Palm Sunday 2024 Reflection on the Passion from Mark 14:12-15:47
They Chose Barabbas
Barabbas was a rebel, a Jewish nationalist, who took part in a violent revolt against the Roman government that resulted in the death of at least one Roman citizen-soldier. He may, in fact, have been the leader of this rebellion. Barabbas was not just any criminal, not just a thief or a murderer. The Romans didn’t crucify the run of the mill criminals and bandits. Crucifixion was reserved primarily for political enemies of the state. Barabbas was a Jewish militant who attempted a violent rebellion against the Roman government in Jerusalem. He was guilty of treason and sedition, and therefore, sentenced to death by crucifixion, along with his cell mates.
Interestingly, his name means “Son of the Father”, and the Gospel of Matthew indicates he was known as Jesus Barabbas. Pilate is, in essence, asking the people to choose between two very different Jewish saviors, Jesus Barabbas, the son of the Father, and Jesus Christ, the descendant of King David and Son of the Living God. And the people, who less than a week before had waved palm branches, welcoming Jesus with cheers of Hosannahs, now choose to save Barabbas, and allow God’s true Messiah to be put to death. Why?
According to Rabbi Gerald J. Blidstein, a Jewish theologian and scholar, in Jesus’ time “the Messiah was expected…to defeat the enemies of Israel...to be prophet, warrior, judge, king, and teacher of Torah.”[1] Jesus is all those things, except one—Jesus is not a warrior…but Barabbas is. And as a conquered and colonized people, a people who have been ruled and oppressed by successive empires for nearly 500 years, a people who long to be free to rule themselves once again, they want a military king with an army to defeat the Roman empire and take back possession of the promised land.
Jesus is a pacifist. Jesus has come to start a very different king of revolution, a revolution of love for friends and enemies, alike. A revolution of love, grace and mercy that can transform whole societies by changing the way people live together and relate to one another, a way that transcends human politics and human difference, a way that creates the real possibility of justice and reconciliation and lasting peace between peoples, between nations, between long-standing enemies. But the way of Jesus doesn’t bring about abrupt and sweeping change. And the people were frustrated and impatient. They had been waiting for five centuries. So, they chose the violence of Barabbas.
Sometimes we, too, choose Barabbas, probably more often than we realize, or want to admit. when we give in to anger, hate, prejudice, or fear. When we feel persecuted, exploited, minimalized, or marginalized, held down or held back unfairly, we choose Barabbas. We choose Barabbas when we want immediate results. We choose Barabbas whenever we resort to violent words or actions or seek to damage another’s status or reputation; whenever we refuse to forgive or to be reconciled; whenever we seek retribution or vengeance, whenever we put our selfish desires ahead of our neighbor’s best interests. Whenever we choose to benefit from someone else’s loss or suffering, we choose Barabbas. Whenever we coerce, bully or shame someone else to get our way, we choose Barrabus.
But the good news, my friends, is that even though we often fail to make the right choice, we are still loved, saved and forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ. There is always grace and forgiveness in the wine and the bread, and there is always grace enough in the waters of our baptism to wash us clean again. Every day we get to start over with a fresh, clean slate, with new opportunities to choose again between Barabbas and Jesus. And hopefully, we make the right choice, choosing Jesus—choosing love and compassion, forgiveness and mercy, more often every day. Because that’s the only way that Christ’s revolution of love has a chance to spread and transform the whole world. Only love can usher in the Kingdom of God.
[1] “Messiah.” Accessed March 19, 2024. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/messiah.