This is of course referring to the time when Pontius Pilate offered to release Jesus in a gesture of good will to the people. Instead of accepting his offer they cried, “Give us Barabbas!”

This is quite remarkable in that the release of Barabbas represented a real threat to the communities in which they lived. They wanted a murderer in their midst? Was their demand to release Barabbas an insane decision made in the heat of the moment? No, it was an instinctive, and amazingly accurate insight that this Jesus was more of a threat to their safety and way of life than was the murderer.

The gentle Jesus, who turns the other cheek when He is struck, walks the second mile when required to go one, and forgives all when His is wronged, requires that those who would follow Him do the same. You could say that His gentleness is harsh in its requirements; the abundance of His generosity makes thieves of those who hoard His gifts; His insistent honesty and truth makes liars of those who disagree with His what He says; His mercy judges those who will not pass on to others the forgiveness they have received themselves. Even a sinner can sense that if this man is allowed to live He will end up demanding everything, even life itself.

Those of us who have surrendered to Him, and who call ourselves believers, should not be surprised or even indignant if some day our countrymen should choose murderers before they choose us. They instinctively know that if they follow Jesus, their death to everything carnal is certain. Add us Christians into the equation and there is the added reproach of being numbered with us hypocrites. Even the rage of Radical Islam against infidels is more in keeping with the sinful belief that all of our problems are outside of ourselves in others. Radical Islam (suicide to the body) is more rational to the sinner than that suicide for the soul which is Christianity:

Unless the very Spirit of God comes into a man’s heart and helps him, believing that Jesus is THE Way is impossible.