Reflections on Good Friday…

As a child growing up, and even as an adult – until very recently-  I never thought much about Barabbas in the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.

I knew he was one of the bad guys in the story. That he got away with murder, and Jesus died in his place. That the crowds all shouted for Jesus to die instead, on the day that Pilate traditionally let one criminal go free. I knew Barabbas was the lucky one who got let off the hook. Because the angry mob so desperately wanted to kill Jesus.

But Barabbas runs off and in the Bible not much else is said about him. So I never really gave him another thought. More recently though,  in the last few years as I’ve been studying my Bible,  I discovered that ‘Bar’  means ‘son of’  and many of us know  ‘Abba’ means ‘father’  so it just sort of occurred to me that Bar-Abbas  must mean  ‘son of the fathers’.  It really gave me pause because I thought wow… Bar-Abbas, son of the fathers, that represents… Us. 

We… are the son of the fathers.  We are the ones who got let off the hook.  We are the ones who inexplicably get set free. Undeservedly set free. Unbelievably set free from our sins.

And I wonder if Barabbas was grateful. Did he have any idea who Jesus even was? Did he become a believer? Did he just think he had a lucky break? Just like I wonder if I am grateful, if we are grateful, on a daily basis because of what we have been set free from.  

The Bible holds so many magnificent secrets and details that can change your life… If only we would read it and give it a chance. There’s really so much more there than meets the eye.  It’s an incredible story and it holds incredible Truth.