Were you there? Is that what you were singing? Yes, I was there, all right. I had no choice in the matter. I was locked up in that lousy, stinking hole that they called a prison. I didn’t think that there was any chance that I would ever get out of there alive. The Romans had been after me for some time. Once they got their hands on me and threw me down into that dungeon, I thought for sure that my days were numbered. Those stone walls were mighty thick, and the guards kept a close watch on me.

They liked to taunt me, too. "Hey, Barabbas," they used to say, "Son of the Father! How does it feel to be trapped like a rat?" "Son of the Father!" Did you know that’s what Barabbas means? It may sound like a joke - me, a murderer, robber, and rebel, with that name, Son of the Father? I doubt that God thought of me as his son. I guess I didn’t think of him much as my Father, either. Come to think of it, I hadn’t given much thought to God at all for a while. Yet, something was working in my favor. When I heard the crowd chanting, "We want Barabbas, we want Barabbas," I was mighty glad to be considered the people’s choice. But later I wondered, had it been a chance of providence?

What do you think? I knew how the odds were all stacked up against me. Do you know what the score is in your life? Do you see how you were there, too? You know, you don’t have to be a criminal like me to be guilty before God. Sin is sin in his sight. In that respect all people in church - in fact, all people everywhere - are guilty and deserve God’s punishment. Maybe you’ve never killed someone else like I did. But the Bible tells you, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer." Are you innocent? Maybe you haven’t plundered other people’s possessions, or plotted to overthrow the government, but the Bible says, "Whoever keeps the whole law, and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all."

You may not have been thrown into jail like I was, but does that mean you’ve always obeyed the laws of your land - even the traffic regulations? You may have been surprised that a chracter like me should be named Barabbas, "Son of the Father." But you take the name "Christians." Do you always think and live and talk like followers of Jesus, or act like Jesus Christ himself?

Let me tell you, even though you don’t have a criminal record and (compared to mine) your sins may not seem serious, there is one point at which we are all very much alike. I told you that I was there, locked up in that prison, with no chance to escape. Well, you may think that you are free, but as sinners, you are locked up as much as I was. You may not be facing execution for your crimes, but you stand under the judgment of death because of sin. And, there’s not a thing that you can do about it, not by yourself. But just as I was set free when Jesus was sentenced to death, now you can find freedom from the guilt you have and deliverance from the death you deserve, by trusting in him. He can make you free because he alone, of all human beings, is pure and holy. He is the only one who never lied, or cheated, or did wrong. Like the scapegoat that was sent out into the wilderness, after the priest in Old Testament times would lay his hands on the head of that animal and confess the sins of the people on it, so Jesus went out in my place and yours. I went free, but he went out, bearing my sins and yours, to his death on the Cross.

Talk about the chance of providence! But was it just a chance? Was it some lucky providence that favored me and sent Jesus to his death? No, I do not believe that. You see, there was some maneuvering going on between Pontius Pilate and the leaders of the people. He knew that those Jewish leaders had brought Jesus to him out of envy. Pilate heard their accusations that Jesus was a troublemaker who stirred up the people and told them not to pay taxes. Ha! That might have been true about me, but it was not true about Jesus. And Pilate saw through it all. He knew that Jesus was innocent. I was there. I heard him tell the crowd, "This Jesus has done nothing worthy of death." But they kept on grumbling, and started to make an uproar, so then Pilate tried a different approach.

In those days it was the custom at the Feast of the Passover that the Roman Governor would set free one of the people who had been imprisoned. Some say the custom was to remind them how God, many centuries earlier, had freed the Children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. At any rate, Pilate ordered the guards to bring me up out of my cell. At first, I didn’t realize what was happening. For all I knew, I was walking my last mile. Then Pilate placed me beside Jesus - me, the rough, blood-guilty murderer - and Jesus, the Man from Nazareth, the one who had helped and healed and inspired so many people, the one who spoke with such authority that many said he was a prophet!

Then it dawned on me what Pilate was doing, and I was mad and afraid. I didn’t think that it was fair at all, to put me beside Jesus. I didn’t think I had a prayer of a chance. I guess maybe Pilate thought so, too. But let me tell you what a surprise we had. When Pilate asked the crowd, "Which of these two do you want me to release for you?" they all shouted out, "Away with Jesus. Give us Barabbas." I could hardly believe my ears. Pilate was shocked, too, I guess. He had not expected that. Then he asked, "What shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?" They all hollered out, "Let him be crucified." And Pilate said ... I can recall it as if it were happening now ... "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified." And that’s how it was. I was there. I was the people’s choice. I went free. Jesus went to be crucified.

