Choosing Barabbas
Today, Michael is talking about choices. Choices can fall into many categories: really important or seemingly trivial. Every time we make a choice, it can impact our lives. And choices shape character and destiny; one choice at a time.
In today’s lesson, two men were sentenced to death, and someone got to choose between two men; one got to be freed and one executed. A group of religious leaders, a crowd of people, and a government official get to choose. “Choices shape character and destiny; choose Jesus” is our core thought for today.
Religious leaders have captured Jesus and put him through a mockery of a trial, but they were not allowed to execute him without the approval of the Romans, which is why they brought him to Pontius Pilate. Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea during that time, not a super popular fellow, but Pilate at this time was much more interested in keeping the peace. So the Sanhedrin wanted Pilate’s cooperation, and Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” and Jesus answered, “It is as you say.”
Pilate knew the charges were wrong but could not get Jesus to answer his queries, so he went with another tact. Pilate asked, “Do you want me to release to you, the king of the Jews?”. A Roman strategy in those days was to release prisoners to build cooperation with the Jews. Barabbas, at that time, was a prisoner and a popular hero of the time. This allowed Pilate to offer the crowd and the religious leaders a choice between a popular hero and a suffering servant.
But the crowd and the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus crucified and loudly proclaimed it. So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas and delivered Jesus to be crucified.
The religious leaders chose Barabbas because they wanted to keep control.
Do not blindly follow any human leader, ever. Choose Jesus and follow HIS example!
(CSB Bible Notes) 15:2 Pilate focused on whether Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews. Clearly the Sanhedrin’s condemnation based on blasphemy (14:64) had turned into charges of sedition and treason. This is the first use of this title in Mark’s Gospel, but Pilate repeatedly used it (15:2,9,12,26; cp. v. 32). The words recall the quest of the wise men at Jesus’s birth (Mt 2:2). Jesus’s reply, you say so, can be understood as either noncommittal or as an acknowledgment, but not as a denial.
Today’s verses can be found in Mark 15: 1 - 15.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Good morning. Welcome to the gathering of recreate church. If you like those songs, Isabelle picked them. Good job, Isabelle. It's always better when I let the kids pick the songs on when it's Sunday to lead worship. I think I don't know. They're cool. They're cool and I'm a little boring and that's okay. That's day. They good. Yeah. I'm so glad to see you guys. I hope your week has has been a week that you've sensed the presence of the Lord. That doesn't mean it was an easy week for some of our folks in our church hymns of very hard week. But the Lord is with you through everything. Those who went to the ladies craft night, that seemed to be fun. I saw the crafts. That look really good. The men who came to the men's fellowship, that was fun. I got to talk smack tube by a 15 year old playing pool. I told him up front, I said, you know, I'm not really good at playing pool. I wish it was. It seems like the thing I wish it could be good at. So I'm not good at it. And partway through the match, he said, you know, you're right. You're really bad at this. But I beat him. So it was so much fun. It was a lot of fun. We appreciate the hudge hosting. So I want to talk to you about choices today. Choice all the cookout. Let's talk about the cookout first. Yeah, we are planning a cookout for August 11th at the Carter Pines Park. Do you know where that is? That is the Wellness Center picnic shelter. That's that's what that is. But it's actually Carter Pines Park. But it's it's not affiliated with the Wellness Center, I don't think. So so there's that. Okay, August 11 to write that down. And there's a sign up sheet in the back. Burgers, dogs, condiments, and drinks will be provided. Paper goods too. Okay, paper goods too. So think about side dishes, desserts, stuff like that. Okay, stuff like that. All right. Good. We're good now. Now remembered. Now you can put up the title slide. Because now I've remembered. Today we're talking about choices every single day. We make choices. Most of our choices are pretty small, inconsequential. In the moment, they're not that good. They're not that bad. It's just kind of like, okay, what am I gonna have for breakfast today? Then what shirt am I gonna wear? Whatever. But every time we make a choice, it does become a part of a of a pattern and influences our next choice. And it impacts the big decisions of our lives choices, shape, character, and destiny. One choice at a time. Spencer Haywood is a name you would know if you were into old school NBA. Spencer Haywood was a Olympic gold medalist in basketball. And he was a major basketball star in the 1970s. He was the youngest person to ever make the Olympic basketball team at the time. And he successfully fought the NBA to allow younger players to join the league. At that time, you had to be out of high school four years before you could declare for the draft. And then