Redemption

[AI translation] The apostle Paul once wrote to the church at Corinth, "For I am not finished, that I should know one among you, even Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Cor 2:3) Ever since, this has been at the heart of every Christian sermon: the gospel of the cross as the foundation of our whole Christian life. And on Good Friday, all our attention must be directed specifically to the centre itself, to the sacrifice of Jesus and, on that basis, to the majestic mystery we have come to call, in short, redemption. This story that I have just read is not only a part of the Passion story, not only a link in the chain of events that took place on that old Good Friday, but in this part the whole miracle of redemption is symbolically contained. Pilate releases the murderer condemned to death and pronounces the death sentence on the innocent. "He released Barabbas to them; and Jesus being scourged, he delivered him into their hands to be crucified," says our hymn. The fact of redemption is here represented in a kind of picture: the deliverance of sinful man at the cost of Christ's death. Yes: and what happens to Jesus? What should have happened to Barabbas. What was to have happened to that doomed villain is now all for Jesus. The suffering that awaits Barabbas will all be Jesus', the scourging of Barabbas will be Jesus', Jesus will be placed on Barabbas' cross: "And Jesus, having scourged him, delivered him into the hands of Jesus to be crucified." (Mt 27,26b)Can we even imagine the horror, the cruel misery that lies behind these words, "He delivered him into the hands"? He hands it over, throws it to them, throws it in front of them, like a piece of meat in a zoo for wild animals. Here! Food! Chop it up! I can almost see the rough soldier's arms reaching out to the victim, grabbing him, tearing off his clothes. And between their hands, Jesus, tortured and shamed, is writhing there, his back stripped of its plate, as he gnaws at the short whipping post. "Being scourged". You can almost hear the five-pronged, lead-tipped whip rustling in the air behind these words. Wherever they strike, skin is torn, flesh is torn to shreds, blood flows in torrents. Jesus can't last much longer. He crumbles, broken under the blows, and is like a piece of misery, a writhing worm, not a man. Yes, it's all in that word, "scourged". And this is only the prelude to the real misery. Kicking, shoving, shouting, they drag him off the ground. Don't die before your time! Dragged, driven through the streets of the holy city. Through the city gates, up Golgotha Hill. There they nail him by hand and foot to the rough beams. And there Jesus hangs helplessly on the gallows, among men spitting insults and mockery, and slowly dies. And bleeding... And all this horror is only the outward appearance of what these two words mean: scourged, ...to be crucified! Who can describe in human words the horror that these two words mean inside, spiritually? Anyone who would try to look into the true meaning of these two words would be looking into the very heart of God's punitive judgment of sin: he would see hell itself, damnation. And here all words are silenced. Here everything is darkened. As it was there on Calvary, when suddenly, in the middle of the day, darkness fell upon the world. Until at last, from this deathly embrace of darkness, a terrified cry, the like of which has never been heard on this earth, broke out: 'Eli, Eli, lama sabaktani? (Mt 27,46) There, on Calvary, Jesus fell into damnation. He descended into hell...
And all this was the hell that awaited Barabbas. It was for Barabbas. By human justice and by divine justice. It was what was waiting for Barabbas by right. That whipping post and that crossbeam. Into this dreadful judgment of God, Barabbas should have been submerged in justice. All these hellish torments Barabbas would have had to endure.
Behold, what a terrible price Jesus had to pay for Barabbas' deliverance! When Barabbas walks the streets of Jerusalem a free man on this day and can re-enter life, at the same time Jesus must carry the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, he must enter death. For Good Friday to be a day of life for Barabbas, it had to be a day of death for Jesus. Jesus had to walk the path of the murderous Barabbas, the vile evil man, from stage to stage, through the scourging to death on the cross. "Then he released Barabbas to them." Now that is the last thing this man expected and hoped for! Imagine him sitting there in prison. Arrested for sedition and murder. A hopeless case. No chance of release. The Roman authorities don't take much notice of such people. He's sitting in jail. A few more hours, maybe, and it's over. That's for sure. But it's so terrible! After all, life is the most precious thing! We instinctively cling to it. And it's so hard - especially when you're young and healthy - to let go. But we have to! The Roman authorities are insistent. Barabbas must die. First to be scourged, then to be crucified and die. Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, when he has had it with life, something happens that has never happened before: footsteps in the corridor, a key in the lock, the door opens, and a voice calls to the prisoner: "Barabbas! You are free! Someone else will die for you. You can go home! "Then he sent Barabbas away..." What could this mean for Barabbas? Who can tell me? What joy, laughter, poignant, happy experience it must be: to have your life back. Yes. Jesus has been handed over to be scourged and crucified, Barabbas is free to go, Barabbas is free... "Then he released Barabbas."
