Introduce yourself here!

[Haruo]

[--Aaron--]

BARABBAS’ STORY

Hello there, friend, sit down and let me tell you about myself.
My name is Jesus Barabbas (authors note: tradition shows that this is the full name). I've had quite the life, but I'm ready to die now; I'm of full age, and I don't really expect much more to happen.

I'm not sure where I should start in my story. I guess I'll start with my childhood. I was born to an unnoticed family in Israel. My father was not a man of influence, neither did his occupation bring him any special recognition. We were under the influence of Rome at the time of my youth, and many of us, the youth that is, could hardly stand our parents attitude toward the government. They always said that we could never change it, so we may as well accept it; but we had other plans in our youthful zeal. Our God, Jehovah, had miraculously delivered our people from slavery in Egypt, and we weren't about to allow ourselves to be led back into bondage to anyone.

Oh, everybody talked of a "Messiah" coming to "deliver us from this government"; but they'd talked that talk for many generations, and we never saw any "Messiah". So, we sensible fellows decided that the only way was to revolt. We needed to show King Caesar that God's people didn't bow to anyone else. But how? Well, we had it all planned out.

You see, the governor of Judea, our region of the country, was a man named Pontius Pilate. The next region north of us was Samaria, noone like the Samaritans (they were only half Jews anyway). But the region north of Samaria was called Galilee, and the governor was named Herod Antipas, everybody called him "the rat". It was known throughout all Israel that Herod wanted to be king but the only way was if Caesar was overthrown, because once Caesar died his son would become king. Herod's grandpa used to be king, his name was Herod also, but somehow Herod's dad, Archelaus, lost the throne.

It seemed like a foolproof plan. All we had to do was get "the rat" (Herod) to side with us in interest of overthrowing Caesar. And it really wasn't all that complicated because Herod and Pilate were at odds (come to think of it, Herod was at odds with just about everybody), so helping a group of zealots from Pilate's district interested him. We were sure that it was only because it was a way to take a stab at Pilate. But if we could keep him against Caesar and Pilate, maybe he'd cooperate with our plan. But somehow we had to make it be his plan.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot this. While I was growing up there was a fellow about 8-10 years older than me who was causing quite a stir in Israel. You might ask how he was creating this stir, simply by his unique living patterns (or should I say "moving patterns"?). You see, he was born in a cow stall here in Jerusalem, Bethlehem actually. His parents didn't even live in the area, they were from Nazareth of Galilee, about 70-80 miles north of here. But after this child was born, they just stayed in Bethlehem, didn't even bother going back home. They lived in Bethlehem for about 2 years the way I understand it. About that time some magi from far away came to see the child, I think they were from the east somewhere.



Soon after the magi came, this family moved again, picked up one night and headed off to Egypt. Noone understood why, Joseph claimed to have a dream that told him to go quickly. They lived there in Egypt for a few years and then they moved back to Nazareth. Anyway, this boy grew up to be a Rabbi. His name was Jesus, too.

But, back to Herod, we finally convinced him to band together with us to overthrow Caesar. But for some reason, nothing seemed to go as planned. We would cause one uprising after another, and one rebellion after another; but anytime we would get caught (which was often) Herod acted like he forgot about us. But eventually we'd get out of prison and go at it again, and then he was our friend. Well, one time during a rebel uprising, I murdered a fellow. I didn't mean to, but it happened. And there was no way I could wiggle out from under the guilt, I had clearly done it; and everybody knew it was me.

That was the end of my career, after that there was no getting released for me. I knew that eventually they would punish me, probably by crucifixion. When they crucified people they would half tie, half nail them to a rough sawn beam. Then they would nail the beam to a post, there was crucifixion posts all over the countryside. It normally took several days for a victim to finally die of suffocation and agony. I knew that that was what I had to look forward to.

During the Passover Feast one year, I was sitting in my cell listening to all the commotion (there was always plenty of activity during Passover week). It had been rumored throughout the prison that this Jesus, the Nazarene, had made quite an entrance into Jerusalem at the beginning of the week. It was also told that He was really causing quite a stir throughout all the city. It sounded like He was pretty much making havoc wherever He went. Him and His ragtag bunch of cronies. Every Rabbi had a group of disciples that followed and learned from him, but this Rabbi's disciples were nothing more than a bunch of misfits.

I remember it like yesterday, it was Friday morning. We could tell that there was a crowd gathering over on the Pavement, kind of like an open-air courtroom. It was only about half a mile from the prison. We couldn't hear what was being said, but there was a ruckus. The irony of the situation is that noone had been taken from the prison, so we couldn't figure out who was on trial.

