Who Was Barabbas?

In a couple weeks, I’m preaching at a church in Texas. It’s Baptist church and, believe it or not, they’re using the lectionary! But, since they’re Baptists, they’re not totally wedded to the lectionary. So when I looked at the Gospel text for that week, and found it uninteresting, I asked them if I could jump a week ahead and use part of the passage from Palm/Passion Sunday. They agreed.

So I’m going to preach about Barabbas, the thief/insurrectionist (depending on which Gospel you use) who was released on the Passover. The crowd was given the choice: Pilate would release either Jesus or Barabbas. The crowd chose Barabbas. (For a heart-wrenching version of this scene, listen to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Movement 44. Here’s a version:

So, I’m thinking a lot about Barabbas this Lent.

What are your impressions of Barabbas?