The Terrorist
From the time Jesus was taken
into custody until he was finally affixed to a cross on which he died, a lot
would have happened. Had this happened in 2016, the news media with their journalists each accompanied by the most
recent recording gadgetry, government record keepers and the general
inquisitive public with smart phones and tablets would have recorded for
posterity all possible angles of the event.
Sure, various lines would have
been blacked out because of national security. Some discussions would have remained
within the four cabinet walls. Some information could not be divulged because
it was part of an ongoing investigation. Some memories , interpretations and
comments would have been very scrambled. But in spite of all of this, a fairly
comprehensive and generally accurate report would have been aired to the
public.
But Jesus was not executed last
year!
In the early first century news
dissemination such as we have here today did not exist. This fact causes many
to ask, "How accurate are the details which we find in the Gospels?"
And I suppose we can't blame people for asking, for example :"How was John
able to report Jesus' specific words when he was being questioned by Annas
after his arrest (John 18:19-23), or the conversation between Pilate and Jesus
inside the palace (John 18:33-38)?"
Similarly the more general
proceedings surrounding Jesus' trial often attract a certain amount of
scepticism. Many question their historicity. Hence one reads statements such
as: "I judge that narrative (referring to the account of events
surrounding Barabbas) to be absolutely unhistorical, a creation most likely of
Mark himself." This from a biblical studies scholar, John Dominic Crossan.
He details the arguments which have lead to his conclusion.
A conclusion such as this would
jar greatly on those who cannot regard anything in the Bible as other than the
divine statements of God. For these people the appearance of Barabbas in the
passion story, especially the nature of his appearance, is not open for
questioning. One must accept as "gospel truth" what is written there.
I do not intend to argue whether the Barabbas incident is historical or not.
Each of the four evangelists has recorded it. Professor Crossan suggested that
Barabbas was Mark's creation. The others followed Mark's lead using the story
for their own purposes.
Mark wrote the following
(15:6-15): 6Now it was the
custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7A
man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed
murder in the uprising. 8The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do
for them what he usually did. 9"Do you want me to release to
you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10knowing it was out
of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11But
the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12"What shall I do then with the one you call the king of the
Jews?" Pilate asked them. 13"Crucify him!" they
shouted. 14"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked
Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" 15Wanting
to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged,
and handed him over to be crucified.
We note from this account that -
1. Releasing
a prisoner of the peoples' choice at Passover was an established custom.
2. These
were volatile times and a number of terrorists were in prison at the time
awaiting execution.
3. The crowd
(the chief priests' a rent-a crowd) asked for the release of the terrorist Barabbas.
4. Pilate
was not convinced of the guilt of Jesus. He gave the crowd a choice.
5. Pilate
succumbed to the wishes of the crowd, released Barabbas and had Jesus flogged
prior to being crucified.
Matthew followed Mark's lead,
however he added a number of unfortunate details. These have resulted in so
much hatred throughout the centuries.
Luke in his account does not
mention the custom but has the crowd demanding the release of Barabbas and the
crucifixion of Jesus. Pilate was unable to convince the people that Jesus was
innocent. He granted their wish, released Barabbas and handed Jesus over to be
Crucified.
John's
account varies considerably from the three synoptic Gospels.
1. He writes
that Pilate suggests the release of one prisoner as was the custom and proposed
Jesus.
2. He makes
much less of the choice between Barabbas and Jesus.
3. He does
not specifically say that Barabbas was released, only that he had taken part in
a rebellion.
Mark and subsequently the other
three evangelists chose to include this Barabbas episode out of all the other
aspects of the "trial" which would have occurred. Why was this? It is not there to satisfy our curiosity
about what may have happened there those many years ago. Nor to satisfy the
curiosity of their readers at that time. Was it such an important aspect that
readers would have been denied a full understanding of what eventuated had it
not been included? It has probably been included for us (and their readers) to
draw some lessons from it. Looked at from this point of view it is immaterial
whether the episode is historically correct or not.
Here are a few possibilities -
1. Barabbas
could truly say, "Jesus died for me." Each of us is a Barabbas in
that we are sinners and so we can also say, "Jesus died for me."
2. There is
a similarity here to the sacrifice of the two animals on the Jewish Festival of
the Day of Atonement. Here one perfect animal was sacrificed and the other,
burdened with the sins of the nation, was released.
3. Mark's
Gospel was written after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Leading up
to its final destruction the city chose rebellion over unarmed protest. They
chose Barabbas, the terrorist, over Jesus who preached a different approach.
This story then is a symbolic dramatisation of Jerusalem's fate.
So what does Barabbas mean? No,
it's not just a story . Am I Barabbas? Am I Pilate and must, like him, make a
decision? We must choose what to make of this story.