Sabbath Thought – Barabbas

One of the amazing things that sets Scripture apart from other ancient manuscripts is the detail within it. No other ancient text covers such a range of disciplines – from geography to general science to history to genealogies. The human story is a big part of the record that God has preserved in Scripture. The Bible preserves the triumphs and tragedies of average people without “sugar-coating” any of it.   

In story-writing, minor characters add color and depth to the primary relationships – and in the stories we have recorded in Scripture they can do the same and more. Do you recognize any of these names – Iddo, Jahaziel, Jehu, Shemaiah or Huldah? They are all prophets of God in the Old Testament. What about these names?  Salome, Bartimaeus, Joanna, Zacchaeus or Barabbas? These are all “minor character” individuals mentioned in connection with Christ’s ministry.

Barabbas is interesting because of how his life was connected to Christ’s. We know very little about Barabbas, but he lived at a critical time in mankind’s history. The origin of his name is Aramaic – Bar-abba – which literally means “son of the father.” It can also mean “son of the master – or teacher.” While “Abba” was originally a term of endearment, it later became a proper name.

When we are introduced to Barabbas, he was in the Roman prison in Jerusalem because he had committed murder during an insurrection or general plundering (Mark 15:7). There is indication that prior to this capital offense, Barabbas was a common robber (John 18:40). Barabbas becomes important because Pilate had a tradition of releasing a condemned prisoner prior to Passover to show his compassion to the Jews. Pilate offered to do this for Christ, but the crowd demand Barabbas instead (Matthew 27:11-31, Mark 15:1-15, Luke 23:13-25 and John 18:28-40). Peter does allude to Barabbas in Acts 3:14 when he spoke to the Jewish audience and reminded them that they denied Christ and asked for Barabbas instead.

Nothing further is known of Barabbas, or of the insurrection in which he took part. What did he think of being pardoned instead of the One who was innocent? Did he do something better with his life after that, or did he continue to get into trouble? Was he one of the thousands who repented and were baptized after Peter’s inspiring sermon on Pentecost?

It is all too easy to read the story of Barabbas and say, “Why did he live and not suffer for his crimes?” The lesson from the story of Barabbas is that we all stood before God as a Barabbas before He called us to repentance. We earned and deserved a death sentence, but Christ died in our stead as well. 

As we approach Passover, we are reminded to examine ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:28) lest we forget how pervasive sin can be in our life. That examination is also for us to be reminded of what Christ willingly did for all of mankind (John 3:16) – shedding His blood so that we too can be released from our death sentence so that we can be a “son of the Master.”

Enjoy God’s Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

22 March, 2025