Who Do You Want Me to Release to You?

“Now at the festival he released to them one prisoner, whomever they requested. And the one called bar-Abbas was bound together with rebels, those who committed murder during the insurrection. And the crowd went up and began to request he act toward them as he usually did. And Pilate answered them, saying, ‘Do you wish that I might release to you the king of the Judeans?’ For he knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over through malice. But the chief priests agitated the crowds, so that he might instead release bar-Abbas to them.”

Jesus was Jewish.

Did you know that?

Of course you knew that!

And his name wasn’t Jesus, but you know that too, most of us do, but we often forget don’t we? His name was Yeshua bar-Yosef. But you knew that. You know Jesus wasn’t a Christian, he was a Jewish rabbi operating in a Jewish world occupied by a massive military power. Yea. Jesus was a traveling teacher of an established religious movement, preaching a new understanding within it and calling out a new way to live beyond it. In fact, he said so many things that it got him killed. But you knew that too. He disrupted the status quo of religious piety and it got him executed as an enemy of the state. Which brings us to Good Friday.

Good Friday is that time that comes around each year, where for those of us in the Christian tradition, we often reflect on the paradox of a God who turns evil and violence into life and peace. A God who takes something like a cross and turns into a symbolic act that ends violence as the means of getting our way. It is called Good Friday, yet we celebrate a bad thing. Recently, in preparing some thoughts and ideas for my youth group students, the name bar-Abbas stuck out to me in a new way. You know those Hebrew words. Bar - Son and Abbas - Father. Jesus uses that word to label a new way to relate to the God of Israel. Jesus is also called bar-Abbas - but the crowd makes a choice on whose way they want to follow. Do you want a bar-Abbas who is known by murder and insurrection? Or a bar-Abbas who quietly submits to the way of nonviolent resistance? Which bar-Abbas would you ask to be released? Which son of the Father is your life pointed towards? If we were honest, it is probably more often than not on the side of violence. On the side of hate. On the side of the oppressor. On the side of “I”. We often do not live on the side of peace. The side of compassion. The side of the oppressed. The side of “We”.

The story of the Christ resonates with a lot of people. One of those reasons is because we see in it a universal story about what it means to be human. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And this moment in the story is no different. We may read and reflect on it once a year, but it is a day to day decision on who we call out for. The insurrectionist or the innocent. And we may call the one we demand be released by the name Jesus, we may worship that figure at our churches, but it is not the Jesus that is hung on a cross to die. It is a Jesus that fits our desire to be the best. A Jesus that fits our desire to bulldoze through people who think differently than us. A Jesus made in the image of humans.

A Jesus who is selfish.

Aggressive.

Nationalistic.

Success Driven.

Domineering.

Imperial.

This Good Friday, would you reflect on who you often picture Jesus being? Is he your insurrectionist? Storming buildings to overthrow things? Is he the conquesting, strong, and unstoppable military figure? Does he take up arms and decide that is his way or no way? Or is he the quiet and humble servant of a God who represents the uncontrollable force of Love in a chaotic cosmos? Is he the one who responds to violence with healing, to injustice with reconciliation, to death with life?

This Good Friday, and every day, which bar-Abbas do you want released?

Which way do you take?

Grace and Peace.