He died for me: The story of Barabbas

Barabbas was a man who lived in Jerusalem, Judea, around AD29 during the time of the Roman Empire. Barabbas was a troublemaker, a thief and a murderer. The punishment for his crimes was that he had to be crucified; which was a common punishment. This meant that he was to be nailed to a wooden cross until he would die of exhaustion and suffocation. Beyond these details, the Bible does not tell us very much about Barabbas, so the story described below is a realistic interpretation of what may have taken place.

Often the Romans would force a criminal to make the cross that they were going to die on. This may have been to cause the criminal some mental suffering to go with the physical suffering that was going to occur later, because as they made it, they would have to be thinking about what was going to happen.

As Barabbas picked up the wood to make his cross, splinters became caught in his hands and he thought about when it would be his bare back that would be against the rough splintery beams. As Barabbas took the long, rough, jagged nails and hammered them into the shorter cross piece, attaching it to the long upright beam, he thought about when it was going to be his hands that would be nailed to the wood. As he tried to make the beam a bit smoother, as though it would somehow make the experience less painful, he suddenly felt the sharp point of a spear in his side. ‘What do you think you are doing?’ boomed the voice of the Roman soldier. ‘You keep that rough bit there because you are going to suffer on that cross.’

Having very reluctantly completed his cross, Barabbas was left in his cell alone with his thoughts, not knowing when his time would come. Every moment that passed, he knew that it drew a moment closer to the unimaginable agony and slow inevitable death that waited for him. This depressing reality served to feed his thoughts of self-pity and sorrow. However, Barabbas’ sorrow was not one of a man who had come to a point of being sorry for what he had done. His sorrow was for the fact that he had been caught. He thought again and again about how he had been caught and that if only he had done things differently, he might have got away with his crimes.

This is often our thought when we are caught out. When we are punished for something we have done we think, ‘If only I was more careful; if only I had done things differently.’ Our sadness is at being caught, not for what we have done. While this is our thought and our heart, we can never be forgiven because we are not truly sorry for what we have done.

The other thought that was continually coming to Barabbas was the date. It was the 14th day of the first month, Nisan. The reason Barabbas was thinking about the date is because the next day, 15th Nisan, was a special public holiday called ‘Passover’. Now Barabbas had always liked public holidays, however, never more than he did at that point, because no one gets crucified on a public holiday.

Conditions in that prison cell were horrible. There were no toilets, so the stench was unbearable. The floor was filthy and rough, so sleeping was difficult. However, despite this, Barabbas still thought that it was much nicer than the cross that awaited him. He knew that if he could manage to make it through that day, it meant that he would at least have a few more days. Although this was still a very bleak prospect, it was something to hold onto. In desperate situations, people will find even small things to hold onto; for where there is life, there is hope.

Anyway, Barabbas, being lost in his thoughts of self-pity and survival, did not notice the crowd that had been gathering outside his cell in the courtyard. They had been gathering for some time, but he had not noticed. Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up in fear. He heard the crowd for the first time. They were all yelling and crying out, saying, ‘Give us Barabbas!’ Now fully focused on every noise of the crowd, Barabbas heard them again cry out angrily, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’ In that instant, that little bit of hope that he had been holding onto was ripped away from him. He knew that he was not even going to see the day out. He felt gutted and completely empty.

As he sat there in the cell, he was thoroughly depressed. He was not startled as he heard the sound of the Roman soldiers’ sandals marching towards his cell; a sound that usually made him jump, having lived the life of a criminal always avoiding the soldiers. He did not even look up as he heard them rattle the key and swing open the rusty cell door. He did not even protest, as he normally did, when they told him to get up. As he was marched out of the prison with a Roman soldier on each side of him, he had resolved that this was it – this was his end.

As he walked out, he caught his first glimpse of the crowd. The crowd was very large and they all seemed extremely agitated and stirred up. Barabbas was surprised by this. He knew because of his crimes that he was unpopular, but he did not think he was hated so much that so many would come. Once he drew nearer, he experienced a feeling that was foreign to him. He was actually pleased that he had a large armed Roman solider on each side of him, because he thought that if that crowd got hold of him he would not even live long enough to make it to the cross.

