In our weekly worship, our messages have been based on the good news found in the Gospel of Mark. This past week we reached the 15th. chapter, which begins to tell the dramatic story of Jesus’s crucifixion. As we read this hour by hour, minute by minute account of the day leading up to the cross, we struggle to see any good. We know about the good this Man has done while on earth, and that so much of His persecution was purely political.
Our minister invited us to look at this story through different eyes. Imagine for a moment that you are Barabbas. In Mark Chapter 15, verse 6-15, we are acquainted with the custom of the day to release one prisoner during the Passover festival. Pilate honored this custom and offered the gathered crowd a choice. Perhaps he hoped they would choose Jesus, to relieve him of the burden of executing an innocent man. But that was not God’s plan, and the people famously chose the other prisoner, who had been jailed for murdering someone during a riot.
So put yourself in Barabbas’s place. You have already been tried, convicted, condemned. Now, you hear the footsteps of the guard outside your cell. You hear the rowdy crowd outside yelling “Crucify Him!”
You prepare yourself for the walk to your death. And then- you are freed! The guard tells you that someone else has taken your place. Jesus has consented to die for you. Though he was innocent, He said nothing to defend Himself, did nothing to stop the travesty and torture.
Now, your chains are gone! Do you argue? Do you say, “No, please take me. I am guilty. I deserve to die.”
Or do you accept God’s undeserved pardon? Do you run out of that cell into freedom? Do you dedicate the rest of your life to serving the one who took your place on that cross?
Jesus took Barabbas’s place. He took your place. He took My place.
That changes everything. Come out of that cell with joy in your heart. Choose to live for Him.
Leave a Reply