So,
What Do You Do?
First-Person Testimonies for Lenten Devotions
by Dr. Roy Schoppa, Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, Riverside, CA
4. . . . WHEN YOU KNOW YOU’RE GUILTY AS CHARGED? – Based on Matthew 27:15-18, 20
Introductory Dialogue by Lay Members:
1. Do you think he thought he would be put to death?
2. Of course! Anyone who did the things Barabbas did should expect to die.
3. He surely must have been surprised when he was told the people had chosen him to receive Pilate’s pardon!
1. I wonder what he did after his pardon. Do you think he was really thankful?
3. I wonder what he thought when he learned he was chosen and it was Jesus who was condemned to die.
2. You’d think he would have lived a life of gratitude – having someone die in his place like that.
1. Yes, but you just don’t know!
Introduction of Sermon without the Dialogue:
You don’t know a lot about me other than that I happened to be at the right political place at the right political time. I was in Roman custody, awaiting execution for insurrection and murder. Then it happened that the fate of Jesus Christ was intertwined with mine. And I had a new chance at life.
My story is that of a well-loved son gone bad. My name, Barabbas, indicated that to everyone, for it means "son of a father". The name placed proudly on me when I was circumcised must have become a source of embarrassment for my parents when I was arrested and sentenced to death for crimes against the state. They, no doubt, waited prayerfully and hopefully to see what would happen to me – and how I would face the end of my life.
It’s true, there is not a lot that you know about me. But the one thing you and all the world should have no doubt about is that it is I who should have been on that cross. Without a doubt, I was guilty as charged!
Like Judas, I was a patriotic zealot – and I had been swept into acting out my rebellion with other patriots. You might say I was the Robin Hood of old Jerusalem. My commitment to Jewish independence led me to kill a legionnaire – and I had been sentenced to die. It was a just sentence. I knew that. Rome gave none of the conquered peoples a right to appeal its verdict. There was no possibility of a hung jury, no possibility of a mistrial. And it was only appropriate, for I was guilty as charged.
Have you ever known that feeling? I mean, have you ever stood there so transparent that even the naive could see right through you? No use offering an alibi! No use denying! Just guilty as charged!
There is a sense in which I represent all the criminals who deserve to be punished for their crimes. I am the mugger who smashes the jaw of an old lady just to snatch a few dollars of her Social Security money. I am the rapist who drags an innocent victim into a dark alley to violate her body. I am the thief who steals company funds in order to cover gambling debts. I am the hijacker who terrorizes the passengers on a plane. I am the murderer who, with cold determination, fires a bullet into a person’s heart.
Your prisons are full of the likes of me, and so are your streets. The Barabbases of your world today are a menace to your society – yet the guardians of law and order are often frustrated by the travesties of justice that let the likes of me off with shortened sentences.
There is a larger sense, however, in which I, Barabbas, represent every one of you as you stand guilty as charged before the bar of God’s justice.
The Commandment says, "Have no other gods before me." I am every person who keeps God low on his list of priorities.
The Commandment says, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." I am every one who speaks the name of your God with little or no sincerity or commitment.
The Commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." I, Barabbas, am every one who thinks of worship and all that builds up the body of Christ through the church as unimportant, not worth the time and effort.
The Commandment says, "Honor your father and your mother." I am every person who brings dishonor and grief to his parents.
The Commandment says, "You shall not kill." I am every one who maliciously takes the life of another – or every one who just passes by without helping those in need.
The Commandment says, "Do not commit adultery." I am every person who has been swept along by the world’s permissive immorality and has forgotten all about living a chaste and decent life in word and deed.
The Commandment says, "Do not steal." I am every one who cheats on a test or on paying taxes or on a business deal.
The Commandment says, "You shall not bear false witness." I am everyone who lies or hurts others with careless gossip.
The Commandment says, "You shall not covet." I am every person who thinks you can love both God and Money, who focuses so much on things that he desires what rightfully belongs to others.
I, Barabbas, standing before the bar of justice, represent all of you in being guilty as charged. I should have been on that cross. The most important thing for you to know is that I had nothing to do with my being pardoned. I did nothing to earn it. I made no promises of retribution. I offered no guarantee of good behavior in the future. I deserved to die. I expected to die.
But I didn’t! I didn’t die because I happened to be at the right time at the right place in conjunction with the right person – one Jesus of Nazareth. The religious leaders wanted to see him put to death. The judge was Pontius Pilate, who couldn’t stand up under the pressure of the High Priest. He couldn’t let Jesus go free, even though he knew Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against him. So he looked for a loophole, another way out – and he thought of a way to get out of even having to make the decision himself.
A tradition had attached itself to the annual Passover observance – an official gesture of good will intended to conciliate the Jewish people. They were allowed to choose one prisoner of the Romans to be pardoned and freed. So Pilate made the offer: it would be a choice between Jesus and me, Barabbas. He set the whole thing up, of course, in hope that Jesus would be chosen to be freed and I would be crucified. But, to his surprise, the priests orchestrated the crowd, and a kind of mob hysteria resulted. They cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion and my freedom.
Think of it! I, Barabbas, chosen over Jesus! Does that ever happen in your life? You are at times confronted with the choice. It’s the choice between Jesus and all his name stands for in your life and Barabbas and all his name stands for. You’ve been swept along with the crowd at times, haven’t you? And you ended up rejecting Jesus and his way in favor of a "Barabbas" kind of behavior!
You don’t know what that pardon did for me. You don’t know if, in my unexpected freedom, I just went back to the same old life I had lived before – or if I followed the crowds to Calvary to see Jesus die for me. I guess it’s not all that important that you know.
What is important is that just as I represent you in my guilt I also represent you in my pardon. I believe you call it the Christian Gospel. Its central theme is what I experienced without knowing any of the reasons for it. Its Good News comes down to four little words – but what a world of impact and meaning there are in them: "He died for me."
The question still is: Who shall it be? Jesus? – or Barabbas?
Conclusion without the Dialogue:
The choice is crucial. The faithless Jewish leaders rejected Jesus and chose me. Don’t make that mistake. Though the crowd’s choosing me over Jesus brought me a temporary freedom, you will find your true pardon, your true freedom in choosing Jesus. He provides a freedom that goes far beyond what I enjoyed at Pilate’s command.
Your pardon assures you that, though you are guilty, you have been acquitted as charged because Jesus died in your stead. It involves more than your just being released to join your friends again for a time. Your pardon gives you a more radical freedom, a life-long freedom in the company of the one who paid the price so you can be free. "He died for you, so that you should no longer live for yourself but for him who died for you and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:15) Even more than that, it offers an eternal freedom: "This is the testimony God has given us about his Son. He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life!" (1 John 5:11-12)
Whatever you do, don’t make the wrong choice!
Concluding Dialogue by Lay Members:
2. Well, who shall it be? Jesus or Barabbas?
1. Do we have to choose – right now?
3. I think we’re in the process of choosing all the time – and I’m sure we don’t always choose on the side of Jesus.
1. I prefer to remember that through his grace and love in Jesus God has chosen us. He’s chosen us to be his sons and daughters. He’s chosen us to live with him in heaven.
2. Yes, like Barabbas, we are guilty as charged, but we have been pardoned and set free.
3. How important that we now use our freedom responsibly.
2. Paul has a good word for it: "Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."