Jesus, Barabbas, and Pilate
I am continuing my sharing with you what I am learning from the Lenten study 24 Hours That Changed The World by Adam Hamilton.
How does the death of Jesus bring about our salvation?
ATONEMENT:
Hamilton makes a play on words:
“the at-one-ment of God and humankind, our reconciliation with God through Jesus’ death on the cross.”
The substitutionary theory of Atonement teaches that Jesus suffered and died as a substitute for humankind. He experienced the punishment we all deserved for our sins and offers us grace and pardon.
Hamilton summarizes:
“Every one of us has sinned, and in our sin we have been alienated from God. Justice calls for punishment for the collective weight of that sin; the Bible says that ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Romans 6:23) and eternal separation from God. But God,…does not desire us to be eternally separated. God wishes us to receive grace. An ordinary person could not die for all humankind; but Jesus, being God in the flesh; could die for the sins of the whole world. He paid a price he did not owe, giving us a grace we did not deserve.”
This really come into focus when we have done something so horrible and our shame is so huge that we know there is no way we could save ourselves.
Hamilton concludes:
“We are meant to look at the cross and see both God’s grace and love and the costliness of grace and to find our hearts changed by what God has done for us. We are meant, as a result of understanding that cost, to serve God with humble gratitude, and to long, as we see Jesus suffer, never to sin again. And yet of course, we will sin again and call again upon the grace of God revealed on the cross. Like Barabbas, we walk away free because of the suffering of an innocent man.”
So which character do you see yourself in: someone in the crowd, Barabbas, or Pilate? The crowd chose Barabbas because they wanted physical strength, military might and lower taxes over the path of peace through sacrificial love.
Hamilton describes someone who resonates with Pilate:
“As adults, we feel it in a variety of ways–in our desire for acceptance, in our fear of ridicule and rejection. Our inability to think for ourselves leaves us silent when we should speak, leaves us doing or supporting things we know are wrong.”
We all should examine ourselves to see if we are like the crowd, Barabbas, Pilate or a follower of Jesus?
To be continued…
Image courtesy of: paukrus