Then something happened that he did not expect. One of the soldiers undid the chains that bound his hands and feet. Barabbas stood and looked at him, dumbfounded. The soldier spoke and said, ‘Go on, Barabbas. Get out of here.’ Barabbas still stood there. He had no idea what was happening. ‘Move it, Barabbas! You have been set free.’

Still confused, Barabbas hesitantly moved away from the soldier, but he was still afraid of the crowd. However, as he walked towards the crowd, he began to notice that they were not even looking at him. They did not even notice him. He could see that they were stirred up, that they were angry, but their anger was not towards him. So he quietly moved into the crowd unnoticed.

While he wanted to get as far away from the soldiers as possible in case they changed their minds, he tried to see who the crowd was focused on. As he moved around he saw a man standing in front of the crowd. The flesh of the man’s back was torn open from being whipped. As Barabbas looked at Him he realised, ‘I know that man. I have seen Him before. That man is Jesus!’

Now Barabbas was even more confused. Although he had never met Jesus, he had heard about Him. Everyone had. He was the most talked about guy in town. There were all sorts of stories about the things that Jesus had done. There were stories about lepers who had been healed and blind men that could see. There were even stories that a man had died and four days later Jesus had caused him to live again.

Barabbas did not know what had been happening; but the Bible recorded the events in great detail. On the previous night, Jesus had been taken and arrested by the Jewish religious leaders. They had arrested Him because He had said that He was the Son of God; and they considered this blasphemy and deserving of death according to the Jewish religious law.

In those days, the Jews were under the rule of the Romans. To make the judgement official, Jesus had been taken to the Roman authorities the next morning; the morning of the 14th. With the commotion of Jesus, such a well-known person, being arrested, a crowd had begun to gather to see what was going to happen.

They delivered Jesus to a man named Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor in Jerusalem at that time, saying, ‘We caught this man trying to mislead the people and telling them not to pay taxes to Caesar. He also is claiming that He is a king.’ So Pilate, who also acted as a judge, conducted a trial to find out Jesus’ guilt according to the Roman law.

As the trial proceeded, many accusations were brought against Jesus; but to it all Jesus answered nothing. These proceedings caused Pilate to marvel. He had been a judge for many years so he had seen many trials. However, there were two things that amazed him. First of all was the extremely obvious fact that Jesus was innocent. From what people were saying about Him, there was not a single piece of evidence that could prove Jesus guilty of any law. However, there was something that amazed him more. He had never seen a man remain silent while being accused, especially when the accusations were so clearly false.

Think about when somebody brings an accusation against you. Doesn’t it stir up something in you that makes you want to defend yourself? This need to defend ourselves is even stronger when the accusations brought against us are not true. Nevertheless, Jesus did not speak up, fulfilling the words that were spoken of Him by Isaiah many hundreds of years before; ‘He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter.’

So Pilate found himself in quite an awkward situation. He was the judge, so his job was to see justice done. Clearly, for justice to be served, Jesus must be released. However, as Governor, his job was to keep the peace; and the religious leaders that delivered Jesus to him had stirred up the people. Already a large crowd had gathered and it seemed to be growing larger by the minute. They were stirred up so much, that Pilate feared that releasing Jesus would cause a riot. If that was to happen, word would get back to the Roman Emperor and that would not be good for him.

Pilate tried to make a compromise and ordered that Jesus be whipped. He thought that this would make the people happy; to see Jesus suffer in such a painful and brutal way. However, it also would not weigh on his conscience, as he had not sentenced an innocent man to death. However, his compromise did not work as the people were still not happy; and they wanted to see more done to Jesus, leaving Pilot in an even more difficult situation.

Then Pilate had an idea. Realizing the time of year, Pilate knew that there was a tradition of releasing a Jewish prisoner each Passover. Thinking about the prisoners who were in custody at that time, he decided to offer the people a choice. Standing before the agitated crowd Pilate waved his arms in an attempt to hush them so that he could be heard. ‘Which prisoner would you like me to release to you this year? I can release to you Barabbas, who has stirred up trouble amongst you, who has stolen from you and who has even committed murder. Or I can release to you this man, Jesus, who has done nothing wrong.’

