Good News Monday

This weekend Pastor Lucas took a little break from our study of 1 John to set the scene for Easter. His sermon was out of Luke 23:13-25 in which the people choose to let go of Barabbas, the murderer, and crucify Jesus.

Many times we are like the people who chose Barabbas over Jesus. So why do we choose Barabbas?

Lack of wisdom
Spinach or chocolate? This was the illustration Pastor Lucas used on Sunday morning. He passed around a bag of Spinach and asked us to take some. Some people did (I certainly didn't). Yes, we all know that spinach is good for us but it isn't really appetizing. The second time around, Lucas offered us chocolate and almost everyone made sure to take one. We know chocolate has very little nutritional value however we still wanted it. It tastes good and temporarily satisfies our craving. How many times does this happen in our own spiritual life when we choose to log into Facebook rather than spend time in the word.

Lack of faith
Another reason we choose Barabbas is because we lack faith. We give God a deadline to answer our prayers and when we don't hear back from him, we decide to stop praying or take things into our own hands.

Can you imagine how Noah felt when God told him to build the arc? Lucas pointed out that before the flood it had never even rained and not only that but Noah waited over 100 years for rain. Noah's faith was persistent and patient. In my drive thru, fast food, immediate gratification lifestyle waiting two years for God to answer a prayer has felt like an eternity. It wasn't until I was sitting in the second row this past Sunday afternoon listening to the words from my husband's mouth, that I really understood faith.

So why did God choose Barabbas? Well, because we are all like Barabbas. The bible says in Romans 3:23 that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." No matter how good we've been we can never be good enough.

Around Passover, as was custom, the Romans would release one prisoner. On this particular day, the person that was next to Jesus was Barabbas and he was the one the people chose to set free. Interestingly enough Barabbas in Aramaic can be translated to "Son of the Father". Bar (son) + Abba (Father) = Son of the Father. It was no coincidence that God chose Barabbas. Jesus paid the penalty so that Barabbas (you and me) could be called sons and daughters of God.