Suddenly the crowd hushed. Believe me, all ears in the prison were trying to figure out what was going on. We could barely hear Pilate's voice speaking to the crowd, there was no way we could tell what he was saying. But suddenly in a burst of thunder, I heard the most awful thing in all my life. I heard the crowd burst forth in unison, and they said my name! That's right, all I heard was this, "BARABBAS"! I felt a gigantic lump rise to my throat, all the eyes in the prison were on me. I wanted to cry, but there was no way I could let all these others see me weeping. I was a tough guy, remember?

After they cried my name my mind was going about a thousand different directions. We had heard that our old buddy Herod, "the rat", was in town for the festivities. It seemed just like Pilate to make a show for Herod. So he was probably going to make a public spectacle of me to "impress Herod". Who knows, this might even be my awaited time.
About that time, we heard the crowd again..........CRUCIFY HIM!!

I knew it, I was as good as dead, then we heard it again.

CRUCIFY HIM!!!!

I couldn't believe my ears, I didn't know that they hated me that bad. I mean, sure, they didn't like me, I had made problems, and even killed someone. But others had done that too, and I didn't remember that they were so hostile toward them. I knew that my time had come. I started to weep.

My buddies, if you can call them that, were trying to console me. About that time we heard the sound of boots in the way. And sure enough, the sound of keys; they were coming to get me, and take me to be crucified.
CRUCIFIED!!?!
Though I had known for some time that it would happen someday, I could hardly bear the thought.

As the guard unlocked my cell, he looked deep into my eyes. But he didn't look angry, he looked confused. Why did he look confused? I was the one that was confused! After he opened the door, he said to me, "Go, you're a free man". What?!? A free man? I had just heard the crowd say to crucify me, and now he was freeing me? There was surely some mistake! I must have looked completely bewildered, because he said to me, "Yes, it's true, you're a free man."

I didn't hardly know what to do, should I make a run for it before he realizes he's got the wrong man? Should I just walk out casually, assuming that he was right? He finally had to take me by the arm and lead me out. It's sort of funny to think about now, a man that's just been freed needing to be led from his cell; but I was still in disbelief.

Once I was out I didn't know what to do. Do I leave town, do I stay and try to figure out what just happened, what do I do? Then I remembered that every year at the time of the feast, Pilate releases one prisoner to the crowd, the prisoner of their choice. But me? Of all the ones in the prison, I was considered the "chief of thugs". Why did they release me, why not Julius, or Simon? They were only thieves, I had murdered a man! I'm not sure what I did, probably just wandered around in a haze for a few hours, but eventually I ended up out at Golgotha. When I got to Golgotha I could see that there were three crosses. Curiosity got the best of me, I had to know who was on them. I was sure that it would be three people who I had just seen a few hours earlier. As I drew closer I saw that Julius and Simon were two of the three, but who was that fellow in the middle?

I couldn't recognize Him as anyone I had seen before. I ended up at the very base of His cross. He looked absolutely grotesque. You could tell that He used to have a beard on His face. Notice I said used to, it looked like someone had taken handfuls of hair and yanked it out. His face was swollen, and He had a crown on. Well, I guess it was supposed to be a crown, it was made out of thorn vines, you know the ones that are 3-4 inches long. It was smashed on His brow so tightly that blood streamed down His swollen face. They hadn't used any ropes on Him either, they had nailed His hands and His feet. The others only had their feet nailed, their arms were roped. You could tell that He had been whipped and scourged and beaten. I couldn't figure out who He was, where He'd come from, or what He'd done to upset them so. Obviously if He hadn't have shown up at the last minute, I'd have been hanging there between Julius and Simon. Wait a minute, was that a sign up there? What did it say? JESUS of NAZARETH KING OF THE JEWS.

King of the Jews? What did that mean?

About then I heard Him start to speak, or groan would be more like it. His lips were swollen, His nose was swollen, His cheeks were swollen, but you could still understand what He said. He spoke slowly and deliberately, "Father.........forgive them..............for........they.........know.....not.......what.........they do." As I stood there, I heard the Jewish rulers berating Him. They were saying He claimed to be the Messiah. WHAT?? The Messiah? But......but........but, I thought the Messiah was going to save the people. This all added to the irony of the events of the day. I didn't know what to think. Then Julius started in, he said, "If you're the Christ, save yourself, and us". I wanted to stop him from saying any more, but Simon did instead. Simon said something about getting what they deserved, but this Man hasn't done anything wrong. The Simon turned Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom." Lord? Simon never called anyone Lord, things were going from strange to weird really fast.

