be messiahs used the sword in trying to drive out the Romans and establish a new
kingdom of Israel. Everyone presumed that this was the role of the messiah. And every one
of these supposed messiahs was sentenced to death.
B. Barabbas may not have claimed to be a messiah, but he certainly reflected the common
assumption that the messiah of God would forcefully deliver Israel from the rule of the
Romans. He was an insurrectionist who led a revolt against the Romans; someone who
apparently had murdered Roman collaborators and who robbed others to fund his cause.
He was captured by the Romans, imprisoned, and awaiting his fate.
C. Although the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, lived in Caesarea Maritima, he usually
traveled the 73 miles to Jerusalem in order to keep peace during major festivals, such as the
Passover festival currently underway. And during this particular holiday he normally released
a prisoner, which went a long way with the crowds who were there in Jerusalem to celebrate
their release from captivity as slaves in Egypt.
D. So on this day there was the prefect with two prisoners: Jesus of Nazareth and Barabbas.
Both were charged with insurrection and aspiring to be king of the Jews. Pilate turned to the
people and asked, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” pointing to
Jesus. He likely assumed that the response would be “Yes.” But the answer he got was “No.”
They wanted him to release Barabbas.
E. Matthew tells us that his full name was Jesus Barabbas. Bar-Abbas in Aramaic means “son
of the father.” Jesus, which originally was Yeshua, means “Yahweh saves.” This fact alone
highlights the choice given to the crowd by Pilate that day –do you want Jesus of Nazareth or
Jesus bar-Abbas? Will it be Jesus bar-Abbas, who has robbed and murdered and led a
violent revolt, or Jesus of Nazareth, who had done nothing wrong… the Jesus who loved the
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least of the people, taught them about the kingdom of God, healed the sick, and blessed
many? Do you want the messiah that offers salvation through love or the messiah that
promises salvation by the sword?
F. They chose Jesus bar-Abbas and Jesus of Nazareth was sentenced to die in his place. As
Hamilton points out in his book, “Barabbas would be the first sinner for whom Jesus died.”
II.
A. Through this story of Jesus dying in the place of bar-Abbas, we are given a unique
opportunity to grasp the larger significance of Jesus’ death on the cross. The story of Jesus
would be powerless and meaningless without the crucifixion. Each of the Gospels drives
toward his sacrificial death. When the apostle Paul summarized the gospel for the Corinthian
Christians, he said: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him
crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
But what sense do we make of it? How does Jesus dying on the cross change our
relationship with God? In what manner does his death bring about our salvation?
B. Christians have long struggled with how we are to understand what Jesus accomplished
through his death on the cross. Sometime in the early 1500’s the doctrine of salvation
through Jesus’ death was given a name. It was called “at-one-ment,” (today, we say
atonement).
What are we to make of the doctrine of atonement – that is, the at-one-ment of God and
humankind, our reconciliation with God through Jesus’ death?
C. Would it surprise you to hear that there a variety of theories that have developed over time?
The story of Jesus, an innocent man, crucified in the place of a notorious criminal named barAbbas who was set free, offers a glimpse of one major theory of Atonement: that Jesus
suffered and died in place of humanity. He bore the punishment all of us deserve for our sins
and in so doing offered grace and pardon for humankind. It’s called the substitutionary
theory of atonement.
D. Many of us may think that this is the original and the only understanding of Atonement, but it
isn’t. This spin on Atonement emerged in Europe during the Protestant Reformation in the
1500’s. It can be summarized this way: Every one of us has sinned, and in our sin we have
become alienated from God. Justice calls for punishment for the collective weight of that
sin. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23) and eternal separation
from God. But God, who loves us like parents love their children, does not want us to be
eternally separated. God wants us to receive grace. An ordinary person could not die for all
humankind; but Jesus, being God in the flesh, could die for the sins of the entire world. He
paid a price he did not owe, giving us a gift of grace we did not deserve.
And this is what we see in bar-Abbas walking away free from the prison and in his place
Jesus, hanging on the cross.
E. This understanding of Atonement draws on the metaphor of a court of law, in which justice is
served and appropriate punishment is meted out for the crime. In this version of the doctrine
God, who by nature is holy and just, cannot ignore the sin of humanity, but at the same time
longs to be in relationship with us. So God devises a way in which the punishment for our sin
can be satisfied and a restored relationship with us made possible.
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Jesus, God’s Son, pays the price of our sin for us.
III.
A. There have been countless of Christians over the ages that have found peace, hope,
inspiration and salvation through this way of understanding Jesus’ sacrificial death. Perhaps
you are one of them.
But I want you to know that there are others who find it confusing and somewhat contrary to
their understanding of God and God’s nature. As we’ll discover in the next few weeks, there
are other interpretations of Jesus crucifixion and the way in which it brings humanity into
harmony, or at-one-ment, with God.
B. But for now, let’s step into bar-Abbas’ sandals. He is in prison, caught red-handed for
serious transgressions and certainly destined for crucifixion. He knew it and he knew why he
was going to die. But suddenly, in a totally unexpected move, he – though guilty - is set free
and another is sent to his death in his place.
C. There are those moments when the idea of Christ’s death being for us comes into focus,
moments when we come face to face with the dark side and the frailty of our humanity and
we know there is no way we can save ourselves. It is in those moments when we find
ourselves drawn to the cross and to the amazing grace of Christ suffering for us. We look at
the cross and realize that a price was already paid for us.
D. With this lens of atonement, we are meant to look at the cross and see both God’s great love
and the costliness of grace, and to find our hearts changed by what God has done for us. We
are meant, as a result of understanding that cost, to serve God with humble gratitude. We are
meant, as we see Jesus suffer for us, never to sin again.
E. But, of course, we will sin again. And when we do, we will call once again upon the
amazing grace of God revealed on the cross. Like bar-Abbas, we walk away free because of
the suffering of an innocent man.
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