The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
LIVE DISCUSSION: The Passion of Christ (Part 3 of 3)
A murderer walks free while the innocent King is nailed to a cross. That jarring contrast between Barabbas and Jesus is more than a moment in history—it’s a lens on how power, religion, and politics still trade truth for convenience. We follow the pressure campaign that wore down Pilate, the uneasy alliance with Herod, and the chilling chorus that shouted for crucifixion, then ask what it means to “prevail” with God rather than with empire.
We unpack the scapegoat motif, the legal theater that declared Jesus blameless yet condemned him anyway, and the deeper reason Calvary stands apart. The brutality of crucifixion was common; the worth of the One crucified was not. Only the sinless Son of God could bear the weight of our guilt. That’s why the cross reveals the darkest verdict on human pride and the brightest proof of divine love. From there we turn to today, where pulpits and podiums increasingly share a stage, and where believers face a subtle test: will we let partisan zeal outrank kingdom allegiance, or will we render to God what is God’s and let the gospel lead our public witness?
Along the way, we name the tensions many feel during election seasons, call out the temptation to outsource conscience to worldly power, and offer a path forward rooted in prayer, humility, and fruit that lasts. The scars of Christ will mark eternity, not to shame us, but to steady our gratitude and courage. If you’ve felt squeezed between cultural noise and spiritual conviction, this conversation invites you to recover a clearer center: Christ first, always.
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So the Jews of that day wanted to have the real son of the Father crucified, and they wanted Barabbas, son of the Father, to be set free. This brings to mind the scapegoat that we learned about under the old covenant. Remember the scapegoat that will be led out into the wilderness, symbolizing the sin is all put on the goat, and then the goat is set free, and the sins are never to come back again. This is a picture that we have painted right here. This is the picture that we have painted right here. So Barabbas, the fake son of the father, was free to go. While the real son of the father, they wanted to kill. In fulfillment of the prophecies God gave to them. And they said, Nope, crucify him. Crucify Christ. We will not have this man reign over us. We will not have this man reign over us. Crucify him. We rather have Barabbas go free. A man guilty of sedition, a man guilty of murder. They wanted him to go free for the very crimes that Christ was accused of committing and did not commit. And then Pilate tried again with the Pharisees and the scribes and the elders, and he said unto them for the third time, Why? Why? Why do you want to crucify him? What evil has he done? Now you're talking about two of the most evil men in all of Scripture, Herod and Pilate. They're asking the Jews, why? Why do you want us to crucify him? What evil has he done? He says, I have found no cause of death in this man. I will therefore chastise him and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. Now they're requiring it. They're not asking. Now they're demanding. Now keep in mind, Rome, they the Jews are under them. They are captive citizens. Here they are demanding that the Roman government kill a man under their own law for violating, for not violating any of their own laws. But the Jews have their own laws that they still carry with them, even though at this point they have no nation. So they're trying to figure out over and over again all the different ways that they can to get Herod or Pilate to do their dirty work when it comes to Christ. And then it says, and the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. Basically, basically, they wore down Pilate. And it says that Pilate released unto them Barabbas, who was actually guilty of sedition and murder. And he did what the Jews wanted. And then he delivered Jesus to their will. Now, I'm almost done. I'll start the next part tomorrow or the next day. But I want to say this. Pilate and Herod found no fault in Jesus whatsoever. And these were wicked men, these were carnal men. Keep going. Oh well, don't tempt me now. These were godly men, I mean, these were ungodly men, Pilate and Herod. They weren't religious men. They saw no guilt in Jesus whatsoever. None whatsoever. But they but the Jews wore them down until they got what they wanted. So Pilate let Barabbas go. And it says here that they prevailed. And he delivered Jesus up to their will. Now here's a funny thing. It says that the voices of them, meaning the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, it says they prevailed. Now, I don't think it's an accident that this word is used, prevailed. Because the very name Israel, the very name Israel means people or princes that have power with God, or people or princes that prevail with God. Prevailing with God. That's what Israel means to have power with God. But here they weren't prevailing with God. They prevailed with Rome. They weren't concerned with having power with God. They weren't seeking God to ask him if Jesus was actually his Messiah and if Jesus was his son. They didn't inquire. You don't see any part of scripture where you see any of the Pharisees wrestling with who Jesus actually was. They weren't asking God for direction. They weren't trying to do what they had a history of doing, which was trying to prevail with God, trying to get God to move on their behalf, like Jacob did, which is why his name was changed from Jacob to Israel. Because he prevailed with God. Remember when he wrestled with the angel? So here they didn't prevail with God because they didn't seek God in this situation with Jesus. They sought Rome, Babylon. And they prevailed with Rome, Babylon. If you know what I mean. For those of you who are students of Revelation, they prevailed with Rome. And if you remember, a little while back, I said that Herod and Pilate became friends when they had been enemies up to this point. But over this issue with Christ, they became buds. Yes, sir. Let your kingdom come. Father. Herod and Pilate became friends, and they opposed the Jews when it comes to Christ's innocence and guilt, guilt which he did not have. But then Herod and Pilate, Pilate more importantly, ended up succumbing to the pressure. And he sent an innocent man, he knowingly sent an innocent man to die a brutal death on the cross. He sent him to die this brutal death to crucify him, capital punishment on the cross. Politicians and the religious leaders, they agreed that Jesus had to go. He had to go. Both wanted their problem to go away, and their problem was the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom they all agreed they will not have this man reign over us. You know what it reminds me of? I can never help but recognize as a believer, I how can I say this? Whenever election times come around, when I see politicians going into churches and going into the pulpit and trying to get congregations and the churches to listen to them and to heed their desires. You're going to see how later in these later days, you're going to see more and more fusion between politicians and religious people. When you start