Wait, Jesus is trying to talk again. He's talking to Simon. You..will..........be...........with....me...........in..........paradise.
Hey, what's going on, it's getting dark, it's surely not evening yet. I asked one of the soldiers what time it was he said it was the sixth hour. The sixth hour, that's midafternoon, why is it getting dark? It looks like Jesus is going to say something again, everyone got quiet and listened. He slowly raised Himself up. He opened His mouth. He took a deep breath. FATHER INTO THY HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT.
WOW, He almost yelled, where did that come from? It was almost like for a brief moment He had superhuman strength. But, as soon as He said that, He died. Or, did He die? Maybe He chose to die. It almost seemed like He was the one in control of when it happened.

Nobody spoke for several minutes. It was dark as midnight. Finally the centurion said something about being convinced that this Man was the Son of God. I was convinced, that's for sure.

The Son of God of my cross. The cross I deserved. The cross that I almost wished I could get on, to allow Him to go free. He didn't deserve it. He had done nothing wrong in all His life. He.....................He.......................He, pardon me, it still causes me to get choked up when I think about it. Now I know that He was the perfect sacrifice for my sins. He literally died so I wouldn't have to, on that Roman cross. But He also died so I wouldn't have to die eternally in HELL.


This concludes our little story about Barabbas. I trust you can accept the liberty I've taken with some of the details to create a readable story. I also hope that this account has changed forever the way you look at substitutionary death. Christ not only died to give us the blood required to fulfill the Father's decree, Leviticus 17:11 .........for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul; but He also died to give us the unprecedented hope of eternal life, Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

I firmly believe that Barabbas understood grace. I trust that as you read his story in the future, you will remember the lesson he has taught us today on pure, undeserved grace.

[Ed Pettibone]

Dear Barabbus,

Please familiarize you self with the polices of this forum especially #4
which reads 4) In the spirit of openness, registration is not required in order to read forum posts. However, users are required to register in order to make posts. Registration requires a name, or a derivation of your name, as your "handle." This is both courteous and a sign of legitimacy. One’s full name is certainly not necessary; first name alone, first name and last initial, first initial and last name, would work just fine. The site owner reserves, at his discretion, the right to delete posts from individuals who consistently refuse to use their name in their handle. If a user has a valid reason for not using his or her name, please contact the site owner and we will be glad to make an exception if the request is appropriate.

[--Aaron--]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Ray]

Hi BL, I live in that big state called Texas and am glad to be here. After working in the world of Baptist-ism for 25 years, I currently am freed from that world (to some degree) when Baptist budgets were cut and so was my income and career. It has taken a year to heal from the anger, hurt, pain and bitterness. Now I find it difficult to start a new career. I hope that this forum will regenerate my joy as I participate in these discussions!

[Ed Pettibone]

Welcome Ray!

Ed Pettibone
aka jep
CoEditor Baptistlife.com

[travisbaptist12]

Hello all. My name is Travis, I'm 16, and I live in Minnesota.

[Bruce Gourley]

[Hal Eaton]

[--Aaron--]

[MichaelC]

[Haruo]

[mlovell]

[MichaelC]

[Haruo]

[stellakeeffe]

[David Flick]

[ALin]

[mlovell]

And I don't know you at all, but am so glad you're here. Women are still a minority on BL.com -- though that's not always a bad thing.

Could you, on the Baptist Faith and Practice Forum, talk a bit more about spiritual formation? In my experience, Baptists haven't historically been too interested in that.

I'm going with a women's group on a day trip Feb. 26 to Dallas, where one of the things we'll do is walk a prayer labyrinth. (Our church women's book group just read Walking a Sacred Pth: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool -- hence the interest. Leader for the day will be -- she's led groups at our church twice before, so you can tell that we appreciate her. Sylvia grew up Baptist, but her call was to Spiritual Formation and (as I said) Baptists haven't always been the greatest at encouraging that. So now she's Episcopalian, teaching at a Catholic University -- but still speaks Baptist fluently. I like.

I know Jeannie Miley a bit, have read her books and heard her speak.

What books have been most useful to you?

I'm going to go ahead and post this on the other forum myself -- and it'll be easier for you to answer, as I hope you'll choose to.

[tom]

[Ed Pettibone]

[tom]

[Haruo]

[tom]