We Are Barabbas
John 18:28–40,
Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
Over the last five weeks we’ve looked at historical examples of how God’s word changes a life, and today, as we get back into the Gospel of John, I want you to know that God’s life-changing power is still at work.
And in this moment of our worship, as we open God’s word together, we are consecrating ourselves to hear from him. In our liturgy, that’s why we call this moment of preaching Consecration. We are submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit, and we are asking God to speak to us through the Scriptures. And he does! In times like this, God is at work.
In fact, this morning there are three truths in our passage that are chocked full of life-changing power, and that’s what I wanna show you. In our passage, I want to show you three truths about Jesus that could change your life … and I’ll go ahead and tell you what they are …
The Kingdom Jesus Leads
The Purpose Jesus Fulfills
The Place Jesus Took
The plan this morning is to see each of these truths in the text, and why they matter.
1. The Kingdom Jesus Leads
We could spend a whole sermon just on this point, but let’s pick up in verse 33.
Remember, Jesus has been arrested in the Garden, and he’s been put on trial, first with the Jewish leaders, and then now, as of the early morning on Good Friday, he’s been sent to Pilate, the Gentile leader in that area. And starting in verse 33, there’s a dialogue between Jesus and Pilate.
Pilate first asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Now we should assume that’s what the Jewish leaders told Pilate. They told Pilate that Jesus was claiming to be the King of the Jews, and that’s the so-called evil they mentioned in verse 30. And this was a classic move of manipulation.
They needed to tell Pilate something that would get his attention and make him see Jesus as a threat to his own leadership. If they had told Pilate that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, or the Son of God, that wouldn’t bother Pilate, because he was Roman (that would have been just a Jewish theological dispute). But to say that Jesus is a King, that could pose a problem for Pilate.
So Pilate says to Jesus, “Are you a King?”
But Jesus doesn’t play the game. He turns the tables and asks Pilate if he’s going by what the Jewish leaders have said, or if he himself really wants to know. Pilate basically says he doesn’t really care, but it’s obvious to him that these Jewish leaders hate Jesus, so he’s curious. He wants to know: What have you done? What has Jesus done to make these Jewish leaders want to kill him?
And this is when Jesus tells us something really important about his kingdom, verse 36:
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Now I should tell you right away that sometimes this can be misunderstood. So I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean first. Jesus’s kingdom (or his kingship) not being of the world, or from the world, does not mean that it has nothing to do with the world.
This does not mean that the scope of Jesus’s reign is only in heaven and therefore it should not have any influence on our world today. (Remember Jesus teaches us to pray for his kingdom to come!) We want his influence!
But instead, when Jesus says that his kingdom is not from this world, he’s saying that his kingdom, (his kingship, his right to reign) does not have its source from this world. Nothing in or of this world makes Jesus king. Here is not where he gets his authority, so then, where does he get his authority?
He tells us in the Great Commission. He says “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” — and that is, given to him by God the Father!
The Father has exalted Jesus as King, with a kingdom. Jesus’s kingdom is not from this world and therefore it’s not established by means of this world.
That’s why his servants, his disciples, don’t fight with worldly weapons — weapons like physical force or deceit or manipulation or even a democratic vote. Whatever humans might do to establish human authorities, Jesus does not need us to do any of those things for him to be the King of his kingdom. Because his kingdom is not from here.
Why It Matters
And this has really important implications for how we live in this world and how we engage the culture. Here’s one …
Because Jesus is the King that he is, it means that we as Christians should have uncompromising confidence as we seek the good of our cities and communities.
This means we are involved in civic life. We are engaged! And in a democratic republic, we vote! And we vote our Christian values! And we seek Christian influence for the common good! We pursue what is good, true, and beautiful for the glory of God.
And at the same time, we don’t act like civilization itself is hanging in the balance and it’s all up to us. We know that whatever happens in November — if we get the worst-case scenario — even then, Jesus is still King, and our calling as his people remains the same, without compromise.
We still make him known! We still seek the good of these cities!
Jesus is King, and his kingdom that we’re a part of, is not from this world. So we carry on with uncompromising confidence.
