What would you do: when you are guilty as charged?

Pastor Meyer ’s Sermon

Lenten Service, Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I am Barabbas. You don’t know that much about me. You know that I was at the right place at the right time. I was charged with murder, insurrection and murder by the Roman guards. And I want each and every one of you to know that I deserved to die on that cross. I should have been on that cross because I was guilty as charged. I am a zealot, a patriotic zealot. I believe these Roman people should not be in our city. They should not be in our streets. And I was caught up in the wave, the wave of the revolt and the rebellion. I killed a man with my own hands and I was caught and I was tried and I was sentenced to death. And it when it comes to the Romans, there is no appeal. There is no hope for a hung jury. There is no hope for help. I was guilty as charged. It was a just sentence. I deserved what I got. I should be on that cross.

Have you ever felt that way when you’re standing before your friends and before your family and they can look right through you? They look right through you and they can tell. Even a naive person can tell. There’s no use. There’s no use at all in coming up with an excuse or coming up with an alibi because you’re guilty as charged and you know it. And there was a sense, a sense here that I represent every criminal that had ever done anything wrong and who deserved punishment. The prisons are all full of Barabbases like me. Your streets are full of Barabbases like me.

But there is a greater sense here, a larger sense. I represent each and every one of you as I stand before God’s justice. His commandments say to have no other gods and I represent each and every one of you who puts God low on your priority list. His commandments say you shall not steal and I represent those who cheat on their exams, on their tests, who cheat in business deals. God’s law says you should not bear false witness and I am like each and every one of you who has hurt a friend, a relative, a neighbor because of careless gossip. I also represent those who do not follow God’s command that you shall not covet. I represent those who think they can honor God and money at the same time, those who think it’s okay to look at someone’s possessions and wish it was theirs. Before God’s justice, I represent each and every one of you and we are guilty as charged. I should be on that cross.

But I was pardoned. No, it wasn’t anything I did. It wasn’t that I had money to pay the Governor. It wasn’t the influential people who maybe had gotten me out of this. No, I was pardoned. I deserved to die. I was ready to die. But I didn’t die because, you see, I was in the right place at the right time with the right person, Jesus of Nazareth. There was a tradition that had been attached to the annual Passover. It was done to try to appease us Jews so we wouldn’t revolt, we’d feel like we’d have some control. But we were able to choose a prisoner of Rome and they were pardoned and they were released. They were freed. So Pontius Pilate gave a choice. He gave Jesus or me, Barabbas. And the crowd shouted out, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.” They weren’t talking about me. They were talking about Jesus. They wanted me free. Can you imagine? I was chosen over Jesus.

Has that ever happened in your life when you have had to make the choice in your life? Did you choose Jesus and everything His name and everything His reputation means in your life? Or did you choose me, Barabbas, and everything I stand for? Did you go the way of the crowd and reject Jesus and His way and go the Barabbas way, my way? It doesn’t really matter what happened to me whether, after I was released, I went back to the life I did before I went to prison or maybe I had followed Jesus to the cross to watch Him die in my place. No, it doesn’t matter. But it does matter that not only do I represent you and your guilt as being guilty as charged, but I also represent you in my pardon. Even though I was guilty as charged, Jesus still went to the cross in my place. Even though we are guilty as charged, He died for us. And because He died for us, we are freed of these chains.

So tonight you have a choice. Do you choose Barabbas and his chains and everything he stands for? Or do you choose to allow Jesus to work in your life and have true freedom? Whatever you do, don’t make the wrong choice.