A Substitute for Sin

²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. ²¹“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. ²²“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” ²³“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” ²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” ²⁵All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified (Matthew 27:15-26).

 

What do you imagine to be the thoughts and questions that went through the mind of Barabbas when he heard he was being released and someone had taken his cross?

 

The Roman jailer came into his cell and unlocked the chains that bound him and, I’m sure, angrily told Barabbas that he was free to leave. Imagine the relief that must have flooded Barabbas’ heart to hear that Jesus would die in his place. Talk about good news! However, this is the reality that Barabbas faced that morning as he watched Christ carry the cross made for him. This drama is the story of a substitute who came to die for Barabbas and you and me, also. 

 

In his book,Miracle on the River Kwai,Ernest Gordon tells the true story of a group of British prisoners of war forced to work on the Burma Railway during World War Two. At the end of each day, the tools were collected from the work party. On one occasion, a Japanese guard shouted that a shovel was missing and demanded to know which man had taken it. He began to rant and rave, working himself up into a paranoid fury and ordered whoever was guilty to step forward. No one moved. “All die! All die!” he shrieked, cocking and aiming his rifle at the prisoners. At that moment, one man stepped forward, and the guard clubbed him to death with his gun while he stood silently to attention. When they returned to the camp, the tools were counted again, and no shovel was missing. The Japanese soldier had miscounted. That one man had gone forward as a substitute to save the others.

 

In the same way, Jesus, our sacrificial Lamb, paid the price for you and me, just as He did for Barabbas. He who knew no sin, became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and died as a criminal and as a sacrifice to bring us to God. As Jesus was the substitute for Barabbas’ life of sin, He also took our place on that cross.      

 

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for sending Jesus to be our substitute. We deserve the cross just as Barabbas did, but You have paid the price for us to be set free and guiltless before You. Thank You for the undeserved favor that has been extended to us. Keith Thomas