Homily for Palm Sunday 2023 - Year A - St Matthew's Passion.
Not this man. Free Barabbas.
What a difference a day can make: at the beginning of the Passover the Jewish people cheer for Jesus – they wave palm branches and spread their cloaks on the road crying out ‘Hosanna’ Save us! Hosanna son of David! Save us, King of the Jews! – they hailed him as a prophet, as the Messiah, and welcomed him into Jerusalem like a King entering his own city.
Then the Passover ends, Jesus is betrayed, arrested, dragged before the High Priests and the Romans, and accused of blasphemy and sedition. Those same crowds who had called Him King, Son of David, now cry out for his execution: “Save us” becomes “Crucify Him!” They are offered a chance to free him, and instead they call out “Not this man – give us Barabbas instead.”
Barabbas. St Matthew’s Passion narrative calls him a “notorious criminal” – Mark and Luke both explain further: he was a murderer and a rebel, who killed during the riots against Roman rule. On Easter night, one of the priests or deacons sings the Exsultet – a hymn of praise for the great feast of Easter. In that hymn, the priest sings of Christ’s suffering on the cross:
O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son. Each one of us, you and me, is the slave ransomed by the death of Jesus. Each one of us was born a slave to sin, and in Baptism were freed by the saving death of Christ. When we understand this, we understand that Barabbas represents each one of us – he is the Slave, ransomed by Christ. He is us, and we are Him.
Look first at his name. Barabbas. Bar Abbas – Son of the Father. Barabbas, the Son of the Father. Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, he likens us in our sinful state to a prodigal Son – a Son gone astray, lost to his father. Here, in the moment of his suffering, is Bar Abbas, the Son of the Father.
Now we look at his crimes, what did this Son of the Father do to end up in Roman hands? A Notorious Criminal. A rebel and a murderer. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus makes it clear. To break one of God’s commandments is to break them all: to Sin is to become a rebel against God. He also says, anyone who even speaks ill of his brother has already murdered him in their heart. To sin against our neighbour is to become a murderer. Even Barabbas’ crimes make him a representation of each one of us. What we are witnessing is a representation of the mystery of Easter, of Christ’s whole Mission; God so loved the world, that He sent his only Son to die to save fallen humanity. God sacrificed His very self, His beloved Son, to ransom a slave.
Bar Abbas, the Son of the Father, fallen so far into sin, a rebel and a murderer, is set free. Jesus, the innocent one, the Holy One of God, is driven out of the city carrying the weight of his cross, and is put to death in his place.
Barabbas deserved death, and yet was given his freedom. This is the mystery of our Faith. Verse 3 of Psalm 129, written into a haunting piece of music by Samuel Wesley, reminds each of us of the reality of our own guilt;
If you O Lord should mark our guilt, Lord who would survive?
But God no longer marks our guilt. For Barabbas has been pardoned, set free, ransomed by the blood of Christ. The judgment we deserve is forgiven in Christ.
We have entered into Passiontide, our very own Passover festival, we are approaching the great feast of our liberation from death. What are we to do about it? In this last week of Lent, it is time to make a special observance: to fast, to pray, to give alms, to do penance. To make sacrifices of ourselves in unity with the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.
Barabbas was a son of the father, like you and me. Fallen into sin and guilt, like you and me. Today we come to a decision point: will we continue to be a fallen Barabbas, or will we model our lives on Christ? The beginning of this journey is acknowledging our sins, examining our conscience, and (above all) asking for forgiveness. If we have not done so already, it is time to seek forgiveness in the sacrament of Confession, to appeal to the just judge, so that he does not mark our guilt, but mark us with the freedom won for us in Christ.
Time is running out. Easter is approaching. The Lord’s day is near at hand. It is time to declare ourselves; will we choose Christ, or will we choose Barabbas?
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