BOOK 6. THE DEATH.
CHAPTER 2.
6.2.3. Of Christ and Barabbas compared, and of the question debated betwixt Pilate and the Jews.
Of Christ and Barabbas compared, and of the question debated betwixt Pilate and the Jews.
About eight in the morning our Saviour Christ is returned to Pilate, who propounded to the Jews, whether they would have Jesus or Barabbas let loose unto them. "Ye have a custom (said he) that I should release unto you one at the passover, will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas: Now Barabbas was a robber," John xviii. 39, 40. It is supposed, that in this passage Pilate endeavoured Christ's liberty, "he knew, that for envy they had delivered him," Matt, xxvii. 18. And he saw that Herod had sent him back again uncondemned, and therefore now, he propounds this medium, to rescue him from their malice, "Who will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ?" In the prosecution of this passage, I shall observe, 1. Who this Barabbas was. 2. What is the difference betwixt him and Christ. 3. How they vote. 4. Pilate's query upon the vote. 5. Their answer to his query. 6. His reply unto their answer. 7. Their reduplication upon his reply.
1. For the first, what was this Barabbas, but a notable prisoner? Matt, xxvii. 16. "One that had made insurrection, and who had committed murder in the insurrection?" Mark xv. 7. "One that for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison," Luke xxiii. 16. One that was a robber, or an high-way thief, John xviii. 40. One that was the greatest malefactor of his time, And must he be taken, and Jesus cast? Must he be saved, and Christ condemned?
2. For the second, what the difference is betwixt him and Christ, let us weigh them in the balance, and we may find,
(a). Barabbas was a thief, and by violence took away the bread of the needy, but Christ was a feeder and supplier of their needs.
(b). Barabbas was an highway thief, wounding them that travelled by the way, but Christ was the good Samaritan that healed such, binding up their wounds, and pouring into them wine and oil.
(c). Barabbas was a murderer, and had slain the living, but Christ was the Saviour, restoring life unto the dead.
(d). Barabbas was a seditious tumult raiser, he made a certain sedition in Jerusalem, but Christ was a royal tribute payer, and his commands were, "Give unto Caesar, the things that are Caesar's."
(e). Barabbas was a bloody revenger, a man of blood, that hunted after blood, but Christ was of a meek and quiet spirit, and what with sweating, binding, buffeting, bleeding, was now become almost a bloodless Redeemer: light and darkness have not less fellowship, Christ and Belial no lesser discord; here is a competition indeed, the author of sedition, with the Prince of peace; a murderous mutineer, with a merciful Mediator; the son of Belial, with the Son of God.
3. For their votes, they gave them in thus; "Not this man, but Barabbas," John xviii. 40. q.d. "Let us have him crucified, who raised the dead, and him released who destroyed the living: let the Saviour of the world be condemned to death, and the slayer of men be released from prison, and have his pardon." (Aug. trac. 15, in Johan. Leo. Serm. de Pass.) A strange vote, to desire the wolf before the lamb, the noxious and violent before the righteous and innocent; here was the prophetic parable of Jotham fulfilled. "The trees of the forest have chosen the bramble, and refused the vine," Judg. ix. 14. But there is something more observable in this vote; the Jews had a custom not to name what they held accursed; "I will not make mention of their names within my lips," Psal. xvi. 5, and surely this speaks their spite, that they would not vouchsafe to speak the name of Jesus: the cry is not thus, "Not Jesus but Barabbas;" but thus, "Not this man, not this fellow, but Barabbas," as if they meant first to murder his name, and then his person.
4. For Pilate's query upon the vote, "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" Matth. xxvii. 22. Pilate gives him his name to the full, "Jesus who is called Christ; his name is Jesus Christ." There is more pity in a Gentile Pilate, than in all the Jews; in some things Pilate did justly, and very well; as first, he would not condemn him before his accusations were brought in, nor then neither, before he was convicted of some capital crime, because he perceives, that it Was envy all along, that drove on their design, he endeavours to save his life by balancing him with Barabbas; and now he sees that they prefer Barabbas before Jesus, he puts forth the question, "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" q.d. I know not what to do with him, it is against my light to condemn him to death, who is of innocent life: I could tell what to do with Barabbas, for he is a thief, a mutineer, a murderer, a notable malefactor: but there is no such a thing proven against Jesus, who is called Christ, "What then shall I do with him?"
5. For their answer to this query, "and they all said unto him, let him be crucified," Matt, xxvii. 22. This was the first time that they spake openly their design, it had long lurked within them, that he must die a cursed death; and now their envy bursts, and breaks out with unanimous consent, and cry, "Let him be crucified." O wonderful! Must no other deaths stint their malice, but the cross? Other deaths they had in practice, as the towel, stoning, and beheading, more favourable and suitable to their nation; and will they now pollute a Jew with a Roman death? Magna Crudelitas (Beda.), etc. a great cruelty; "They sought not only to kill him, but to crucify him, that so he might die a lingering death." The cross was a gradual and slow death, it spun out pain into a long thread, and therefore they make choice of it, as they made choice of Jesus; let him die, rather than Barabbas, and let him die that death of the cross, rather than any other speedy, quick, dispatching death.