they took away that entirely. So LeBron James needs to go find this guy and shake his hand because he went straight from high school. And I think it's now you have to do like one year. You have to be out one year. So in the early 70s, this guy's a major star and there's a startup shoe company that has just begun and and it is catering to athletics and they really want to make some basketball shoes. So they approached Spencer Haywood to endorse their shoe. And they gave him two options as to compensation. They said we'll give you a flat fee of $100,000 or we'll give you a 10% stake in the company. He talked it over with his agent and he went with the $100,000. Now that's about $750,000 in today's money. That's a lot of money. Did he make a good decision? Of course, new companies fail all the time. There was no guarantee that this shoe company was going to last. It might have been it might have folded within a few years and then he would have nothing. And $750,000 is a lot of money. You could buy like seven pounds of beef jerky with that. Have you bought beef jerky lately? Yeah, me neither because it's too expensive. Why is beef jerky so expensive? It's dried cow meat. I don't get it. So he did take the money but did he make the right decision? What if I told you that the shoe company in question was Nike and 10% stake in Nike today is worth about $11 billion. So Spencer Haywood's been kicking himself for 50 plus years. But as he is a millionaire, I don't think he feels the sting of it like you or I would. The decision we're talking about today though had much higher stakes. There were two men who were sentenced to death. They're going to die. Two of them. And the opportunity has arose to release one of these men. And someone gets to choose between the two men. One of them gets set free and the other one gets executed. The choice is in the hands of three different groups, really ultimately in the hands of one man, the final say. There was a group of religious leaders. There was a crowd of people and then there was a government official. All three made the same choice. They all chose the same man. At 2,000 years later we're still talking about it. We're in Mark 15 versus 1 through 15. And we're going to see that our choices reflect our values and they shape our character and destiny. If you want a life of meaning and joy that lasts, choose Jesus. So that's kind of the core idea here. I think I've got a core idea statement. I always try to give you all that every week. Choices shape character and destiny. So choose Jesus. That's what this message is about. Choices shape character and destiny. Choose Jesus. Let's get started with a verse and then we'll pray. Immediately in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and they bound Jesus, led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Heavenly Father, Lord, help us to understand the implications of this choice these people made and help us to learn from it in a way that that we choose differently. In Jesus' name, amen. So the religious leaders have captured Jesus. They have put him through a mockery of a trial. They have convicted him. They have found him guilty. They want to execute him, but they weren't allowed to carry out an execution without the approval and the cooperation of the Romans. That's why they brought him to Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate is one of the very few white dudes in the whole Bible. You know, sometimes critics of Christianity have said, "Oh, it's white man's religion." There's like three white dudes in the whole thing. So calm down, guys. You know, this, he was a Pilate. Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea and he ruled the region during the ministry of Jesus. The people that he ruled were almost entirely Jewish and he really spent the first few years ticking off the Jewish people in different ways. Maybe he did it on purpose. Maybe he just wasn't aware, but he brought in banners, military banners with the face of Tiberius Caesar on them and they did not like that because they did not believe in an image. They considered it idolatry. He took money out of the temple treasury to build an aqueduct. That's gonna take people off for sure. He brought in a bunch of shields engraved with the name of Caesar. They didn't like that either. So the people were always on the verge of rebellion those first few years that Pontius Pilate was in charge. But he kind of settled down after that and figured it out. By the time of the trial of Jesus, which is about halfway through his tenure, Pilate was much more interested in keeping the peace. He had made kind of a connection or a friends with the Sadducees, which were the ruling party of the Sanhedrin, the the Jewish High Council, and both of them were pretty power hungry. So they made a good pair. They came to Jesus to Pilate wanting Jesus' cooperation in wanting Pilate's cooperation in getting rid of Jesus. So I'm going to read some more scriptures and maybe reset my brain, which doesn't seem to work and at the moment. Verse 2, "Pilate asked him, him being Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?" He answered and said to him, "It is as you say." And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. Then Pilate asked him again saying, "Do you answer nothing? See how many things they testify against you." But Jesus still answered nothing. So Pilate marveled. "Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked because that was the one act, that was the accusation that the Jewish leaders brought to him. Anybody who claimed to be a king that was not under the authority of the Romans was a threat to the Roman government, and they hoped the Romans would take him out because he was a threat to their power. This is the one accusation that Jesus answered because it is the only one that had a grain of truth to it because Jesus really is the rightful king, not just of the Jews, but of the whole universe. Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior sent to God, first to the Jews, then to the whole world. Jesus was on trial because the religious elite rejected him as the Messiah, not because he had not proven that he was the Messiah, but because he was a threat to their power. Folks, we get a long history in this world of religion being used as a power grab and as a manipulation. That is not at all what Jesus is about. Jesus disrupted the religious power structure in favor of an organic relationship with God, and that's why they hated him and that's why they wanted him dead because he took out the middleman between people and God. The religious elites brought him many of accusations. They were false. Jesus did not answer him. He was not going to give him the satisfaction of arguing or pleading. So Pilate knew that the charges against Jesus were wrong or false. They were motivated by envy. So he tries to reason with them, with the crowd and with the leaders and give them a way out, verse five, six rather, verse six. Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels. They had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude crying allowed began to ask him to do justice. He had always done for them, but Pilate answered them saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" For he knew the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. There was a tradition during the Passover celebration for the ruler to release a prisoner, probably a Roman strategy to build a little goodwill and to keep the peace. And given Pilate's troubled history with the Jews, he most likely thought it was a good idea to pull this out right now. Say, "Hey, how about I release somebody? Maybe we could release Jesus." A bit of background. The Romans didn't just imprison people that we would all recognize as bad guys. You see, the Jews who were ruled by the Romans, they did not like the Romans at all. Imagine if in this country Japan and Germany had won World War II and we were ruled by a foreign power. How upsetting would that be? We would be mad all the time for generations. We'd be ready to fight. That's the way they felt about it. So anybody who stood up to the Romans was considered a hero even if they were otherwise pretty rotten people, even if they weren't good guys normally. If they stood up to the Romans, they were viewed as a hero. So understand that this Barabbas that we're talking about, I know most of the movies and stuff make him look super sketchy and and maybe he was, but to some people he was a hero because he was a freedom fighter against Rome. However he was a freedom fighter against Rome who had done some pretty bad things. He's called a thief and he's called a murderer in the scriptures. In contrast to the innocence of Jesus, Barabbas had actually committed the crimes for which he was receiving the death penalty. So they have a choice before them. Barabbas or Jesus, whichever one they choose will go free. The other will die. Who will they choose? Will they choose the Prince of Peace or the convicted killer, the criminal or the king, the one who laid down his life or the one who took lives, verse 11. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. Now there must have been some people in the crowd who knew this was wrong, who knew Jesus was wrongfully accused. Some must have been ready to release him, but the religious leaders stirred up the crowd against him and they were swayed. It was mob mentality. I hate mob mentality. It drives me nuts. They chose rebellion and violence over peace and sacrificial love. They were morally and spiritually blind. They rejected Jesus in favor of going along with the crowd. They rejected the Savior, sent to them. Pilate still knows they've made the wrong decision. He tries to talk them out of it again, verse 12. Pilate answered and said to them, "What then do you want me to do with him who you call the king of the Jews?" So they cried out again, crucify him. Then Pilate said, "Why what evil is he done?" They didn't answer the question. They crowd out again all the more. Crucify him. So Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd. Ooh, I don't like that. Wanting to gratify the crowd. Released Barabbas to them and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged him to be crucified. The mob demanded crucifixion. Crucifixion was not a punishment that people used all the time. There were Romans used all the time. It was reserved for the worst criminals. The people who the Romans wanted to make an example out of, a spectacle out of, they would hang them to die in a public place. Sometimes it would take days. Jesus was only on the cross for six hours, which is a very short time for crucifixion, partly because he didn't just get killed. He gave up his life. We'll get to that. That's in a