Imagining Barabas
Mark 15:1-11
Was Jesus Barabas real?
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so." Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you." But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed. Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. - Mark 15:1-11
All four Gospels mention Barabbas, the violent man released by Pilate during the Passover Festival, but did he really exist?
While there is no record of a Roman tradition of releasing a prisoner during the Passover, it was a tradition in Jewish oral law to show this type of leniency.
So, perhaps this story of a man whose name is also Jesus, and whose surname means "son of the father," is a construct to show the contrast between the good and bad Jesus.
It makes for great cinema, as we may recall from Anthony Quinn's portrayal in Richard Fleischer's 1961 film. It imagines what kind of life the freed man might have had after being released.
We love to imagine such things and wrap them in story to be remembered for all time.
Now, I am not saying this swapping of prisoners did not happen. It very well may have, given how popular the story was. What I am saying is that the stories fuel our imagination.
We are living in a time when truth has become subjective and personal. Everyone has his or her own truth, or so we say, and that changes our definition of the word.
Jesus came to show us the way to truth and love, not as a variety of flavors but as a single, powerful reality.
God is love, and love is everything. But that doesn't mean that stories aren't real. Jesus told stories to help us see the truth that he said we were too blind to see. So, imagining Barabas is not necessarily a bad thing.
What would a man chosen to replace Jesus be like?
How would he live with himself when he realizes what just happened?
These are questions for all of us. We are here because Jesus chose to die on the cross for us.
We can argue what that means and whether it is true another day. For today, let us consider what our lives would be like if he hadn't done that.
More to come...