JOHN 18:39 – 19:3 THE CHOICE

39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.

Pilate confronts the crowd with a choice. He will release one of two prisoners. Either they can have Jesus, who presented himself as the Son of the Father or Barabbas, whose name literally means the son of the father. In one case we have the King of Peace and the other a violent insurrectionist. Although Barabbas is usually depicted as a despicable and unattractive figure in Passion cinema, the truth is more likely that he was rather attractive to the Jews of Jerusalem and perhaps even given some heroic status.

The choice given the Jews is the choice we are presented every day. It is the choice between the way of God and the way of the world. We are a people who want to do something. Sometimes we succumb to our impatience and like Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 16:1-4) attempt to fulfill God’s will on our schedule and in our manner. At other times we merely try to sanctify our desire by attributing it to God. All too often we simply do what is right in our own eyes. In each case we are choosing the way of the world over the will of God.

The kingdoms of the world are established and maintained by violence and power. The Kingdom of God is founded on obedience and love. The world sacrifices others to fulfill its will. God sacrificed himself to fulfill his. Self-sacrificial love is an alien concept in the world, but a fundamental characteristic of the Kingdom. A good measure of how much we are of the world is our internal resistance to self-sacrifice. How quick are we to demand a certain action by our leaders or take action on our own when we discern something wrong with the country or the church?

Father, give me the patience to depend and wait on you in the midst of the falleness of this world. Contain my impulse for action, but keep my ears open to your call to act when and how you command. Help me to develop a true security that can only come from knowing you as my loving and righteous Father. Amen.