future message. But imagine if you found out what crimes someone did that got them hung on a pole in a public place until they died, you probably wouldn't do that crime. Don't do crimes in general, okay? Don't do crimes. Can we disagree that we're going to try not to do crimes? Thanks. Thank you. Unless it's criminal to be handsome and then Duncan, you're going to jail. We all going to jail then. If good-looking is a crime, we all going. They'll never let you out, sweetheart, my wife. That's quarter point. There we go. Check brownie points. Write that down. See, their message from the religious elites was clear. If you mess with our power, you're going to be crucified. We'll make an example of you. So the religious elites wanted to choose Barabbas and they influenced the crowd to choose Barabbas and together they influenced Pilate to choose Barabbas, even though he knew it was wrong. Choices shaped character and destiny. What do these choices say about the people who made them? What about the religious elites? More than anyone, these folks should have understood and embraced Jesus. They knew the prophecies about the Messiah. They knew His purpose. They should have seen right away who He was and were like, "All right, finally, finally the Lord has sent the Messiah." But they refused Him because they liked things the way they were. Because the way things were gave them the power. They gave them the influence. Jesus come along and He disrupted the religious system that they were using to have power to abuse and control people. The religious leaders chose Barabbas because they valued earthly power and authority over everything else. They chose earthly advantage over Jesus. They were happy enough to manipulate people into rejecting Jesus. And they go down in history as the people most responsible for the death of Jesus, these leaders. Please understand not everybody who wears clerical robes or stands on a platform delivering a message has the right motives or is legitimately a believer. Not everybody who calls himself a preacher, a pastor, a priest or what have you really knows Jesus. So you've always got to understand away what they say against the actual Word of God. That goes from me too. Whatever I say needs to be weighed against the Word of God because sometimes I might get it wrong. The Bible is right. If I'm saying something that's not lining up with the Bible then I'm wrong and the Bible's right. And I want to say if you've ever been manipulated or used or mistreated by people in a position of religious authority, understand that Jesus experienced the same thing. Jesus is not for that. Not every, well I'm going to say right now, a whole lot of what people say that that is negative about "the church" kind of as a big thing was people not acting like Jesus. People who claim to represent Jesus who do not act like Jesus. So understand people get hurt very badly in church environments but it almost never happens when the people who do in a hurtner act like Jesus got to follow Jesus. Look things have not changed so much since those days. The people who have the power are still focused on keeping their power and getting more power. We think that we're immune to manipulation but we are wrong. We have to be very careful. Choices shape destiny. Choices shape character. I want to say this loud and clear. Do not blindly follow any human leader ever. Whether they're religious or political or otherwise, even a guy like me, I don't blindly follow a leader and certainly don't emulate the ways of someone who's power hungry. Choose Jesus. Follow his example. He's the king of the universe yet he laid down his life for all of us. Jesus will not manipulate you. He will not lead you astray. No king but the king of kings. Amen. Then there's the crowd. The crowd should have known better really. The crowd had seen his miracles. Crowds of people followed Jesus ever where he went. They were excited about him. They had heard his teaching. Some of them, we don't know this for sure, but some of them might have been the same crowd that when Jesus came into town riding on the donkey. They were shouting, "Hosanna, Hosanna." Probably there was a little overlap. We can't prove that but probably some of these people were excited about him coming and now they're yelling crucify him. Why did they choose Barabbas after all they've seen? Why did they choose Barabbas? Some of them had to have known better. Why did they choose Barabbas? Why did most of us choose the wrong thing when we're part of the big group and the big group is choosing the wrong thing? They caved into pressure from their leaders and from the larger group. They surrendered their personal moral responsibility. They let others speak for them in matters of right and wrong and an innocent man was condemned to a horrible death. Jesus came to save them but they wouldn't save him. Please hear this. Young people, old people if we had any, we don't have any old people here. We're just young. Middle-aged people, everybody listen to this. Do not let the culture make your moral decisions. That has, do not go blindly along with the crowd. That's always been a problem. That's not new. That is not new. All of us were teenagers once, unless you're not a teenager yet. We all know what it's like to be influenced the wrong way and frankly adults can be your influence the wrong way too. It's always been a problem