City Life Starter

Written by Blesson Selvanesan

The Word

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!”

Matthew 27:20-23

Interpretation

Barabbas, a well-known criminal, was in the custody of Pilate. Scholars say that his name is Jesus Bar-Abbas, which means Jesus son of the father. On the other hand, the mob just brought in Jesus the Son of God, who called God his Abba. Jesus was the Son of the Heavenly Father. It is interesting to note, that there are two people similar in name and Barabbas also appears to have a mission just like Jesus had. Barabbas had an earthly mission, but Jesus had a heavenly mission. Jesus wanted to be a savior of the Jews by teaching compassion, showing love and giving life but Barabbas tried to impose his power by plunder, thuggery, force, and murder. As I pondered upon both the characters, I realized that Barabbas was a phony person. He signifies the ultimate emblem of an impostor and a counterfeit messiah.

It fascinates me that all the people who came there chose the counterfeit messiah over the original Messiah, when Pilate presented with an option between the two. They all fell for the trap that Satan had set for them. Because Satan was their father, Barabbas and the ‘religious people’ had a common father who is the father of lies and is an author of confusion and deception. Satan’s mission was to kill, to steal, and to destroy, that’s what they were doing together.

Application

We are hopelessly lost! This incident clearly shows us that people are hopelessly lost. Education, experience and discernment were immaterial, and they were blinded by their own ignorance and arrogance. Truth was trivialized and thuggery was embraced. They gave themselves to be blinded and deceived again. Satan’s game has always been deception. He is an imposter. He deceived Eve at the garden. After being cast out of the heavens, he continues to deceive people by showing himself as an angel of light. We are so lost that we don’t even know that we are lost!

He chose us as we could not made a right decision. We are lost due to our fallen and rebellious nature. Given to our impaired faculties, we are incapable of choosing the right thing. We see this again and again. Eve chose the wrong fruit knowingly, Cain killed Abel knowingly, Lot chose the wrong city knowingly, Samson took the wrong route knowingly, David committed adultery and murder knowingly, Israelites chose to worship the golden calf knowingly, these people chose Barabbas knowingly and this goes on and on… We too would have chosen Barabbas as we are one with him and can easily identify with him. In fact, we are him! Because of our notorious reputation, God in his mercy chose us!

Look at us now! We are repeating the same mistake again and again. Our world is filled with counterfeit stuff. We have counterfeit truth, counterfeit worship, counterfeit peace, fake love, phony relationships, deceptive churches and deceptive lives. We hate truth because its uncomfortable, we hate peace because it’s not profitable. We have created many counterfeit messiahs and followed them, because it is exciting, loud, romantic, powerful, liberating and comfortable. The real Messiah is still waiting, he is broken and bleeding, went ahead of us as a sheep to be slaughtered in our place. He is seated in the right hand of His Abba and is advocating for us. He is the real deal and He is offering us a real deal. Are we willing to open our eyes and accept His invitation?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, give us discernment. We are hopelessly lost and cannot choose the good from the evil. You chose us when we were in out lost state. Help us to follow you. Thank you for choosing us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.