Day 21 :: Holding Out For A Hero
“Take this man away! Release Barabas to us!”
Luke 23:18(13-25)
I know very little about the Batman movies, which should stop me from referencing them, but that has never stopped me before. I do seem to remember that one of their recurring themes is that Gotham keeps rejecting Batman as their hero because they don’t get who he is and what he is trying to do. Instead, they keep turning back to their old ‘tried and tested’ cops who don’t really know what they are doing and who never really help.
What idiots right? We’d never do that…
Although, that’s also what is happening in this passage in Luke. Jesus has been arrested and tried by Pilate, yet Pilate has found nothing wrong in him. Now the Roman Empire are not exactly known for their fairness or reluctance to spill blood, so the fact that Pilate wants to let Jesus go should be enough proof to the Jews that he’s done nothing wrong. That’s Pilate’s point in v15;
‘… clearly he has done nothing to deserve death…’
But the Jewish authorities have another take. They don’t get Jesus. They are awaiting a hero, but Jesus is not the type of hero they want. They want a warrior, someone to come and overthrow the Romans, a revolutionary. But Jesus doesn’t seem that bothered about the Romans, he seems more bothered about their own sin and hypocritical religion. That’s why they push for Barabbas, he is everything they want.
‘Release Barabbas to us! (He had been thrown in prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder).’(v18)
Interestingly, Barabbas can literally be translated ‘Son of father’, so what the crowd have here is a choice: which son do you want to lead you? The revolutionary son of the father who promises much but has always failed to deliver, or the humble son of God who seems intent on dying even though he doesn’t really deserve it.
Ultimately that is the choice we all have, isn’t it? Are we going to go along with the way of the world or are we going to follow the way of God? Will we look to the empty promises of worldly glory for hope, or will we find it in the humble, victorious, Son of God who knows our biggest problem truly is our own rebellion and sin.
Now obviously we aren’t as foolish as Gotham, and certainly not as blind as the crowd with Pilate. We’d never be so stupid to miss out on the hero we truly need right? Yet in reality, we do it every day. We keep going back to our ‘tried and tested’ ways to find hope even though they have never come through before and ultimately never will. It might be a substance, a feeling, a relationship. It could be a means of escape, or denial, or self-reliant effort. It’s often sinful things but it can also be good things we make god things. And every time we reject the hope of Christ for the way of this world we may as well be standing in the crowd before Pilate yelling ‘Crucify! Crucify him!’.
In the chaos it didn’t take long for Pilate to give up and give in. He went with the crowd and took the easy way out. Praise God that Jesus did the opposite! Jesus was indeed intent on facing death because he was intent on dying in the place of his people who all too often choose the world over choosing him. Because he did that even double minded rebels like us can have eternal hope.
So today let’s evaluate our lives and search out all the ways we are still looking for hope in the ‘tried and tested’ ways of this world that always fail. Let’s repent of them and trust the hero we truly need. He may often be misunderstood like Batman in Gotham, but when we know him, we know he alone did all that was needed to be done to give us the forgiveness and hope we really need.
Passages to read: Luke 23:13-25, Matthew 27:20-26, Mark 15:6-15, John 18:38b-40
A thought to remember: Jesus is the hope and hero we need.
A question to ask: What ways are we looking for hope in the world rather than Jesus?
A song to sing: Give Me Jesus