“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”
1 Peter 3:18
Have you ever gotten in trouble for something you didn’t do? Think of how you cried, “Unfair!” Alternatively, have you ever done something wrong and gotten away with it (perhaps like the time teenaged-me caused a fire in a trailer at the camp where I worked but never ‘fessed up’)? Our personal incidents are pretty minor, but they send our thoughts to the center of the Easter story where Someone completely innocent was condemned while someone else notoriously guilty was set free.
The writers of the New Testament call Barabbas a “notorious prisoner” (Matthew 27:16), one imprisoned with insurrectionists (Mark 15:7), someone who “had taken part in a rebellion” (John 18:40), and a “murderer” (Acts 3:14). Probably, he was all of these things.
The lives of Barabbas and Jesus intersect in a way that stands as the perfect symbol of the central message of Calvary: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Barabbas was unknowingly part of God’s divine salvation plan.
The writers of the New Testament call Barabbas a “notorious prisoner” (Matthew 27:16), one imprisoned with insurrectionists (Mark 15:7), someone who “had taken part in a rebellion” (John 18:40), and a “murderer” (Acts 3:14). Probably, he was all of these things.
The lives of Barabbas and Jesus intersect in a way that stands as the perfect symbol of the central message of Calvary: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Barabbas was unknowingly part of God’s divine salvation plan.
Scripture Focus
Matthew 27:15-26
Insight
We were doomed for death like Barabbas, butJesus took our place!
Bible In A Year
- Numbers 19-20
- Psalm 71
- John 12