but it's worse in an age of social media and constant news coverage where a public opinion can be swayed and people follow whatever is popular without stopping to think about it. It's so funny. People like to hate on things they don't even know. Like I don't know, why is it cool to hate on Nickelback? Those guys are all right man. They're not like, you know, they're not Led Zeppelin. They're not the Beatles. Give them a break man. Why do people hate on Nickelback? Olive Garden. People hate on Olive Garden. It's cool to hate on stuff like Olive Garden. It's, it ain't, you know, it's not authentic Italian but what do you want? It's unlimited breadsticks. Chill out and eat the breadsticks. Sometimes it's cool to hate on stuff and it's still that way today and maybe I could be accused of hating some stuff too but please understand that it, the stakes are much higher when it comes to spiritual things and you need to be seeking the Lord and making your own moral decisions. You do not need to go blindly along with whatever group that you find yourself in. Your accountability before God will be on your choices alone. Do not throw away your God given conscience for the sake of going along with whatever's happening around you. In a culture that rejects truth and peace and mercy. I love this. There's only one way left to rebel. There used to be like ways to rebel like back in the day, like motorcycles and tattoos is rebellion and whatever like, come on, that's not rebellion anymore. There's lots of people at motor sites and whatever. It's, those things are fine. The only like rebellion that's left is living for God. That's like the only rebellion that's left. Everything else is like, you know, so live for God. You can ride your motorcycles. You get your tattoos. That's cool. I don't care. But live for God. If you really, really want to be a rebel, live for God. Then there's Pontius Pilate. Did Pilate know Jesus was innocent? He said so a couple of times. He urged them to choose Jesus to set free but in the end who did Pilate choose? He chose Barabbas as well. He could have stood up to the crowd. He could have stood up to the leaders but he didn't. He was worried about an uprising and he allowed history's greatest injustice. And then get this. One of the other gospel writers tell us that he had had his servants bring him a basin of water and in front of the crowd he methodically washed his hands and he says, I'm innocent of this man's blood. You see to it. So Pilate washed his hands but the stain of blood was still there. For the sake of short-term peace he allowed the Prince of Peace to die. The gospel of John gives us a little more insight into this story, the conversation between Pilate and Jesus. John 18 37 and 38. Pilate therefore said to him, are you a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, for this cause I've come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice and Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he had said this he went out again to the Jews and said, I find no fault in him at all. And yet he let him die. Pilate gave that famous line, what is truth? Do you think Pilate was like asking serious like serious questions like, hmm, what is truth? Could you define truth for me Jesus? No. It's a rhetorical question. He's like, ah, what's truth? Truth to Pilate was whatever worked at the moment. So Pilate chose to compromise the truth. He refused accountability. He said, I don't have any you guys go ahead if you want but it was ultimately his decision then he chose Barabbas too. We must not compromise what is right. We must not go along with injustice because it's easier than making waves. We will not be able to wash our hands before God. The only way to be clean before God is through Jesus, through Jesus. Every day we make choices, choices shaped character, choices shaped destiny. If you want a life of meaning and joy, choose Jesus. Choose Jesus. So the hard question for you and I is what, what are our choices say about our character? What are our choices say about our destiny? How are our choices shaping us? The world around us is going to pressure us to choose Barabbas over Jesus, figuratively speaking. To go along with the crowd instead of having the courage to stand alone, to stay quiet about injustice, to compromise truth for short-term gain, to dodge accountability for our decisions, to seek earthly gain over eternal peace to choose conformity over righteousness. Don't choose Barabbas and everything he represents. Choose Jesus. Live for Jesus every moment if nobody else does. Will you have the courage to do that in your home, in your workplace, in your school, in the community, on social media? Will you choose Jesus over Barabbas every time? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you. We praise you. May we be people who choose Jesus even when it's difficult, even when it's costly, even when we stand alone. Lord, we pray that you might awaken us to the truth of Jesus and we might be revived. Lord, awaken your people to turn to you. Our nation needs it, Lord. Our nation needs revival and it must must start in the house of God. And may it start in us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys for being part of this. Lord willing, we'll we'll keep on in the gospel of the market. We'll eventually get it finished up. God bless you. I hope you have a great week.