The crowed, being stirred up and led by the religious leaders who had arrested Jesus shouted back, ‘Give us Barabbas!’ Pilate was astonished at this and replied to the crowd, ‘What then do you want me to do with Jesus?’ Their cry was quick and unanimous, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ These were the words that Barabbas had previously heard shouted when he was in his cell. Barabbas had thought that they were crying out his name because they hated him, but they were crying out for his release. When he heard the cries of, ‘Crucify him!’ he thought that it was his death, but it was for Jesus.

So Jesus was immediately taken and crucified, along with two other criminals. Nothing is said about His cross. We know that there was not enough time for Jesus to make one, so it is reasonable to conclude that they may have used the one Barabbas had already made.

The Bible makes no further mention of Barabbas after he was released, but you would think that he would have stayed around to see what happened to the Man who took his place. He would have winced as he saw the Roman soldiers drive the massive nails through Jesus’ hands, remembering back to when he himself drove the nails into that very same piece of wood when he had made that cross. He would have been thinking, ‘That should be me’, as the nails were driven into Jesus’ feet. He would have looked at Jesus hanging on the cross, a man each side of Him, and thought, ‘That is my cross. That is my punishment. That Man is dying in my place.’

If Barabbas had been close enough, he would have heard Jesus speak while He was hanging on the cross. Having remained silent throughout His trial, and through all the pain and humiliation He had endured, Jesus finally spoke. Considering His circumstances and all He had been through, the words He uttered make the most remarkable sentence ever spoken. Jesus prayed to His Father in heaven and said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ Such is Jesus’ love for us, that even in the midst of all the pain and injustice, He cared for the ones who were hurting Him.

Then one of the criminals on the cross next to Jesus spoke up and mocked Jesus, asking, ‘If you are really the Son of God then why don’t you get down off the cross and save us as well?’ The second criminal had observed Jesus and all that had gone on, and answered in defence of Jesus. ‘Do you not even fear God? We are getting exactly what we deserve. We have committed our crimes and we are being punished for them. This Man here has done nothing wrong.’ Then he spoke to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me.’ Jesus replied to this man, ‘Today you will be with Me in Paradise.’

What this man had done was something very simple, yet also very important. In that brief encounter, this man found eternal life, with an assurance from Jesus that he would be in heaven. It is important to understand what occurred so that we are able to do the same. The first thing he did was acknowledge that Jesus was God. Secondly, he acknowledged his own sin. Finally, by speaking to Jesus saying, ‘Lord, remember me’, he sought to know Jesus. To know God’s eternal life we must know Him.

As the afternoon drew on, the Romans were faced with a problem. Due to the fact that the next day was Passover, they could not have anyone still on the cross by sunset. This was a problem because crucifixion was not a quick death. The death was caused by suffocation.

When a person hangs on a cross their total body is carried by their arms. As they hang on the cross, the weight causes them to sink down, collapsing their chest and restricting their breathing. Human nature causes people to fight to stay alive, regardless of the circumstances. So when someone hangs on a cross, as they begin to run out of breath, they pull up with their arms, and push up with their feet, just to take another breath. But each of these breaths is agonizingly painful. This continues until the person becomes so exhausted and weak from the pain that they can no longer pull themselves up to take a breath. They stay slumped down and suffocate. The time this takes varies according to the endurance of each person. It can be anything from eight hours to several days.

However long it usually takes, was too long for the Romans on this day. They needed the bodies down, so a soldier was ordered to go and break the legs of the three men who were on the crosses. This would cause them to die more quickly as they would not be able to push up with their legs to take a breath. When he came to Jesus, he was surprised to see that Jesus was already dead. This was not because Jesus was weak. It was because Jesus laid down His life.

On that day, Jesus took the place of one man named Barabbas. However, by His actions, He actually took the place of all mankind. The Bible tells us that because of our sin we all have a price to pay; we have all earned death. However, Jesus did not sin; therefore, He did not earn death. Nevertheless, He chose to die to pay the price for us. His life is a gift for anyone who will receive Him. To receive that gift, we must be like the criminal who died next to Jesus. We must call Jesus our Lord. We must confess our sins and only then can we know Him and His eternal life.