6. For Pilate's reply unto their answer, "Why, what evil hath he done?" Matt, xxvii. 23. He was loth to satisfy their demands, and. therefore he questions again, "What must he die for?" Was it meet that he should condemn one to death, and especially to such a death, and no crime committed? "Come on (saith Pilate) what evil hath he done?" Augustine (Aug. tract. 15. super Joh.) upon these words, "ask, (saith he,) and let them answer with whom he conversed most, let the possessed who were freed; the sick and languishing who were healed, the leprous who were cleansed, the deaf that hear, the dumb that speak, the dead that were raised, let them answer the question. What evil hath he done?" Sometimes the Jews themselves could say, "He hath done all these things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak," Mark vii. 37. Surely he had done all things well, he stilled the winds, and calmed the seas, with the spittle of his mouth he cured the blind, he raised the dead, he prayed all night, he gave grace, and he forgave sins, and by his death he merited for his saints everlasting life; why then should he die, that hath done all things well? No wonder if Pilate object against these malicious ones, "What evil hath he done?"
7. For their reduplication on his reply, "They cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified," ibid. Instead of proving some evil against him, "they cried out the more!" as Luke, "they were instant with loud voices," Luke xxiii. 23. they made such a clamour, that the earth rang with it, the cry was doubled and redoubled, "Crucify him, crucify him" twice crucify him, as if they thought one cross too little for him. O inconstant favour of men! their anthems of Hosanna, and Benedictus not long since joyfully spoken, are now turned into jarring hideous notes, "Let him be crucified," And now is Pilate threatened into another opinion, they require his judgment, and the voices of them, and of "the chief priests prevailed," verse 23. so it follows, and when "he saw he could prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was made," Matt, xxvii. 24. why then Barabbas is released unto them, and Jesus is delivered to be scourged.
I would not dwell too long on Pilate, the high priests, and the Jews, the application is the life of all. Now then,
Use.
1. Give me leave to look amongst ourselves, is there not some or other amongst us, that prefer Barabbas before Jesus? O yes! Those that listen to that old mutinous murderer in his seditious temptations, those that reject the blessed motions of God's own Spirit, in his tenders and offers of grace, those that embrace the world, with its pleasures and profits, and make them their portion; all these, choose Barabbas, and reject Jesus Christ; little do we think, that every wilful act of sin is a sedition, a mutiny against our souls, another Judas Galileus that stirs up all the passions of our mind against our Jesus. I cannot but think what drawing and soliciting of our souls is made by virtue and vice in our passage towards that other world; on the one hand stands vice, with all her false deceits and flatteries, her temptations are strong, "Come let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures, as in youth, let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of the spring pass by us, let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered, let none of us go without his part of jollity, let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place, for this is our portion, and our lot is this," Wisd. ii. 6, 7, S, 9. On the other hand stands virtue, or grace, with all the promises of future happiness, she points at Jesus, and cries, "O come unto Christ and live; wisdom is better than rubies, her fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and her revenue than choice silver; they that love Christ shall inherit substance, and he will fill them with treasures, even with with durable riches," Prov. viii. 11, 18, 19. But oh! how many thousands, and ten thousands neglect this cry, and follow vice? What millions of men are there in the world that prefer Barabbas before Jesus? If we proclaim it in our pulpits, that "Christ is the chiefest of ten thousands, that he is fairer than all the children of men, that he is the standard-bearer, and there is none like to him:" That if you will but have Jesus Christ, you need no more, yet do not many of you say in your hearts as Pilate here, "What shall I do with Jesus that is called Christ?" Or as the devils said elsewhere, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of God?" Nay, hath not many times the secret grudgings of your reluctant souls accounted the gracious offers of speedy repentance, to be but as a coming of Christ to torment you before your time? Why, alas! what is this now, but to prefer Barabbas before Jesus? You that swear as the devil bids, and as Christ forbids; you that profane Sabbaths, that revel, that drink to excess, or it may be to drunkenness, surely your vote goes along with the Jews, "Not this man, but Barabbas."
2. Give me leave to look on the love and mercy of God in Christ; our Jesus was not only content to take our nature upon him, but to be compared with the greatest malefactor of those times; and by public sentence, yea, votes and voices of the people, to be pronounced a greater delinquent, and much more worthy of death than wicked Barabbas. O the love of Christ! We read in Lev. xiv. 4, 5, 6, 7, that in the days of the cleansing of the leper, the priest was to take two birds, (or two sparrows) alive, and the one of them must be killed, and the other being kept alive, must only be dipped in the blood of the bird that was slain; and so it must be let loose into the open field. Barabbas, say some, but all believers, say we, are that live sparrow, and Jesus Christ is the sparrow that was slain, the lot fell upon him to die for us, all our sins were laid upon his soul; so that in this sense Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner in the world, yea, a greater sinner than Barabbas himself; and therefore he must die, and we being dipped in the blood of Christ, must be let loose and set at liberty! Was not this love? He died that we might live; it was the voice of God as well as men, "Release Barabbas, every believing Barabbas, and crucify Jesus."
Another hour is gone, let us make a stand for a while; and the next time we meet, we shall see farther sufferings.