In our gospel reading for Good Friday, the gospel narrative comes to its dramatic and theological climax. The main characters have all been developed to the degree required by the story. There's Peter as the mostly clueless but relatively loyal flunkie, Judas as the slick, backstabbing thief, the religious leaders with their black hats and handlebar mustaches...and Jesus as the virtuous, compassionate, heroic Son of God. In our reading today, comes the CUSP – the time when each of these characters must make the CHOICE that will DEFINE them. And thankfully, the choice of the MAIN character, also defines US....
Some choices in life are painfully easy. Do you want to combine with a Case IH...or a John Deere? Do you want to cheer for the Oilers...or the Flames? Talk about no-brainers! But some choices in life are so difficult, there's even a separate category for those who have not yet made a choice – and that category is called ...agnostic. According to Mirriam-Webster, an agnostic is “one who is NOT COMMITTED to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God.” Not committed to a choice. But life frequently does not let you get away WITHOUT a choice. Can you say while driving down highway 13, “I am agnostic as to which lane I'm in?” Maybe for a while...until there is oncoming traffic. Can you say, “I am agnostic as to whether to accept your proposal of marriage?” For a while...until your potential partner gives up in frustration. Today, on Good Friday, Pontius Pilate offers a choice which must be made during the life of each one of us. Do you want Jesus, or do you want Barabbas?
The choice of Judas was clear in our gospel reading. Judas chose Barabbas out of spite, because of Jesus' tendency to get a swelled head, and claim perks for himself, like that time the woman from Bethany smeared him with a year's wages worth of ointment. Not only could that money have gone to the poor, some of it could have stayed behind in Judas' wallet.
Peter, and the other disciples, like the guy who ran away naked, chose Barabbas out of fear. Jesus upsets the powerful people in society, by proclaiming freedom and sowing discontent with the tyranny that makes the powerful people powerful. And these people are used to getting their own way, by force if necessary, so Peter chooses to save his own skin.
The religious leaders WERE the powerful people, and they chose Barabbas out of jealousy. Jesus was attracting many people to himself, and that threatened their sense of control of society. So they judged his legitimate claim to be the Messiah, as a criminal activity deserving a horrible death.
The crowds chose Barabbas out of a sense of disinformation. They had been taught from birth to look up to the religious leaders and show them respect, trusting their every word. And so, if the religious leaders had a problem with Jesus and thought he was dangerous, the people considered them incapable of lying or having evil motives, and they bought the full story. So when Pilate offers to release Jesus, the crowds yell back, “crucify him, we want Barabbas.”
WE join in with this cry for Barabbas, because we too, have the same reasons not to choose Jesus. For one thing, Jesus always seems to have his hand in our wallets. Money, money, money, it seems like half the new testament is all about money. You can't serve God AND wealth. Support foreign missions, give to the food bank, pay the pastor's salary, Canadian Lutheran World Relief – you name it, Jesus wants it. We want Barabbas!
And besides, if you truly take a stand with Jesus, there are powerful people in this world standing against you. The pornography industry, the gambling industry, the illegal drug industry, the prostitution industry, the abortion industry, and growing quickly in Canada, the assisted death industry – none of these want a strong and vocal church around, because Jesus speaks life against the death and destruction they sell. And violence is the Barabbas-approved way to keep annoying people quiet. Stick with the powerful, and stay safe. We want Barabbas!
And then there's the issue of control. Jesus wants all of it! He wants to guide every aspect of our lives, from what happens in the bedroom to what happens in the boardroom, from how we speak about people online, to how we speak about ourselves. He wants to influence not only our outward actions, but our inward ATTITUDES as well! We want Barabbas!
And there is a segment in our society of respected scholars and scientists, the hard atheist type, that claim religion – all religion - is inherently evil. Making claims that a truth can be absolute, as Jesus does, that just leads to arguments and fights and wars and human misery. It's dangerous to send your children to Sunday brainwashing School, they say. Agree only with what you can see and test in the lab. It's better to be tolerant, than to be right. And so we reply, we want Barabbas.
We choose Barabbas each time we encourage the concentration of power and the use of violence in our society. We choose Barabbas each time we scream about fake injustice, and sweep real injustice under the carpet. We choose Barabbas each time we are given an opportunity to introduce the gospel to someone who seems ready to hear it, and we refuse. We choose Barabbas, just like the crowds, just like Judas, just like Peter – just like every one of his disciples.