The second truth to see in this passage is …
2. The Purpose Jesus Fulfills
This is in verse 37, and it’s just straightforward from Jesus. Pilate sees now that Jesus is not a typical king, and Jesus explains more, verse 37:
“You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Jesus is direct about his purpose. He says the purpose for which he came into the world is to bear witness to the truth. And notice that this purpose is connected to his kingship. It’s not super clear in the ESV translation, but Jesus is saying:
Yes, Pilate, you’re correct in calling me a King, and in fact, the purpose for why I came is to bear witness to the truth.
Jesus is saying more about the nature of Jesus’s kingship. It’s a kingship of truth. He is the king of truth.
He is the truth — just like he told us in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” That means that Jesus is the definitive revelation of God.
Jesus is God’s own self-disclosure, and he’s the highest, most absolute standard for what is most real. He’s Ultimate Reality. That’s why he came — to tell us the truth about God and us and about God’s salvation. He came to be that light in our darkness.
And look, this is the case in the grandest, most cosmic sense, and it’s the case in the smallest, most situational sense. This purpose that Jesus fulfills matters in your details.
Why It Matters
Have you ever been in a situation before when things have gone sideways? They get super convoluted, and you sort of lose your handle on what to do next? You ever been there?
It could be a moment of real pain and loss, or even just a moment of confusion and setback. But whatever it is, you can feel overwhelmed because things are not going how you think they should go, and you feel stuck.
I’ve been there too many times this year. And there was one moment in the spring that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was in a pastors’ meeting. It was late one night, and we had been working through various things, and it was like we just came to the foot of this mountain and we didn’t know how to climb it.
And if you’ve been there before, you’re on the verge of despair and you just wanna be somewhere else. And in that moment, we as pastors, unplanned, we just bowed our heads and started praying, and we asked Jesus to come and pastor us.
And he did. … He pastored me. … And he reminded me that he came to bear witness to the truth. He came to be the light. Jesus is the way forward.
And this is something, with the Spirit’s help, we can learn to ask for any time. There’s a simple prayer here we can learn to pray, and I’ve talked about this before, but when you’re in a hard spot, when you’re stuck, you can simply pray:
Lord Jesus, you see everything, what do you think?
That simple prayer: Jesus, what do you think?
And you’re not looking for Jesus to audibly answer you in that moment, but the question itself reorients us to remember what is ultimate, and it sends us to the Bible, where we have the testimony of Jesus and his truth.
This is where we go if we’re of the truth. We remember to think about all things with Jesus at the center. What does he think? What does he say?
Jesus said the purpose for which he came was to bear witness to the truth. The truth is what he’s about. The truth is who he is. And we want that reality to shine in our moments of darkness.
Here’s a third life-changing truth about Jesus in this passage … We’ve seen the kingdom Jesus leads, and the purpose Jesus fulfills, and now here’s …
3. The Place Jesus Took
So Pilate is cynical in verse 38. He mocks what Jesus says about truth, which shows that he’s not of the truth. Allegiances are being clarified. Pilate is not loyal to Jesus. Truth is standing right in front of him and he doesn’t see it. But, he also says he finds no guilt in Jesus. That’s a fascinating place to be: he doesn’t believe in Jesus, but he also doesn’t think Jesus is bad.
That’s the way a lot of people think in positions of power. They don’t worship Jesus, but they also don’t dislike him, so they try to use him. And Pilate here, tries to use Jesus to appease the Jewish leaders. He starts by saying Jesus is innocent, and on that grounds alone, Jesus should be released. (He’s not guilty of evil like the Jewish leaders said in verse 30.)
But rather than release him, Pilate makes it a choice of the people. Apparently, there was a custom at Passover when the Roman authorities would release a Jewish person in Roman custody. So Pilate asks the people, “Do you want me to release Jesus?”
And immediately they say No — “Not this man, but Barabbas!”
And John tells us at the end of verse 40: “Now Barabbas was a robber.”
Okay, so now we’ve come to one of the most ironic moments in this Gospel, and in the event of Jesus’s crucifixion. There are layers of irony going on here. I’ll mention four:
First, there is the irony of timing.
