we are Barabbas

 Today we read from these verses in the One Year Bible:

Numbers 15:17-16:40
Mark 15:1-47
Psalm 54:1-7
Proverbs 11:5-6 

Let's look at Mark. Jesus is taken before Pilate and he asks Him questions. Most of the time Jesus doesn't even answer him. Then Pilate comes up with a great plan. He doesn't want to kill Jesus because he can tell that He's innocent. So he says, "Hey, you know what? It's customary to release a prisoner at this festival. Who would you like me to release?" and expected them to say Jesus. Instead, they yelled for him to release a horrible murderer named Barabbas. And then they yelled for him to crucify Jesus.

Now, we see the terrible injustice of this. Jesus was completely innocent, not just of breaking Roman law, but of ever doing ANYTHING wrong in His entire life. Barabbas was a murderer. 

But take a step back and think of this: you and I are Barabbas. We have sinned, and we deserve punishment. We do, in fact, deserve to be eternally separated from God because of our sin. But God sent Jesus to die in our place, like He did for Barabbas. And one interesting thing that drives this home is that the name Barabbas can be broken into "bar" which means "son of" and "abba" which means "father". So he is (arguably) just some son of a father, like we all are, who was freed from death as a result of his sins, and Jesus took his place.

Pretty amazing, right? I don't think Barabbas was eternally grateful and became a saint after he was freed. But you and I can learn from his bad example. We CAN be grateful for Jesus dying in our place, and we CAN work with Him in making us into saints.

God, thanks for sending Jesus to take our place, like He did for Barabbas.