\u2018those who pick up the sword will die by it,\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>or a savior who invites you to take up arms against the world\u2019s villains- which one would you choose?<\/p>\nIf you had a choice: between a savior who promises you a better life and the end of suffering, or a savior who promises you a life of cross-bearing- which one would it be?<\/p>\n
Who would you bet on?
\nA savior who refuses to be a victim, or a savior who refuses to be anything but?
\nA savior who promises to liberate the poor or a savior who becomes poor?
\nWhich one?
\nA savior who promises to turn the clock back to the time you were most happy, or a<\/p>\n
savior who speaks of a future where everything is new and unfamiliar and turned upside down?<\/p>\n
Which one would you choose? Which one really?<\/p>\n
I have a friend; he likes to think of himself as something of a prophet, an activist, an agitator. He\u2019s the sort of guy who can string together words like proletariat, bourgeois and globalization and do so with a straight face.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the kind of guy who\u2019s always talking about the Revolution coming.<\/p>\n
In terms of appearance, he is equal parts Che Guevara, Rob Reiner and a leprechaun. He\u2019s the kind of righteously angry activist that in earlier generations would\u2019ve been called a hippie, a bohemian, a Red. Today, you\u2019d just say he\u2019s a coffee-shop kind of guy, MoveOn.org\/Occupy Wall Street kind of guy.<\/p>\n
He likes to hang out in eccentric coffee shops and smokey, out-of-the-way pubs, and between sips and drags- and with his balding white head wrapped up in some sort of scarf- he likes to talk about the Revolution coming.<\/p>\n
About the poor rising up. About leaders being ousted.
\nAbout the system being taken back.
\nYou all have friends like this too, right?
\nEvery conversation with him is the same. At first you\u2019re impressed by the authors he can quote, by his grasp of issues and by his diversity of knowledge. And always at some later point in the conversation you start to wonder exactly what newspapers this guy reads and exactly what\u2019s in that cup he\u2019s drinking from? What\u2019s he smoking?<\/p>\n
He\u2019s eccentric. But once you know him his perspective is easy to understand. He does humanitarian work in the developing world. It\u2019s the kind of vocation that has frustration and tragedy built into it. And that, I think, explains his frequent rants and bull-sessions.<\/p>\n
Every day he sees what doesn\u2019t work and every day he\u2019s reminded of who doesn\u2019t care. He works in places where the system is broken, where ideals give way to brute reality and where good intentions don\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n
One of my conversations with him, not too long ago- the smoke hung heavy in the air between us. Some kind of world music was beating in the background around us. We\u2019d both just been lamenting the many ills in the world, and my we had been ranting about how hard it is to get people\u2019s attention, how hard it is to get people to care.<\/p>\n
When suddenly in a critical tone of voice my friend said to me:\u00a0\u2018It must be hard for you\u2026being a pastor.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAnd I thought at first he was baiting me to defend my faith or Jesus or all of Christianity but he wasn\u2019t. He was pushing me to defend you. Christians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>I asked.<\/p>\nAnd he said something about how most Christians just want a savior who will bless them or comfort them or answer their prayers. But they don\u2019t want a savior they have to follow very far.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you don\u2019t think Jesus is relevant?\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>I asked.<\/p>\nAnd with a philosopher\u2019s air he said:\u00a0\u201cNo, the problem\u2019s not with Jesus. The problem\u2019s that so many Christians choose something else.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIf you were a Jew in Jesus\u2019 day, the raw reality of Rome\u2019s invasion left you with three political options.<\/p>\n
If you wanted to hang on to your wealth and status then you could collaborate with the enemy. Think Herod.<\/p>\n
Instead of collaborating, you could turn within and use Rome\u2019s oppression as an opportunity to call people to reform and holiness. This was the route taken by the Pharisees.<\/p>\n
A third option, popular with the masses, saw the overthrow of Rome as the only faithful option. Those who chose this option were called Zealots, and they pushed for an armed Revolution that would return Israel to the glory it had known under King David.<\/p>\n
Depending upon your point of view, the Zealots were either criminals or freedom fighters. At least one of Jesus\u2019 twelve disciples was a Zealot, Simon.<\/p>\n
The Zealots believed a time was coming when God would break into history and rid the Promised Land of the Roman invaders. And they believed their violence was in harmony with the violence God was about to wreak very soon.<\/p>\n
Barabbas is a Zealot, and the fact that his crimes were famous probably means he was something of a folk hero to the pilgrims gathered for Passover. It\u2019s likely too that Barabbas\u2019 name and deeds were better known in Jerusalem than Jesus\u2019 own. It\u2019s even possible that Barabbas had a larger following than did Jesus of Nazareth.<\/p>\n
Every year, at Passover, to keep a lid on any Revolutionary fervor, Pilate had two choices available to him. He could crucify some Jewish insurgents just to remind everyone who was in control. Alternatively, he could release a prisoner in order to appease the crowds. Usually, Pilate did both.<\/p>\n
That Pilate even offers to release Barabbas, a known revolutionary, shows that Pilate doesn\u2019t actually expect the chief priests to push the charges against Jesus any further. Zealots like Barabbas wanted to assassinate the Jewish elites too.<\/p>\n
Pilate expects the chief priests\u2019 jealousy of Jesus to be outweighed by their fear of violent radicals like Barabbas. That the chief priests refuse to relent on Jesus shows that they understand how Jesus poses a different kind of threat.<\/p>\n
So Pilate lines them up, side by side, and gives the crowd a choice.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re both named\u00a0\u201cJesus,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>which means\u00a0\u2018God saves\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>or\u00a0\u2018Savior.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\nThe one\u2019s last name\u00a0\u2018Bar-abbas<\/strong>\u2019 means\u00a0\u2018son of the Father.\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>The other, not by name but by origin, claims the same identity. In other words both of them are named\u00a0\u2018Jesus, son of the Father.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\nThey\u2019re both criminals in the eyes of the chief priests.
