Give us Barrabas!

Easter Sunday was yesterday and it was such a joyous day! A wonderful time for rejoicing and celebrating what Jesus did for those who believe and will believe in Him. Christians around the world gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Easter is also a day filled with much tradition and religious activity. Much like the days when Jesus walked the Earth, there were those who were so blinded by their religious pride that they could not believe nor bring themselves to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. Matthew 27: 16-23 is an example of the depths of this unbelief. Men who thought they were doing their religious duty actually gave up the Messiah to be crucified. This is what religious activity will do to a person. Pilate had asked the Jews if they wanted Jesus, who had done nothing wrong in Pilate's eyes, to be released or if they wanted the notorious murderer Barrabas released to them. They cried out with such passion that they wanted the murderer released to them. Then with great zeal they shouted for Jesus to be crucified.

It has always boggled my mind to think of the Jews and their religious leaders who cried for a murder. These devout Jews crucified the Messiah. The sad fact of the matter is that we continue to crucify the Savior to this very day. Everyday we have choices to make and often times people will ask for Barrabas. How incredible! We prefer a murderer in our midst. I believe that when people today would willfully choose to have Barrabas over Christ, they are worse than the Pharisee's of Jesus' day. We have thousands of years of Christian history, we have the apostle's acts, we have Pauls' letters. All of these things are there for us to know that Jesus is the Messiah.

As I stated, Easter is a joyous day yet I found myself troubled as I sat in church. I looked around at people that we rarely see and it gave me such an un-easy feeling. People show up to church twice a year and feel like everything is okay. They feel that they and God are just fine and dandy because they came to church on Easter Sunday. How far from the truth. We today have a form of religion. We are becoming just like the Pharisee's. We can't follow Jesus because He asks of more that two Sunday's a year. He asks for our life! I ask you to ponder this today. Do you want Jesus or would you have Barrabas?