What ever happened to Barabbas?

Psalms 91:14
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”

Christ was protected by God, Barabbas wasn’t. Yet look what happened? Barabbas was set free, Christ was violently flogged, mocked, then he died slowly, painfully, as his lungs filled with fluid while he hung on the cross, nails driven through his body the only thing holding him in place. That just doesn’t sound right.

Taken out of context, it isn’t. How many times do we take the pain in our life out of context? Think for a second about the pain and trials you’re going through. Are they really that tough? Do they compare to what Christ went through for us (and I’m not taking about the physical pain, I’m talking about the pain of taking ALL of the world sin on him)? When we whine and complain about how bad things suck, are we being real?

The Lord says because we believe, because we love him, he will protect us, he will rescue us, he will be with us. The kicker is that we might not look at it this way in this moment. When we get the benefit of looking back though, we can see the wisdom of His consequences, we can see how the path we chose was not the path He wanted us to take. Correction: we can see the benefit if we turn our life and will over to Him, if we believe that He does have a better path for us, if we have faith that He’s a good God, if we trust in Him. If we don’t do that, we are stuck in the rut of our creation, the pity pot of woe is me, why do I have any trouble in my life, god sucks.

At the end of our days, we’ll know how much he loves us, we’ll know no pain, we’ll know the joy we want right now. Until then though, we are so far from perfect that we should gladly allow God to refine us, mold us, change us, move us closer to perfection.

Christ knew this as he died on the cross for our sins. Barabbas didn’t. How do you think it turned out in the end? Actually, Christ answered that for us on the cross. The thiefs (also noted as revolutionaries like Barabbas) made choices and the consequences are known.

The love and protection might not look like we want it to. The rescuing though, the salvation, certainly will. Which thief will you be like?

In His Name,
Micah 6:8
Matthew 25:31-46