John is deliberate to tell us twice in this passage that it’s Passover. He says it in verse 28 and in verse 39. The Passover is when the Jews celebrated their deliverance from Egypt. Remember, the LORD passed through Egypt in judgment, striking the firstborn of every family, unless you had the blood of the Passover Lamb on your door. If God saw the blood, he would pass over that house (see Exodus 12:12–13, 23). And so the story of that blood, and that deliverance, is remembered in this Passover season.
Second, there is the irony of innocence.
Notice that in verse 39, Pilate says plainly: “I find no guilt in him” — that means Jesus is innocent. Then in verse 40, John tells us that Barabbas was a “robber” — and that word for “robber” can mean a revolutionary or insurrectionist. In fact, Mark 15 and Luke 23 tell us that Barabbas was involved in an insurrection against Rome, and he had committed murder (see Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19).
Which means, not only was Barabbas guilty and Jesus innocent, but Barabbas was guilty of the very thing Jesus said was unlike his kingship — Barabbas used worldly weapons to threaten Rome. Jesus didn’t. He’s innocent. See the contrast?
Third, there is the irony of naming.
John tells us that this man’s name is Barabbas. And that kind of name is what’s called a patra-nymic (or “name of the father”). We have these names today — it’s names that have the word “son” in them — like Peterson (son of Peter), or Johnson (son of John), or Anderson (son of Andrew). These names are very common. Barabbas is the same way. The word “bar” in Aramaic means “son.” And the word “Abba” means father.
The name Barabbas means “son of the father.”
So get this: we have to imagine Barabbas and Jesus standing side by side. There is a son of the father, Barabbas, and then there is the Son of the Father, Jesus. And this is important because in John’s Gospel we’ve seen over and over again that Jesus has been telling us he is the Son sent by the Father.
He came from the Father, he reveals the Father, and he came to bring us back to the Father. And here, at the very moment when the true Son of the Father stands before this crowd, there is this other man who merely goes by that name. It’s gut-wrenching … because of who they choose.
Fourth, there is the irony of choice.
And all the other ironies culminate here. John is so clear about what’s happening. The Jewish crowd is choosing Barabbas instead of Jesus.
We see this in the language: they say, “Not this man, but Barabbas!”
Not this one, but that one. They’re doing a swap. Do you see it?
They’re saying:
Don’t let the innocent man go free, but free the guilty.
Don’t release the Son of the Father, but release a son of a father.
And it’s in this season of Passover! At Passover they condemn the innocent Son of God in the place of the guilty sinner. This almost unbearable injustice. It’s outrageous that this would happen! Somebody do something! Pilate, c’mon, you can’t just let them say, “Not this man, but Barabbas”! You can’t just let Jesus take his place! But then you realize … we are Barabbas.
And long before anybody said “Not this one, but that one,” Jesus had said, “Not them, but me.”
Just like nobody takes Jesus’s life from him, but he lays it down on his own accord, nobody forces Jesus to take any place. This is a place Jesus himself took. That’s why he came. That’s the kind of King he is, one who lays down his life to save his people. And this morning, he will save you if you would trust him.
Maybe you’re here and you’re brand-new to Jesus — Or maybe you’ve been involved in church for a long time but have just never taken that step of faith — Or maybe you’re here and you’re barely hanging on and you’re about to walk away — wherever you’re coming from, I hope you see the kind of King he is!
He takes the place of sinners! He is the innocent Son of God who willingly gave himself for the guilty, so that the guilty can go free. And that’s the only condition you need in order to come to him — you just gotta be a sinner who wants to be free.
If that’s you, trust Christ this morning. Put your faith in him. And brothers and sisters who have trusted him, let’s rejoice in him and in these life-changing truths — remember the kingdom he leads, the purpose he fulfills, and our place that he took.
That’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
At this Table, we eat the bread and drink the cup to remember the death of Jesus for us. We rest in Jesus! We rest in his cross and resurrection, and we give him thanks.
And so, if you’re here and you have put your faith in Jesus, we invite you to enjoy this meal with us, and let’s worship Jesus together.
