The choice

"Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?"

Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judaea, was faced with a dilemma. Finding Jesus not guilty of any crimes, he nonetheless faced a crowd agitating for that very thing. Due to an already extant state of potential rebellion, Caesar had already warned him that any further unrest in the area would have severe consequences for him personally. As the shouts for Jesus' death grow louder, he draws upon a custom that a prisoner of the people's choosing would be released. In the hope of finding a solution, he offers them Barabbas, a notorious man already convicted of theft, sedition and murder.

It makes sense. Who would the crowd rather see set free; a man Who had harmed no one, but in fact had taught of God's love, healed the sick, the diseased, the deaf and the blind...cast out demons, fed the multitudes and even raised the dead...or a career criminal who had harmed and even killed many in this community?

Of course we know the outcome of the true events, but there is a subtle detail within this all that has far bigger implications and it is found in the names.

The name Barabbas is Aramaic, and is a combination of two words: "Bar", meaning "son of", "Abba(s)," meaning "father." Literally it means "son of the father." The sheer irony here is profound. They are being offered a choice between two men of the same name: the "son of the father" who is a thief and murderer, or the one whose death they seek for calling Himself who He is: The Son of The Father.

We can equate ourselves with that crowd, faced with this choice in a similar sense. Whom do we reject and whom do we accept in our society?

In the movie "The Passion", director Mel Gibson intentionally shot the scene of Jesus' crucifixion with his own hands as those of the Roman soldier who pounded the spikes into Jesus' flesh for this very reason; we are all guilty of rejecting Him and for His death. Yet Christ Jesus had come knowing that all of this would happen exactly as it did and He did so willingly...for us.

His death was necessary, according God's plan, as it was the only payment that would suffice for our sin. But His death was also necessary for His resurrection, and the very reason we celebrate, as those who have received Him do not go from life to death, rather from life to life in heaven. All of this is according to God's plan from the very beginning, and the reason He sent His only Son to pay the debt we owed by His death, to give us eternal salvation.

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:3,4 Christ is Risen...Hallelujah!