Trading Places
By Grant Gaines
Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) declares, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” Ronald Anderson had no doubt in his mind that the undying love described in this verse was absolutely true because of what his brother, Donald, had done for him.
Ronald had a rough past to say the least. He got in “a bit” of trouble with the law…three times-all of which required a significant amount of time in jail. To add to his hectic life, Ronald was drafted into the Korean War against his will in the 1950’s. Because of his poor track record Ronald was looked down upon by most people in his community, but his brother Donald never wavered in his love for his brother.
Now when most siblings, family members, or friends show love for a loved one who’s going through a tough time, they write them a kind card, give them a gift, or simply lend them an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. But not Donald. Donald wanted to show his ailing brother how much he really loved him so Donald did something so unprecedented that no one caught on to what he had done for his brother until many years later. Donald, who was Ronald’s identical twin, took his brother’s spot in jail-all three times-as well as went and fought in the Korean War in place of his brother.
When the authorities finally discovered what was going on, Donald was already six months into Ronald’s third and final prison sentence. Naturally the judge who oversaw this strange case curiously asked Donald why on earth he would go through all of this trouble for his seemingly good-for-nothing brother. Donald looked the judge straight in the eye and told him, “Because my twin needed help…I [did] all the things I [did] because I love him.1”
Ronald rightfully deserved punishment but his innocent brother Donald willingly took his place. Donald took the penalty while Ronald walked away in freedom. Does that sound somewhat familiar to you? The innocent taking the place of the guilty? This storyline of sacrificial and substitutional love sure rang a bell for a man known as Jesus Barabbas (also known as just “Barabbas” for short).
We don’t know whole lot about Barabbas from the Bible other than the fact that he was on death row for leading a rebellion against the Roman government at the same time Jesus Christ was being cross-examined by the vicious Jewish court of public opinion. Mark 15:7 further goes on to explain that in this uprising led by Barabbas, he actually committed murder which by Roman law demanded that Barabbas pay with his life.
Barabbas was guilty of a crime that brought death and deserved death. Jesus, on the other hand, was charged with the “crime” of healing the sick, raising the dead, and feeding the multitudes. Two prisoners who had two completely different stories but were being led to the same hill outside of Jerusalem to be crucified. However, Matthew 27:15 (NIV) unveils a twist in the story: “Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival [The Passover] to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.”
Pilate, the governor of Judea during those days, presented to the crowd with a question, “…Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (Matthew 27:17, NIV). In the original Greek language, Pilate was doing a play on words with his previous sentence because the name “Barabbas” means “son of the father” and of course in calling Jesus the Messiah, Pilate was acknowledging that Christ had claimed to be the Son of His heavenly Father. So if I can restate Pilate’s question to you as the Jews at the time heard it stated, it would have sounded something like this: “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus son of the father or Jesus Son of the Father?”
One Man was completely innocent while one man was completely guilty. And yet, because of jealousy and fear, “…the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed” (Matthew 27:20, NIV). Pilate gave into the crowd’s request and sent Jesus to the cross while the murderer Barabbas was released from his chains and his record was wiped clean.
And just like that, Barabbas walked off the pages of Scripture into an unknown future as the authors of the four different Gospels all naturally continued on to follow the story of Jesus getting crucified while we’re left to wonder what happened to this criminal turned freeman named Jesus Barabbas. He disappeared into the pages of history like the morning dew vanishes with the rising summer sun.
And while we don’t know much more about Barabbas’ future from the Bible, this much I do know: we’re all Barabbas to a degree. We’ve all committed crimes (“sins”) that are worthy of death (Romans 3:23, 6:23). But just as we saw in the story above, the coming of Christ into the world introduced a plot twist to our fate. The heavenly Father, much like Pilate, had to punish our crimes because He is a just and righteous Judge. We all stood defenseless and speechless before the Judge as our sentence was being read and the gavel was ready to drop. But praise be to God, right when all hope seemed lost, Jesus-the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God stepped into our place and took upon Himself all of our sins so that we, much like the murderer Barabbas, could walk away in freedom.
The story of Jesus Barabbas is the story of the Gospel – “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV).
If you haven’t taken the step to accept Christ’s free gift of forgiveness and salvation, why don’t you make today the day that you take off your chains as you begin to follow Christ?
If you have 8 spare minutes, I would highly encourage you to watch this video by pastor Judah Smith from the City Church in Seattle. It’s a powerful reminder of what we looked at today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwX_EpNR4CA
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
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©Grant Gaines 2013
