In the 1870’s sculptor George Tenworth produced this striking work of art titled The Release of Barabbas. Under the figure of Barabbas he inscribed The World’s Choice and under Jesus he inscribed The Good Shepherd. This depiction of a moment when Jesus felt the sting of becoming another’s scapegoat in the world’s great exchange.
Who has not been someone’s scapegoat: Being used by another for their gain at your expense? So many of the Savior’s greatest trials and temptations occurred in the span of just under twenty four hours. The definition of a scapegoat according to Wikipedia is “a person or animal which takes on sins of others, or is unfairly blamed for problems. Original concept came from Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert with sins of community.”
If you ask my children, they would tell you they were blamed for the infractions of the other sibling without cause. They tell a story of how they were unfairly punished because I had told them not to climb a tree in our backyard while I was not at home and so their solution was to send their cousin up the tree because I said nothing about her not climbing the tree. When I arrived home she was perched out on the end of a limb retrieving a boomerang caught in the branches. They were punished and she was not. They felt like scapegoats because they did what I said and simply found a solution to the dilemma using said cousin who I had not specifically told not to climb the tree.
“Scapegoats are not hard to find. Dwight Eisenhower once said, ‘The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.’” WE see this every night on the nightly news. UGH! “We’ve scapegoated others for our benefit.” (The Ultimate Scapegoat from jewsforjesus.com by Josh Sofaer)
During Passover, on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, the most holy day of worship for the Jews, it was the custom for the Roman prefect to commute a sentence of one condemned to die by popular acclaim. Jesus literally became the scapegoat for Barabbas! Jesus died in the place of Barabbas. He went free though guilty of insurrection, robbery, and murder. Jesus would die though thoroughly sinless. According to many sources, the name Barabbas means son of father. The most amazing fact I discovered was the full name of Barabbas, which according to earliest ancient manuscripts of Matthew 27:16-17, is Jesus son of Abba. This makes this moment in history all the more spiritually profound in its message: Jesus, Son of God or Jesus, son of father. The di was cast between these two and one went free and one was sacrificed: a picture of the two goats of the sacrifice at the temple. The scapegoat was part of the sin offering is sent into the wilderness led by a “fit person” a far distance to prevent the goat from returning and bringing the sin back into the camp and symbolized transference of sins. The other goat was offered as a blood sacrifice offered for priest, people, and purification of the tabernacle for the forgiveness of sins. (The Atonement in the Old Testament by Dr. Kenneth Matthews, christianitytoday.com) The two goats literally were a picture of Jesus and Barabbas: the goat of Jehovah and the goat of Azazel. One is a “witness to demerit sin and need for blood atonement,” and the other a “witness to efficacy of the sacrifice, the result of the shed blood in taking away the sin.” (biblestudytools.com)
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13)
Did Barabbas go out of the city to the hill of Golgatha? Did he watch Jesus die in His place on the center cross meant for HIm? We are not told. We however must stand and also make a choice: Do we choose man or Jesus, Son of God. Jesus, Son of God took on all the guilt of mankind and died a criminal’s death. Here we see once again, Jesus suffered and yet did not sin. He like the sacrifices of the tabernacle and temple went without a word. (Isaiah 53:7) It was a great exchange.
In the 1870’s sculptor George Tenworth produced this striking work of art titled The Release of Barabbas. Under the figure of Barabbas he inscribed The World’s Choice and under Jesus he inscribed The Good Shepherd. This depiction of a moment when Jesus felt the sting of becoming another’s scapegoat in the world’s great exchange.
Who has not been someone’s scapegoat: Being used by another for their gain at your expense? So many of the Savior’s greatest trials and temptations occurred in the span of just under twenty four hours. The definition of a scapegoat according to Wikipedia is “a person or animal which takes on sins of others, or is unfairly blamed for problems. Original concept came from Leviticus, in which a goat is designated to be cast into the desert with sins of community.”
If you ask my children, they would tell you they were blamed for the infractions of the other sibling without cause. They tell a story of how they were unfairly punished because I had told them not to climb a tree in our backyard while I was not at home and so their solution was to send their cousin up the tree because I said nothing about her not climbing the tree. When I arrived home she was perched out on the end of a limb retrieving a boomerang caught in the branches. They were punished and she was not. They felt like scapegoats because they did what I said and simply found a solution to the dilemma using said cousin who I had not specifically told not to climb the tree.
“Scapegoats are not hard to find. Dwight Eisenhower once said, ‘The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.’” WE see this every night on the nightly news. UGH! “We’ve scapegoated others for our benefit.” (The Ultimate Scapegoat from jewsforjesus.com by Josh Sofaer)
During Passover, on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, the most holy day of worship for the Jews, it was the custom for the Roman prefect to commute a sentence of one condemned to die by popular acclaim. Jesus literally became the scapegoat for Barabbas! Jesus died in the place of Barabbas. He went free though guilty of insurrection, robbery, and murder. Jesus would die though thoroughly sinless. According to many sources, the name Barabbas means son of father. The most amazing fact I discovered was the full name of Barabbas, which according to earliest ancient manuscripts of Matthew 27:16-17, is Jesus son of Abba. This makes this moment in history all the more spiritually profound in its message: Jesus, Son of God or Jesus, son of father. The di was cast between these two and one went free and one was sacrificed: a picture of the two goats of the sacrifice at the temple. The scapegoat was part of the sin offering is sent into the wilderness led by a “fit person” a far distance to prevent the goat from returning and bringing the sin back into the camp and symbolized transference of sins. The other goat was offered as a blood sacrifice offered for priest, people, and purification of the tabernacle for the forgiveness of sins. (The Atonement in the Old Testament by Dr. Kenneth Matthews, christianitytoday.com) The two goats literally were a picture of Jesus and Barabbas: the goat of Jehovah and the goat of Azazel. One is a “witness to demerit sin and need for blood atonement,” and the other a “witness to efficacy of the sacrifice, the result of the shed blood in taking away the sin.” (biblestudytools.com)
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13)
Did Barabbas go out of the city to the hill of Golgatha? Did he watch Jesus die in His place on the center cross meant for HIm? We are not told. We however must stand and also make a choice: Do we choose man or Jesus, Son of God. Jesus, Son of God took on all the guilt of mankind and died a criminal’s death. Here we see once again, Jesus suffered and yet did not sin. He like the sacrifices of the tabernacle and temple went without a word. (Isaiah 53:7) It was a great exchange.
Bruce Carroll The Great Exchange
