40 They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
Assuredly, “Birds of a feather flock together” and there is most definitely a certain “Honor among thieves” but Barabbas? Seriously... are you kidding me...a notorious prisoner released in lieu of our Lord – disowning the Holy And Righteous One for a mere malefactor? Sadly, this rabble vehemently desired to have an insurrectionist and murderer in their midst rather than the Messiah. I find it extremely amazing that the greatest most self-less act ever done on behalf of mankind could be met with such great disdain and quite frankly, still continues to be. Man seems to fight against rather than embrace what is for his very best. Scripture gives us further insight into this scoundrel Barabbas’s true character and colors:
18 With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!" 19 (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) Luke 23:18-19 (NIV)
After Jesus’ ascension, Peter gives a clear account to the Jews in Acts regarding what actually “went down” during these proceedings:
12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. Acts 3:12-16 (NIV)
They had demanded Christ’s death, they had disowned the Holy and Righteous One choosing the release of a murderer over the Messiah and they had killed the Author of life but God raised Him from the dead. Such was their utter hardness, bitterness, cruelty and hatred towards our Lord. Nothing would satisfy them short of His blood – nothing would satisfy God’s wrath towards man’s sin short of His blood either.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 (NIV)
“Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?” Charles Wesley
Interestingly, we see here a wonderful example of the great Christian doctrine of substitution. The real criminal is acquitted and let go free and clear while the guiltless is condemned and sentenced to death. So it is with the salvation of our souls. Prior to Jesus, we are all as Barabbas in nature – deserving of God’s wrath and condemnation yet in Christ we are accounted as righteous and set free. Just as Christ was put to death and Barabbas freed, Christ was punished and put to death as a sinner to save our souls – the guiltless dying for the guilty. Paul puts it the following way in 2 Corinthians:
14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:14-21 (NIV)
“God became man to turn creatures into sons.” C. S. Lewis
“The righteousness of God is not acquired by acts frequently repeated...but is imparted by faith.” Martin Luther
“It is His love for man, His compassion for the human race, that prompts God to hate sin with such a vengeance. He gave Heaven’s finest that we might have the best; and He loathes with a holy abhorrence anything that would hinder our being reconciled to Him.” Billy Graham