The name Barabas is a familiar name to us. It appears in the gospels, when Jesus stood before Roman ruler Pontius Pilate accused by His own people and religious leaders falsely . Only a week earlier, the same crowd were waving palm branches and singing ,” Hosanna’ to the same Jesus. What changed?

The religious leaders who thought that Jesus was a threat to their way of teaching and living had somehow swayed the minds of people to go against Jesus. Those people had expected Jesus to be their ruler to fight for them and to overthrow the Roman government. Instead , Jesus was talking about God’s kingdom and how to overcome sin in their lives.

So, when Pilate put before them the choice of whom to release Jesus or Barabas, they chose Barabas over Jesus. They saw Barabas as a freedom fighter, who was brave enough to rebel against the Roman empire and to go to prison. At that time, they must have seen Barabas as their hero and so they shouted for his release over Jesus. And Pontius Pilate, given no other option to release Jesus gave into people’s demand and released Barabas who had been imprisoned for insurrection and murder.

Meanwhile, Barabas confined to a dark dungeon like cell and unaware of what was happening in Pilate’s palace, must have expected for the prison guard or solders to walk through the prison door at any moment to take him to his place of death. He knew very well that his rebellious act against the Roman empire was considered a serious crime punished by death on the cross. Just the thought of it drenched him in fear and sweat. He was in no mood to reach out for the stale bread the guard had thrown into the cell through the iron bars of the door in the morning. He hadn’t had a wink of sleep for days knowing that his torturouos death on the cross was approaching

But, when he saw the prison guard with two soldiers at the door that afternoon, he could sense something unusual. Instead of the crude and hatred look on their faces, he saw a faint smile shading their faces. When they led him out of his prison into the beaming sunlight and took off the shackles from his hands and feet and told him that he was free to go, he couldn’t believe his ears. Shading his eyes from the sunlight as he stood there shocked and numb, he heard the guard’s order,

‘Hurry up Barabas. You’re free to go! They’ve chosen the man named Jesus to hang on the cross instead of you.”

Jesus! Who is this Jesus? Why did they choose me over Him? What crime did he do? Did he also rebel against Rome like me or kill someone out of vengence?

Barabas’ head swirled with so many questions. Though he wanted to take a moment to enjoy the news of his freedom, he couldn’t. He wanted to find out more about this Jesus who went to the place of crucifixion instead of him. Barabas wanted to see Him and so he hurried to join the crowd that was walking towards Golgotha where he learned that Jesus was going to be crucified. But as he was hurrying to join the crowd, the jailor’s words jolted his steps.

” Hurry up Barabas before someone will catch and accuse you to put you back in the prison!”

He’s right. I shouldn’t go anywhere near the crucifixion place. What if someone recognize me and drag me back to my prison, thought Barabas. Whoever this Jesus is, I’ll be always indebted to him. After all, it is because of him I’m set free to go. And, he, an innocent person going to the cross for no fault of his at all. As far as I’ve heard from these people , He is revered as the Son of God, doing so many miracles to heal people , kind to those who were poor and desperate, taught so many good things to do. So, why did the people chose me , a murder over a sinless one. How can I repay him for the life of freedom he had given me. I don’t know If He is truly the son of God the people believe to be, I pray that He’ll forgive me for all the bad things I have done and I say a heartfelt thank you for freeing me and dying in my place. That is really huge! I should never forget that. So, went Barabas thoughts as he walked away from the rushing crowd and tried to escape from being caught and put back into prison for some reason.

As I was reading about Barabas and let my thoughts run around his state of mind at his freedom, a question rose in my head. What about me? Aren’t I in some way standing in Barabas place? Me? No way ! My inner self shouted back. I’m not a murderer or a rebel to go against a ruling empire like him. So, How can I see myself like someone who had done a huge crime like Barabas? At first I thought it was my inner critic who wants to have some fun with his usual guilt punches.

But then I remembered what our pastor once preached on Proverb 6 on the six things God hates – a haughty eyes(pride or self-righteousnes,) a lying tongue (gossip or slandering) hands that sheds innocent blood (turning a blind eye to another person’s cries and suffering) a heart that devise wicked schemes (selfish motive to promote one’s own interest) false witness and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers(a quarrelsome person) Under such category, none of us would be free from guilt of something.

“Why should I ? I’m neither a murderer nor a rebel to go against any government to see myself in his place.” You might strike back at me. That’s true in our judgement. But, in God’s eyes, we might not look that different from what Barabas did. In Proverbs 6, it is written that the Lord hates six things-a haughty eyes( pride) a lying tongue (gossip or slandering.) hands that shed innocent blood (those turn a blind eye to atrocity) a heart that devises wicked schemes(selfish motive to promote oneself) feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers (quarrelsome person). Under such category, none of us would be free from guilt of something.

Take for an example, the sparkling white tablecloth you’ve spread out on your table gets a tiny drop of paint mark from your paint brush during your art project or the large stain got from grape juice spilled over when your five-year old reached out for the glass of juice look stained in your eyes despite the size or source of the stain. The table cloth need to be put in the washing machine with a strong stain removing detergent to get back to sparkling white state. You wouldn’t overlook the tiny paint smudge because of it’s size. The table cloth has got stained and ith If it is a tiny drop of ink mark or the red splash of grape juice on he table cloth, in your eyes

if a drop of ink is noted or a whole glass of grape juice had spilled over your sparkling white table clothe, in your eyes the table cloth looks stained and unclean. It doesn’t matter if it was a tiny drop of ink or a glassful of red grape juice, the white tablecloth had become dirtied and need to be put in the washing machine .Unless it is put in the washer with a good stain removing agent and comes out sparkly white as before you will not consider that to be used.

Likewise God see us too. Big or small, in His eyes, the size doesn’t matter much. Unless we are washed in the precious blood of His Son, all of us are guilty of some sins.

Though Barabas and we are being imprisoned in different types of sins, the good news is that both had been freed, forgiven and set free by the same Jesus who died as the substitute for Barabas as well as for us. If not for Jesus, Barabas would have stayed in shackles within his tiny dungeon like prison and gone to his death. And, we too would have lived shackled in sins and died with no hope of eternal life. Though the gospels don’t give us any details about Barabas after his release. We don’t know whether he went to see Jesus hanging on the cross bleeding in place of him and wept bitterly out of gratitude or he just went away rejoicing in his freedom and not thinking of Jesus who was chosen to be crucified instead of him..

During this time of Lent when we are preparing for Good Friday and Easter celebration, we need to think and meditate on what our Lord Jesus had done by dying on the cross and redeeming us for HIs Kingdom by shedding His precious blood. If not for Him, we would end up in Hell with no hope for eternal life and heaven. Let us never forget what He had done for us. His amazing love shown at calvary is the reason love and grace still persist in this world.