Barabbas the notorious prisoner, the one guilty of murder, felt the iron manacles fall from his wrists and the inexplicable joy of undeserved freedom. The guards that had kept him in the dark Roman dungeon now stood silent as he walked away a free man.
During the Passover feast, the Roman prefect always released one prisoner which the people had chosen. When he was told that he had been chosen for this pardon , Barabbas had shaken his head in wonder. He didn’t understand how his crimes could have been forgiven and his sentence commuted by his captors. Not only had he been guilty of insurrection against the Roman government, but he had actually taken a man’s life!
I have so many questions about this man. I wonder if Barabbas ever understood fully what had just happened. Did he go back to his old lifestyle and squander the moment in drunken revelry? Did he go back to being the same old Barabbas, an angry and violent man?
Or did he stop and gaze at the Man who was taking his place? Did he watch how the soldiers roughly handled Him? Did he stick around while Jesus was chained to a post and whipped until His skin hung like ribbons? Did Barabbas the free man go out to Golgotha and stare at the broken body of Jesus fixed with nails on a rough wooden crossbeam hanging suspended between heaven and earth?
Did Barabbas understand that the cross should have been his own? Did realize that he was the recipient of outrageous grace?
Can I tell you a secret? I am Barabbas. I am the one who sinned against God and man. I have held wrong opinions and refused to back down when confronted with my errors. I have harbored hatred and envy in a heart so dark I would shudder for anyone to glimpse it. I have been selfish and self-concerned. I, stained and polluted as I was, could not stand before a holy God. I was guilty and deserved the punishment that was coming.
That is the wonder of salvation. Two thousand years ago, Jesus took my sins and bore them on His own sinless shoulders. He took my place at the judgment bar. Now, when I come before God, I find a loving Father who looks on me with compassion and favor. I am the recipient of outrageous grace.
I don’t want to squander my moment today. Even though it is a busy day with work, commitments, and a hundred other hectic demands, I dare not look away from this Man. I dare not forget His cross is really my own.
I am forgiven. I am free.
I am Barabbas.
