Same As It Ever Was December 31, 2015

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹ But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.  John 18:38-41 ESV

Perhaps this would be better left for an Easter entry, but most likely if I wait  until then I will have forgotten my point.

Today on the radio Ravi Zacharias was speaking of how the world is filled with evil and used this incident from the Bible as one example where evil trumped good.  As I was thinking of the Jesus/Barabbas incident, I was struck with the timelessness of the story.

Two thousand years ago people were sacrificing good for evil.  "Let us free Barabbas, murderer, insurrectionist.  Murder what is good, pure, holy."  How often in our own lives do we choose sin over righteousness?  Evil over good?  Tainted over pure?  Whether it is how we use our time, money, or influence, we are all too often like the clamoring Jewish crowd, "Give us Barabbas!  We don't want Jesus!"  

We look back on the New Testament story with a lot of head scratching wondering, Why would they make such a choice?  Well, friend, why do we?  When given a choice between God's plan or the world's offering, why don't we choose God's plan 100% of the time?  All too often we select Barabbas.

In Malachi 3:6, God tells the Israelites, "I the Lord do not change."  For that I am ever so grateful.  It would also seem that, left on its own, human nature does not change.  It is only through the inner workings of the Holy Spirit can we begin to choose Jesus more and more over Barabbas.