There was a man once set free from the bondage he brought on himself. His name was Barabbas, and he lived about 2,000 years ago. He was a commoner, a thief, and a criminal. Some would call this man a no-good piece of garbage and insignificant, yet his name went down in history. Why would anyone want to waste their time on recording anything about this seemingly insignificant man? What made him so different from all the other criminals and prisoners just like him? What some people may not realize is that Barabbas represents a timeless significance that cannot be easily forgotten.
The setting Barabbas found himself in was the Roman-occupied region of Judea in Israel, and more specifically, the city of Jerusalem. The Jewish feast of the Passover would begin soon. The reason for celebrating this feast was to remember the journey the Jews made from Egypt to the land the Lord had promised to them. In this feast, the Jews were reminded of God’s mercy and grace for “passing over” and sparing their ancestors’ families from a deadly plague that would eventually lead to the Jews’ freedom from slavery to the Egyptians. Centuries earlier, the way the Jews were granted this “passing over,” and eventually their freedom from the oppression of Egyptian enslavement, was through sacrificing a lamb with no imperfections.
It's likely Barabbas was beaten and bruised by the Roman soldiers who watched over the prison. He had earned the brutality that was directed to him. He was on death row for his crimes, with a penalty that would lead to a crucifixion. Barabbas, who had fully deserved his punishment, symbolizes so much. He was a wicked, vile man, deserving the cruelest of executions. Barabbas symbolizes a sinner who not only deserved death, but deserved to suffer while being put to death.
Barabbas was set before an angry crowd and a man named Pontius Pilate. There was another man who had received the same verdict as he had. This other man was beaten and bruised, too. The crowd was not angry at Barabbas, but they were angry at this other man. Pilate saw nothing the other man had done that would make him deserve the punishment of dying on a cross. To Pilate, this man was innocent. Pilate did know, however, Barabbas deserved to die on a cross for his crimes.
Barabbas watched as Pilate asked the crowd which man he should release back to them, as this was a tradition to release a criminal at the time of the Passover feast. The angry crowd yelled for Barabbas to be set free and for the other man to be crucified. Pilate asked again, trying to convince the crowd of the other man’s innocence, but they insisted on having Barabbas released back to them. Barabbas was set free, and the other man took his place. This other man, doing nothing wrong, became the substitute for Barabbas’ penalty.
Barabbas received grace and mercy on that day. Did he know it? Did Barabbas look back at the One who took his place? This freedom Barabbas had been given, did he see it for all it was worth, or did he squander his freedom without a trace of remorse? This man who took Barabbas’ place was Jesus Christ, a man without sin, who symbolically represents a perfect lamb sacrificed to grant freedom from the bondage of sin and death. Jesus was the Lamb that would cause God to “pass over” the sin of people that would give them their freedom from their bondage, slavery and imprisonment. Barabbas represents a sinner, saved by grace, not by anything good he himself had done. He was on the fast lane to destruction, yet God, out of His infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, set this sinner free.
The criminal Barabbas symbolizes the timeless significance that he was someone who was set free from the bondage of sin and death. Barabbas did not receive the judgement due to him for his deeds. Someone else paid the penalty of his crimes. Barabbas went free, leaving Jesus to suffer a punishment he did nothing to deserve. Barabbas symbolizes you and me, and we are in need of someone to suffer the punishment for our sin if we desire to be spared from the wrath of God. Barabbas was the man set free, and he was set free by Jesus Christ, the spotless and perfect Lamb of God.