seeing, and we already do see this, because the Bible talks about antichrists that are out there already. And Paul talks about in 2 Thessalonians, man of sin standing where he ought not, making an abomination of desolation. And we get fragments of it, we're already seeing the preparation for it. Think about this for a second. In America, when you start seeing politicians coming into churches and preaching their agendas in God's houses. Even the Pope gets involved in civil matters or in civil matters. Christians, I'm not crazy. Pay attention. When you start seeing religion and politics marry, you need to understand that is not a good sign. And when you get all when you get all in an uproar and all bent out of shape over who wins an election, you have lost sight of what Christians are here for. We are not here to support Democrats or Republicans and politicians. Christianity is not synonymous with politics. I'm sorry to tell you this. So I know all so many of you Christians like to drive around with your little bumper stickers and your flags and all that kind of stuff. And that's what you do, that's what you want to do. But know this: you are contributing to the wrong cause. Can you imagine if every Christian during election times put signs in the front yard that says, we support Christ. We follow him. And all you politicians should do the same thing. I've never seen, I've never been, me personally, so disgusted at what I see Christians doing during these election seasons. They are just as bad as these politicians and these political people. Christians do not belong in politics. Jesus said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but render to God the things that are God's. So I'm not saying you shouldn't vote. You should. I'm not saying you shouldn't do your part as a citizen. But remember this, we serve Christ first and foremost. And anything that goes contrary to what we are expected to do as believers in service to him, if we don't do these things, we're not doing serving his will. We're serving man's will. And no man in politics in this day, these people today, all they care about is serving mammon. We need to serve God. We need to serve the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. The name to which each and every one of us will bow down to. Will. Every one of us. Everybody that gets on here and makes these trolling comments to me, they don't rock my. Look, I want to respond in my carnal, fleshly way, but I can't. And so many of you have been good at admonishing me and advising me in my comments, in the comments, not to go at these people. So I'm thankful for all of you who have given me that advice because I've taken it to heart. I honestly have. Christians, we need to show love to one another. And that love has got to transcend all of this political crap. And I'm bringing it up now because it's coming this year. It's coming this year. It's coming. There's gonna be all this. Oh, I hate this guy and I hate that guy, and he should be doing this, and he should be doing this, and this guy is not good for us, and whatever. Anyway, I don't want to turn it into that. But Christ was so divisive because of his, because of who he was and his message, that it even caused enemies to join forces to mock himself to mock him and to ridicule him. And then you got political figures and religious figures agreeing and compromising with one another on the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the thing is, after this, we know what happens. Christ goes through all the ridicule and mockery and the scourging and the you know, the whippings, the beatings, the you know, putting the robe on him, letting the blood congeal on the robe and then peeling it off and putting it back on and then casting light, all that stuff. I don't want to glorify all of that. But I'm gonna say this as I close. Christians love to incite, and in pastors and churches, they love to incite or elicit emotion from people by describing the heinous acts that our Lord had to endure on his way to the cross and on the cross. They like to get into detail about the nails and the blood, how it all came out, and how the pain and how he was thirsty and the vinegar. They love to talk about all this stuff. But this was common. But what makes the cross so bad was not what they did, and I mean it was bad, don't get me wrong. It was all horrible, terrible. So I don't want to make it seem like I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is everybody who was guilty of crimes, capital crimes, went through the same thing. So it was not unique. So what makes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ unique? What makes his crucifixion and his death unique is who he is. It is who he is, it is because of the quality of his person. This is what makes the cross that he was on so bad. Because of who he was. If he had been Barabbas, it would have been anything. Barabbas could have endured the same exact thing that Jesus did. But what Barabbas could not endure was what Jesus did in the sense that Christ laid himself down this way, being the Son of God, the true Son of God. And he was sinless, but he was God in this human flesh. And it was the value of his person, it was the quality of his person, it was the nature of this person that made this crucifixion so bad. So when you see a movie like the one Mel Gibson made, where for two, three hours all you see is his brutality, that's a waste of time. It's a waste of time. Unless you point out and make people understand who this man really was, because that is what makes Calvary so bad. Many people, no doubt, died at Calvary who deserved it. But this man, whom never a man spoke, like this man who healed the sick and cast out demons, turned water into wine, who walked on water, who healed a paralytic, who healed lepers, who fed four and five thousand. It was this man who was on that cross, and because of who he was, that is what made the cross so bad. That was what made it so horrible. And that is what made it the deepest, darkest, most vile scar on all of humanity. And when we die, and when we are resurrected when the Lord comes with that shout from heaven and the voice of the archangel, we're gonna be snatched up to catch the Lord in the air, and we will be with him forevermore. And the one thing that we will see every day, every single day throughout all eternity, for the rest of eternity, the thing that we're gonna see in Christ every single day are the nail prints that were in his hands and in his feet, and that spear that was put in his side. And we will be reminded every moment in eternity that this man laid down his life for our sins, and for that we should be eternally grateful. Go out there, Christians, and produce fruit. Because we have a Lord who is worthy of every effort that we have and every breath in us to be able to see that He is glorified in this world, no matter what men say about us. Do not be ashamed of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Because if you are, when we stand before him in that great white throne judgment, you will see what it feels like to be ashamed. Because if we are ashamed of him and his gospel, he will be ashamed of us. May God bless you all, and may you all be provoked or be persuaded. God bless you. Have a great, great evening and morning and next day. God bless you.