Luke 23

Daily Devotional from Luke 23--

Verses 18-19
Then they all cried out together, “Take [Jesus] away! Release Barabbas to us!”  (He had been thrown into prison for a rebellion that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

This scene always gives me pause. I am struck by the Jews’ hatred toward Jesus. They ask for the release of a rebel and murderer—instead of the release of the *actual* messiah.

I can’t say I blame them, though. It’s easy to look at them and condemn them for what we know now. But how many times have we done similar things? We sometimes look to political leaders, celebrities, or other people in our lives as those who can give us stability or lead us into prosperity— but like Barabbas, they cannot bring us hope.

In this moment, Israel became friendly with Rome (which was unthinkable!) and put Jesus to death.
But the good news is that this isn’t the end of the story and we are so thankful that Jesus IS the promised Messiah and forgives us when we don’t know what we are doing.

Robin Miller