Reading about Jesus’ death and resurrection is a common practice in my life around Easter time. Certain years God will highlight different people in the story for me to look at. The past few years Peter, John, and Mary have been the people who have stood out to me. This year it’s been Barabbas. Barabbas was a criminal. He was the lowest of the low. Barabbas was an insurrectionist and a murderer (Luke 23:19, Mark 15:7). He deserved to be sentenced and yet Jesus took his place. Read Luke 23: 13-25 and you’ll see Jesus being sentenced in place of Barabbas.

For years I have glanced over this part of the story and thought, “Wow! That is so unfair! Jesus deserved to be released and that guilty sinner was released in his place.” Every time I read about Barabbas’ release it filled me with anger. “How could they have made such a blatantly wrong decision? He was guilty” I shout pointing a finger at Barabbas. And then it hit me. We are Barabbas. God saved us. Jesus was sentenced in our place and took the judgment that we deserve for our wrongdoings and saved us. None of us are innocent. We are all overtaken by sin that we cannot clean away ourselves. We are all selfish, unkind, and corrupt. It is from a place of pride that I found myself judging Barabbas when Jesus died on the cross to save me. His sacrifice covers over my sins. As we celebrate Holy Week in preparation for Easter when Jesus comes back to life we wait in the quiet, in the darkness, awaiting a king to arise from the tomb. He alone can rescue us. We wait in expectation for Sunday when Jesus arose. Then we will exclaim, “He is alive!”