The Man In The Cell

In my imagination, He is setting in his cell considering his fate. The charges have stacked up against him. Robbery, Insurrection Murder. The soldiers have been preparing for the crucifixion. He’s watched as the wood been gathered to assembly the crosses. He heard that a hill outside of town has been selected. It’s only a matter of time now.

Suddenly soldiers appear and start unlocking the door. It’s sooner than he thought it would be. They drag him as he walks, his steps too slow for them.

But then who’s in a hurry to get to his own execution?

Then he notices something is wrong. They are not taking him down to the roadway but rather up to the Praetorium. As they come out into the dawning sunlight, it blinds his eyes. He can’t see much but he does hear a crowd. His trial is over, his guilt is set, what more could they be doing with him?

That’s when he hears the voice of the governor. He’s talking about how he is obliged to release one prisoner and he is giving the crowd a choice. For a brief second a gasp of hope rises in him only to be crushed away by the weight of the truth. He is notorious among the people. No one wants to see him free.

It’s then that he glimpses the other prisoner, the only person standing there that look worse than him. He has been through the wringer. His face, his head, his back bear witness to the abuse. Yet something is different about him. He has seen hard men, men whose eyes bear the guilt and shame of the things they have done. His eyes are different. This beaten man looks at him differently, like he knows why he is here. The then voice of the governor cries out, “Who do you choose? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" The crowd echoes in one refrain “Barabbas”

Could you imagine the thoughts that flew through his mind? What’s happening? Why Him? Why me? We never do hear any more about this man, how he left prison, what he did after, how he felt. Yet each of us shares an experience with him. It could have been our name that the crowds chanted.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

We are the man in the cell. Trapped by our own sin, a death sentence hanging over us. Yet there was one who was willing to die in our stead. A substitute for our sins.

I’m not sure how Barabbas reacted to this man, but I know how we should.

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