The Crowd Chose Barabbas

Today’s passage for reflection was taken from Matt 27:15 – 26, on how the crowd chose to save Barabbas rather than Jesus during the Feast of the Passover. As a youth, I often wondered why the Jews would choose to save Barabbas, a murderer and rebel, over Jesus, the ultimate “good guy”. Wasn’t this the same crowd that shouted “hosanna” and waved palm branches as they hailed Jesus as Messiah just a few days before?​

It turns out that Barabbas was not just any common criminal. Apparently, he was a “freedom fighter”, fighting against Roman rule. As the Jews yearned to be free, Barabbas was seen as a champion for their cause. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the people hailed Him, many thinking that Jesus was coming to save them from Roman oppression. However, Jesus had a greater agenda, He was coming to free people from their sins. Jesus came to earth to put God’s great redemption plan into action, not to solve the people’s everyday problems.​

Some people follow Jesus in the hope that He would give them what they wanted; a well-paying job, good grades, recovery from serious illness, success in business dealings. Jesus spoke about such people in John 6:26.​

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
(John 6: 26, ESV)​

The people were looking to Jesus to provide their material needs, but did not see their greater spiritual need, for salvation. Jesus prompted them to seek Him for who He was, not because of the temporal blessings He could gave them.​

Others followed Jesus because they saw Jesus as a great moral teacher and also wanted to strive to be good people. Although the intention was admirable, they fell into the trap of thinking that they could earn their salvation by “observing the rules”. This resulted in either self-righteous pride (like the Pharisees), or self-loathing despair. ​

Why then, do we follow Jesus? It is simply this, because Jesus is Lord and God. Knowing that Jesus is God, we want to make it our chief aim to obey and please Him wherever He may lead us. We want to follow Christ on His terms, not ours; we do not follow Christ only if He leads us to where we want to go. It is not where the Shepherd leads, but who the Shepherd is that matters. Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, reportedly once said, “In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with”. In the same way, we can go through trials and tribulations in our journey on earth and yet be rested in God as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus.​

In this season of Lent, let us each reflect on why we are following Jesus, and confess and repent of our sin if we have been guilty of following Jesus for the wrong reasons. ​

By brother Simon Koh​