December 9, 2023 – Does the Bible Say…?

“Does the Bible really say they released a murderer instead of Jesus?”

 “After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.” John 18:38-40

“Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” Luke 23:18-21

Barabbas is mentioned in all four of the Gospels in the New Testament. He is named as either a prisoner or a criminal – even a murderer. As the story goes, he was scheduled for crucifixion, but was chosen by the crowd to be pardoned as was the custom of Pontius Pilate during the feast of the Passover. The name Barabbas appears nowhere else in the New Testament. Neither do any of the gospels give any information about his life after his release. According to the early biblical scholar Origen and some other commentators, the full name of Barabbas may have been Jesus Barabbas, since Jesus was a common first name. Therefore the crowd was presented with a choice between two people named Jesus…..isn’t that ironic?

Some biblical scholars have raised the issue of some puzzling similarities between the released prisoner and Jesus himself. The most striking similarity concerns their names. Some ancient Syriac copies of Matthew, and a few other ancient sources, call the freed prisoner “Jesus bar Abbas”. The name Barabbas can be a derivation that comes from dropping the name “Jesus” and changing “bar Abbas” to “Barabbas”. Furthermore, the phrase “bar Abbas” can be translated as “son of the Father”, which could possibly be applied to Jesus himself, since he sometimes used the word “Abba” (father) in referring to G-d.

Another similarity between the two men relates to their possible roles as rebel leaders. The gospel of Mark says that Barabbas had been imprisoned for taking part in a revolt, and his popularity with the crowd suggests that he had been one of its leaders. It is also safe to say that the Romans viewed Jesus as a rebel leader. Many people were calling him the Messiah, a title which implied that he would overthrow the existing government. He had a large number of followers, many of whom might be easily swayed into taking part in a revolt. In fact when Jesus overturned the temple merchants tables during the Festival of the Passover we can see they would consider this a “mini-revolt”. Thus, both men may have had the same name, and both of them could have been considered by the Roman government to be insurrectionists.

We often see crowds today who get whipped into a frenzy who commit atrocious deeds: in particular the January 6, 2021 attack on the capital in Washington D.C. and the recent abominations of the leaders of Hamas who killed and/or also mutilated the bodies of 31 U.S. citizens, 39 French citizens, at least 34 Thai nationals, and Asian workers. Perhaps we can understand even if just to a small degree how emotions can lead people to do unspeakable deeds.

Pastor Dave