\nThey\u2019re both opposed to the Powers that be.
\nThey both ignite within their People the hope that one day soon they will be free. Pilate lines them up, side by side. These two \u2018Jesus-es.\u2019
\n\u2018Which would you choose?\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>Pilate asks them.
\nWhich \u2018Savior\u2019 do you want?
\n<\/strong>Barabbas promises he can change the world by changing who\u2019s in charge of it. Barabbas promises everything will be better if only we get rid of Pilate and the<\/p>\nPriests and Rome.
\nBarabbas asks his people to take up arms.<\/p>\n
Jesus asks his people to take up their cross and follow.<\/p>\n
Matthew says that the chief priests \u2018persuaded\u2019 the crowds to choose Barabbas over Jesus. The reality is that they probably didn\u2019t have to try very hard.<\/p>\n
One morning we were sitting down drinking coffee together. My friend was only half paying attention. He was rattling off his litany of the world\u2019s ills while doing some kind of Tai Chi in his chair to music that was playing only in his head.<\/p>\n
You all have friends like this, right?<\/p>\n
Distracted, he was talking about the need for Revolution, about the need to change the System- to get rid of the people at the Top, to throw out the people in charge. Sensing that we were heading down a familiar rabbit hole- one I didn\u2019t want to venture down that particular morning- I asked him, something that for some reason I hadn\u2019t asked him before.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why do you choose to do what you do?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nHis arms didn\u2019t stop their Tai Chi movements back and forth, but he cocked his head to the side, like he didn\u2019t follow my meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re all about Revolution and changing the System, then why do you do what you do? Small business development, advocacy, community organizing: these things take time. They\u2019re small steps. You spend all your time with people on the bottom.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAnd he smiled, like I had just outed the man behind the mask.
\nAnd he said:\u00a0\u201cBecause just changing who\u2019s at the top doesn\u2019t really change anything.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIf you really want to change the world, people need to be transformed.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIf I gave you a choice\u2026<\/p>\n
Would you choose a savior who butts in on your marriage and your money, who forces you to look into the mirror and own up to your own brokenness, who says you have to try and understand those you don\u2019t like, who says you\u2019ve got to love those who don\u2019t like you, who says you\u2019ve got to forgive and forgive and forgive.<\/p>\n
Or, would you choose a savior who promises to leave the rest of your life alone and just answer the one prayer you have in your life?<\/p>\n
Which would you choose?<\/p>\n
A savior who will change only the pain in your life and leave the \u201cgood\u201d alone, or a savior determined to change everything?<\/p>\n
Which?<\/p>\n
Pilate lines them up, side by side. Two different Jesus-es. Pick one, Pilate says.<\/p>\n
Barabbas says \u2018I can give you the life you want.\u2019
\nBut Jesus says \u2018I can show you the life God wants.\u2019
\nBarabbas believes governments and their armies are the tiller of history.
\nBut Jesus believes the future can be moved by a Cross and the hearts that are\u00a0changed by it.<\/p>\n
Had Pilate known the crowds would choose Barabbas, he probably never would have given them a choice.<\/p>\n
But the choice is with us all the time.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Jason Micheli: Which Son of the Father Would You Choose? \u2013 Matthew 27.15-26 If I could offer you a choice: between a savior who tells you to return hate with love, or a savior who gives you permission to strike back at those who do you evil- if I could give you a choice, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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