Some biblical scholars
think that he was an important rebel leader
According to the gospels, it was customary for
the Romans to release a Jewish prisoner during the Passover festival.
The Roman governor Pontius Pilate tried to use
this custom as an excuse to release Jesus.
But a crowd in the courtyard demanded that a
prisoner named Barabbas be freed instead, and Pilate eventually gave in to the
pressure.
Thus Barabbas was released, and Jesus was
crucified.
In books and movies, Barabbas is usually
depicted as an evil criminal. But he may have actually been a freedom fighter
in the Jewish resistance to the Romans.
Evidence for this can be found at Mark 15:7,
which says that he was in prison because he had taken part in a recent
uprising.
In fact, some biblical scholars think that he
was an important rebel leader.
If so, this would explain why the crowd shouted
for his release, because any leader in the fight against the hated Romans would
be very popular with the common people.
But Jesus was also very popular with the common
people.
When he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he was
greeted by large excited crowds.
Many people believed that he was the
long-awaited Messiah, who with God's help would overthrow all oppressive rulers
and establish a new eternal Kingdom of God.
But if Jesus and Barabbas were both very
popular, why did the crowd call for Jesus to be crucified and Barabbas to be
released?
The likely explanation is that the crowd was
dominated by employees of the Jewish religious authorities.
Their servants and henchmen would have been in
the courtyard, and probably composed a significant part of the gathering there.
Also, because Jesus was arrested late at night
and brought before Pilate early the next morning, most of his followers
probably didn't know where he was, or what was happening to him.
And his closest followers had apparently gone
into hiding out of fear of arrest.
Thus the Jewish leaders could have told their
servants and henchmen to shout for Barabbas to be released, and the rest of the
crowd could have then joined in.
This explanation is supported by Mark 15:11,
which says that the "chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate
release Barabbas instead."
But why did the Jewish leaders want Jesus to die
instead of Barabbas?
The answer is that many of the common people
believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and this made him a threat to their authority.
The Mystery of Barabbas
The so-called "mystery of Barabbas" refers to some puzzling
similarities between the released prisoner and Jesus himself.
and a few other ancient sources, call the freed prisoner "Jesus
bar Abbas".
The name
Barabbas can be obtained from this by dropping the name "Jesus" and
changing "bar Abbas" to "Barabbas".
Furthermore, the
phrase "bar Abbas" can be translated as "son of the Father,"
which could possibly be applied to Jesus himself, since he sometimes used the
word "Abba" (father) in referring to God.
From this
evidence, many scholars have concluded that Barabbas' original name was
"Jesus bar Abbas".
Other evidence
indicates that this name was intentionally altered by later Christian writers.
One
well-documented case involves the scholar Origen, who reportedly promoted the
change for reverential reasons, because he didn't want the name "Jesus"
to be associated with a criminal.
Another
similarity between the two men relates to their possible roles as rebel
leaders. The gospel of Mark says that Barabbas had been imprisoned for taking
part in a revolt, and his popularity with the crowd suggests that he had been
one of its leaders.
But from the
viewpoint of the Romans, Jesus could have also appeared to be a rebel leader.
Many people were
calling him the Messiah, a title which implied that he would overthrow the
existing government.
He had a large
number of followers, many of whom might be easily swayed into taking part in a
revolt.
In fact, his
earlier attack on the temple merchants could be regarded as a
"mini-revolt".
Thus, both men
may have had the same name, and both of them could have appeared to be rebel
leaders, at least from the Romans' viewpoint.
These
similarities are known as the "mystery of Barabbas".
Some people
think that the similarities are too close to be accidental and have looked for
another way to explain them.
According to one
radical theory, in the original story Jesus himself was the imprisoned rebel
leader, and Barabbas is an invented "fictional duplicate" inserted
into the story to play that role instead.
The motive for
such a change would be to cover up the fact that Jesus had tried to organize a
revolt against the Romans and was crucified as a result.
But this theory
is mostly speculation, and its supporters have to resort to questionable
arguments to explain the details. For these reasons, most scholars are unconvinced.
In fact, Jesus
was a common name in ancient Palestine, and uprisings against the Romans took
place quite frequently.
Therefore it
shouldn't be surprising that a rebel leader with the same name as Jesus would
happen to be in Roman custody on the day of the crucifixion.
Note: The gospels
don't say what Barabbas did after he was released. But other ancient sources do
preserve some traditions about him. According to one tradition, on the day he
was released he went to Golgotha and watched Jesus die on the cross. Some
sources also say that he was later killed while taking part in another revolt
against the Romans.
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But He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our iniquities
The punishment that brought us peace
The punishment that brought us peace
Was upon Him
And by His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
Surely He took up our infirmities
And carried our sorrows
Yet we considered Him stricken by God
Smitten by Him and afflicted
But He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our iniquities
The punishment that brought us peace
The punishment that brought us peace
Was upon Him
And by His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His Wounds
CLICK HERE . . .
lyrics
Surely He took up our
infirmities
And carried our sorrows
Yet we considered Him stricken by God
Smitten by Him and afflicted
And carried our sorrows
Yet we considered Him stricken by God
Smitten by Him and afflicted
But He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our iniquities
The punishment that brought us peace
The punishment that brought us peace
Was upon Him
And by His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
Surely He took up our infirmities
And carried our sorrows
Yet we considered Him stricken by God
Smitten by Him and afflicted
But He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our iniquities
The punishment that brought us peace
The punishment that brought us peace
Was upon Him
And by His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
By His wounds we are healed
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