Who was Barabbas

Have you ever spent much time considering Barabbas? I have found myself pondering him lately. To be honest, his name was stirring in my thoughts but I didn’t really know much about him other than that he was released by Pilate instead of Jesus.

One thing I learned is that his name means son of the Father. I was struck by how his name conveys the exact relationship that Jesus had with God. Jesus was the son of Father God.

As I spent time praying and considering Barabbas I had to ask myself what kind of man was he? The Bible doesn’t say much about him other than he was involved in a rebellion against Rome, that he was charged with murder and was considered a notorious prisoner. So we have the Son of God, sent to show God’s love and a violent man who was a notorious murderer.

As I spent time with this idea rolling around in my head I started to realize Barabbas wasn’t all that different from us. He grew up in a society that told him only the strong thrive. I imagine that if you weren’t from a well established family in those days you lived in poverty, looked down upon even by your own people, not to mention the Romans who took over your homeland. Those who were supposed to draw you near to God were rife with corruption and eagerly sought their own comfort and elite status leaving the people they were supposed to serve despondent and embittered.

I can see how he would have started down a path that would end up in a very dark place. Barabbas would have likely decided early on that if there was going to be change he would have to do something about it himself. Every place where he should have found comfort, support and hope came up empty.

The thing that really stood out to me is that Barabbas wanted these things to look like he thought they should. He had his eyes set on his own perceptions, his own thoughts of what life should look like and when they didn’t he grew angry and turned to his own strength, desires and ended up murdering.

How often do we find ourselves doing this? Perhaps not physically murdering someone but we do allow anger, disappointment, frustrations etc to take root in our hearts because things in our life are not going the way we think should go. Barabbas was the epitome in human form or the same sin mankind has faced ever since the garden. Are we going to lift our eyes to God and rely on His ways or are we going to put our eyes on ourselves? Are we going to make decisions based on our emotions or are we going to yield to the One who knows all things?

I know that sometimes I get tripped up because I don’t understand what is happening but friends God never promised we would always understand. He never promised that He would explain His ways so that we were ok with them. He asks us to trust Him. He wants us to know His heart so well that none of the details matter because we know who He is.

Barabbas hadn’t turned to God, at least not prior to the cruxifixction. In fact we don’t know if he did even after his release. He like all of us are given choices 1) are we going to accept the gift of salvation? And 2) are we going to yield to Jesus as Lord? So often we preach that salvation is free and it is available to all but it costs us to walk it out. We are called to no longer walk as Barabbas did. We are called to set our eyes on Jesus and to offer our all to Him, trusting in His ways, plans and love for us even when it makes no sense.

I am walking this out daily as I have been battling stage four cancer. Life no longer looks like I thought it would, and it often makes no sense. However, if I choose to set my eyes on Him none of that matters. When my eyes are on Him my life is the best it has ever been. I am the happiest I have ever been. My life is so much more peaceful and joyful than it has ever been. All of this has nothing to do with me because if I chose to stay living like Barabbas I would be angry, embittered and distraught at the events of the past two years. Instead because I chose to look to Him my life is truly filled with more abundance than I could ever have imagined and He’s not done yet!