Whether this shocking experience had any spiritual meaning for Barabbas afterwards, I don't know. But I also don't know if the whole Good Friday and this Good Friday service means anything to you spiritually? In the Bible we read no more about Barabbas. We don't know if this man was converted later. But it is none of our business. I am not preaching here about the conversion of Barabbas, but about Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified. As the One who was crucified for Barabbas. And for Barabbas this was also the possibility of salvation. An unspeakable great opportunity. For without Jesus, Barabbas would have walked through the gates of death into eternal damnation in a matter of hours. Now that Jesus had been executed in his place, Barabbas would be free, free to live, free to see the sun, free to walk the streets of Jerusalem, free to start his whole life over again. In any case, for this man who had already been seized by death, the gates of life had also been reopened. If ever there was a reason for a man to look up to the cross of Jesus with great gratitude, it must have been, first of all, to this Barabbas. For by Jesus dying - he might live. A fatal exchange is taking place here: Jesus is condemned in place of Barabbas, the guilty, and Barabbas is acquitted in place of Jesus, the innocent.
Behold, my brethren: this is the miracle of redemption. This is the exchange of persons and roles. God has condemned Jesus instead of us. God Himself laid my iniquity and yours on Jesus, so He Himself agreed to the exchange that the people there proposed concerning Barabbas. Thus the sinner shall go free, for the righteous shall be condemned. Jesus takes your place, and in His place He puts you: He exchanges you, and it is by this intangible exchange that He accomplishes your redemption. Imagine the sublime scene when the jailer opens the cell door and shouts to the prisoner: "Barabbas, you are free! This is the good news I want to bring to you, wherever you come from, whatever the memory of your sins, God says: you are free! Someone else has died in your place. Yes, Good Friday, all that happened on this day, means that the living God, the righteous Judge, is proclaiming full amnesty for all, unconditionally. Not because someone asked for it or repented of their sins, but for Jesus. It is because Jesus died for sinners. Amnesty! This word today, courtesy of secular authority, has new meaning for so many people. Many an anxious heart leaps at the sound of it... - I wonder whose heart leaps when heavenly authority proclaims eternal amnesty? Look, Barabbas was free to believe this incredible good news as soon as it was brought to his attention. You too are free to believe it, now, immediately, without any conditions. You don't have to be worthy first, Barabbas wasn't worthy. In the full knowledge of your unworthiness, in the midst of the unresolved problems of your life, you receive the unexpected and unsolicited news: you are free! Christ died for you.
Do you know that this is such an infinitely great message from God that when one truly takes it to heart, one literally becomes a new man? He feels as if he has been given life as a gift again. And then one also feels that every minute, every part and every opportunity of this life is now really meant to be given to the one to whom it is due. For it is thanks to Him that I can live at all, that I can see the sun, that I can walk the streets freely. And that I can speak to God, ask for his blessing, count on his help, treat others in active love, whoever they may be, and look forward to death with the hope of eternal life. Yes, my brethren, the story of Barabbas is a stunning proclamation of the Word, and that is the point: Jesus died so that we might live through him! Oh, if only, on at least one of these Good Fridays, our souls would tremble at this miracle of salvation! But there is a condition for this, and that is to know ourselves in Barabbas. So that this word: sinner, may not be just a word for us, but a reality truly lived!
If you don't feel guilty, you have nothing to look for in Good Friday worship. Those who do not feel guilty should now ask themselves in all seriousness the same question that Pilate, in his great perplexity, asked himself: "What then shall I do with Jesus Christ?" (Mt 27,22b) For those who are not sinners, the whole scene at Golgotha is a scandal. There is room on Golgotha only for the condemned sinner, only for those who deserve the cross, only for those who are condemned. Good Friday is for sinners only. Only for such a person is it a gospel, a gospel of good news. For only such a man can appreciate that, lo, his place has been taken by another, his cross is hanging on another, the wounds of his life are bleeding for another, his death has been suffered by another. This is redemption: to live because Jesus died.
So dare to live in the world as a redeemed man! Often after a major operation, the doctor will say: the patient is cured, he can get out of bed and go home. The patient does not dare to obey, he thinks he cannot get up, he cannot even stand up. But if he obeys the order, he is amazed to see that he can do it: he has succeeded! Well, if you believe in Jesus, you are a saved man. And then dare to leave this temple healed now, dare to live according to His will, to obey Him, to lavish love, to work joy, comfort, peace among men. You will see that what you could not do before, you can do now! Think that you have been given the gift of all life again. For God "sent Barabbas" - that is, you - "and Jesus being scourged, gave him into their hands to be crucified."
Amen
Date: 12 April 1963 (Good Friday).