But let me ask you now, have you ever wondered why they made such a choice? For the same reason, I suppose, that many people today choose what is evil, and reject what is good. As I think back over my life, I can see how I did that myself a few times. In fact, to be honest, it didn’t stop with a few times. No, once you give in to sin, it makes you a slave. Once you turn away from what you know is right, it’s very easy to keep on slipping deeper and deeper, until you are in such a rut that you can’t get out.

Haven’t you ever felt that way yourself? How is it with you? Be honest now. God knows, I’ve tried to be honest with you. And you have to be honest with God. You can’t fool him, that’s for sure! If you think you are faithful to Jesus Christ but keep on compromising the principles of Christianity, you are deceiving yourselves. Maybe you’re not as bad as the mob that shouted, "Give us Barabbas." But when you go along with the ways of the world, even when you know it’s wrong, you are as guilty as that crowd that stood before Pontius Pilate. You may wonder how they could have shouted, "Let Jesus be crucified." But when you give God only a fraction of the portion you ought to offer him, be it in money offerings, or time, or just daily obedience, then you are saying, just as they did, "Away with Jesus. Give us Barabbas!" The big difference is that those people didn’t try to hide their contempt for Jesus. They rejected him openly. But you - you call him your Savior; you say he is your Lord; but how much room do you give him to rule in your life? How much do you really want to be set free from the power of sin?

You know, the suffering and death of Jesus won’t mean much to you at all, until you see that he was there, as your substitute, taking the punishment that you deserved. If it had not been for him, I know I never would have gotten out of that prison alive. No, the only way it could have happened, was just the way it did happen. I, the guilty one, was set free. He, the innocent one, was condemned to death. Before I got caught and thrown into that dungeon, I used to feel that I could do just about anything that I made up my mind to do. So my life of crime went from robbery, to rebellion, to murder. But once the law caught up with me, I was trapped. The gang that I had been with didn’t have the brains or the power to free me. I didn’t have a coin to bribe the guards and buy my way out. If I had promised Pilate that I would become a new person, he would have laughed. But, when the people chose me and demanded that Jesus be crucified, that did it. Maybe it was a chance of providence. Maybe God was smiling on me even though I surely didn’t deserve it. But whatever it was, I was glad to get out.

Maybe that raises a question in your minds. Did it mean anything to me that Jesus suffered the death that I deserved? I’m not surprised if that’s what you’re thinking. Many others have wondered about that. Was I thankful to be free? Of course! Only a fool would have wanted to stay in that prison. But, was I, myself, thankful to Jesus? Did I appreciate his death, or believe in him as my Savior? Is that what you would like to know? Let me answer that with another question. What do you think I would have done? The Bible really doesn’t say and so I’m not going to give you a definite answer, either. But, how would you have felt if you had been in my place? In fact, how do you feel about Jesus Christ now? That’s a question that you can, and need, to answer. You see what Jesus has done for you. Do you trust in him, and love and thank him, that he took your place and died for your sins, to give you new freedom and eternal life? You were all prisoners, too, remember, prisoners of sin, doomed to eternal death. What could you have ever done, or hoped to do, to escape the final judgment of God and the prison of hell if Jesus Christ had not taken your place? I’ll tell you - not a thing!

But if you know that he did do that for you, and if you say that you do believe in him, let me ask you one thing more: What are you doing for him, now? Yes, it really matters not so much that I was there. What counts now is that you are here, here in this world, and that this Jesus of Nazareth, who went to the Cross for me and for you, does say to you, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." In a world still filled with crime and loveless behavior, you still have opportunities to go back out into the world, and be a witness for truth and justice. In all the Bible there is no further record of me. What will be the record of your life as you go back to your job, or to your neighborhood, or to your school tomorrow? Will you be part of the crowd that still cries out, "Away with Jesus, let him be crucified"? Or will you turn to him in repentance for the failures and sins of your past life and ask him to set you free, free from the guilt and from the power of sin, so that you can and will live for him now?

Remember, I was there. I, Barabbas, whose name means "Son of the Father"? At that point I certainly had not been living as his child. But then, I was set free. Jesus took your place to set you free, too, free from sin’s power, free from the fear of God’s judgment. You have taken the name "Christian." What does that mean for you? May your life be such a joyful witness to the Savior that when others see you, they will never say, "Give us Barabbas." No, from your example of faith, may others be prompted to say, "Let us have Jesus." Amen