I Am Barabbas

Contemplating the Good Friday story today. So many of the players depict me in part: Like Peter, I deny Christ in my words and deeds out of fear of what others will think. Like the Pharisees, I think I can be good enough to deserve God's love. But I realized today that the person in the story that most completely portrays me is Barabbas. Guilty, deserving death, but gets off Scott-free because Jesus took my place. I am Barabbas. He went free because sinful people fear grace much more than we fear sin. We think we are good enough to atone for our sin and make ourselves righteous. Grace tells us that we are beyond the hope of ever being good enough. Looking at grace forces us to see our total depravity. The Pharisees were trusting in their excellent work of law-keeping, which would require God to call them righteous. But righteousness comes to those who are unable to merit it, through the grace of God in Jesus Christ.In Christ, I am forgiven much. May my love for others show how much I love Christ.