07/28/2024
Recently I asked a couple of questions and referenced four sections of Scripture, Matthew 27:15-23, Mark 15:6-15, Luke 23:13-25, and John 18:33-40 pertaining to the questions.
“Why did the crowds choose Barabbas over Jesus?” and “What do you believe Barabbas looked like?”.
I will quote two of the four sections of Scripture then share my thoughts as to why I believe the crowds chose Barabbas over Jesus. (I will share my thoughts on the other question later).
“So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’
“After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber” (John 18:33-40 ESV).
“Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.’
“But they all cried out together, ‘Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas’— a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.’ But they were urgent, demanding 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” (Luke 23:13-25 ESV).
To answer this question: “Why did the crowds choose Barabbas over Jesus?”, context is important.
The Jews – Israel – was under Roman occupation at this time. The Jews longed to be free from foreign oppression, they longed for the Roman Empire, ruled by ruthless men – “Caesars” – who claimed to be divine and demanded to be worship as gods, men who controlled the greatest military the world had ever known at that time, to be completely and utterly defeated so that they could establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth.
In their anguish and suffering, the Jews were looking for their Messiah to free them from Roman oppression. But there was a problem. The Messiah they were looking for was not God’s Messiah. They were looking for a Warrior King, the son David, to rise up and slay the Giant – the Roman Empire – the way David had killed the giant – Goliath – the champion of their arch enemy at that time – the Philistines – that the kingdom of Israel, which they equated with the Kingdom of God, might reign supreme in the Promised Land.
The Jews were looking for and desiring a political leader, a military leader, someone who would take up arms against the hated Romans and wipe them off the face of the earth.
In a word, they were looking for someone like Barabbas.
During the time of Barabbas there were a variety of Jewish sects. Some of these sects are well known from the Bible, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees; others were not as well known, such as the Essenes and Zealots. And there are others.
Barabbas was a warrior, a fighter. He was willing to lie, steal, cheat, and murder, if need be, to overthrow the Romans and establish the Kingdom of Israel, God’s Kingdom.
Suffice it to say, I believe Barabbas probably belonged to the Zealots. The Zealots were basically a military group. They were warriors, men who believed that the way to free Israel from Roman occupation, and establish the Kingdom of Israel, God’s Kingdom, was through subterfuge and brut military power. No doubt Barabbas was a hero in the eyes of many Jews.
Jesus was not a warrior. In fact, He healed the servant of a Roman Centurion and then praised the Centurion’s faith (Matthew 8:5-13). Could some in the crowd that followed Jesus think He was a Roman sympathizer?
The problem with the Jews is that they did not understand what the Kingdom of God was/is or how to enter into that Kingdom. All they saw – and wanted –was an earthly kingdom. Yet Jesus clearly told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36 ESV).
The Jews choose Barabbas because he represented everything they were looking for in a Messiah.
But before we are too hard on the Jews, we need to take a careful and thoughtful look at ourselves as Christians.
If we were in that crowd today that cried for Barabbas to be set free and shouted out for Jesus to be crucified, what would we do?
The answer is very near us. Who are we looking for to save the United States? Is it Jesus or is it a Zealot – a Politian, a Warrior-King?
If Jesus stood before us, a man from a backwater town, weak, beaten and bloodied, a truly pathetic sight, and promised us freedom and an everlasting Kingdom, and a national hero also stood before us, someone who had been jailed for resisting the enemy with his blood and guts and promised us an everlasting Kingdom, who would you choose?
Please understand. The United States is not the Kingdom of God. Who we elect as President or any other political office is important, and we should be very decerning when deciding who to vote for, but to believe that a politician – any politician – will be our Savior – our Messiah – is to choose Barabbas over Jesus. And we have chosen Barabbas over and over again. We have chosen people who tell us what we what to hear, politicians/leaders who embrace the most vile forms sin – murdering babies and calling it “reproductive rights”, “a woman’s right to choose”, and other nice sounding euphemisms; we have chosen politicians/leaders who embrace the desecration of the covenant of marriage by legalizing the coupling of homosexuals and calling it marriage; we have chosen politicians/leaders who are removing as quickly as possible the stigma of all forms of sexual perversions such as polygamy, pe******ia, and in**st – and have become so bold as to tell us, with a straight face, that males can be females and females can be males.
How foolish; how demonic.
Why has this happened?
Because we have chosen to set Barabbas free and crucify Jesus, and to understand just how evil and demonic it is to choose Barabbas over Jesus we must pull back the spiritual curtain behind the choosing of Barabbas over Jesus and we pull back that curtain by revealing what the name “Barabbas” means. Barabbas means “son of the father”. But it is Jesus who is the Son of the Father. Do you understand? Barabbas’ spiritual father was Satan, the Devil. Jesus’ Father is the Heavenly Father, the Lord God Almighty. Do you understand? When we cry out for Barabbas to be set free because we think he can save us, we are crying out for Satan. And Satan smiles.
