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| Essential 100 -- Give us Barabbas | | Date Created: Apr 12, 2005, 06:27 AM |
67 — Tuesday April 12 — John 18
Give us Barabbas. The crowd is not fickle. They have not turned from the ideals that had them making that palm-leaf red carpet at the triumphal entry. They want a leader, relevant to the needs of their generation. If Jesus is it, then they shower Jesus with Hosannas. But when he is meek before his captors, it's clear that he's not it and we turn to someone who still might be. Barabbas is relevant; Barabbas addresses the glaring need of the society and does so head on. Jesus is closeted up with Pilate talking about theology and other worlds. He can’t even defend himself, how will he defend us? Give us Barabbas.
So with people today. We hold our measure of usefulness against Jesus and the gospel. When we think he fits what we want, great. But when it becomes clear that his ways are not our ways -- don't fit with the ideas we have -- should we conform to him or expect the right spiritual leader to conform to us, to our felt needs, to what God "obviously" would want to do in our situation?
Give us Barabbas and "relevance" any day. |
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