Barabbas
James Tissot, ca.1890
My dear friends,
On this Good Friday, as we contemplate the silence and suffering of the Lamb who bore the weight of delusion and hatred without resistance, the story of Barabbas stands before us like a mirror.
After he had said this,
he went out to the Jews again and told them,
"I find no case against him.
But you have a custom
that I release someone for you at the Passover.
Do you want me to release for you
the King of the Jews?"
They shouted in reply,
"Not this man but Barabbas!"
Now Barabbas was a rebel.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
- John 18:38-19:1
Barabbas, a robber and insurrectionist, was chosen by the crowd over Jesus, the bringer of peace and truth. This scene is more than historical—it is archetypal. It reveals how minds clouded by fear, stirred by the manipulations of self-interested leaders, will often reject the very medicine they most need. As Isaiah foretold:
and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
- Isaiah 53:3 (KJV)
Yet this story also holds hidden grace. For Barabbas was freed because Jesus was condemned. The innocent bore the fate of the guilty. This, too, is the compassion of the Bodhisattva, the one who takes on the suffering of others without complaint, who prays,
- Luke 23-34 (KJV)
Here, Bodhicitta, the Awakened Mind of love, compassion and wisdom, shines like gold from the mud.
So what are followers of the Way—disciples of Christ, aspirants on the Bodhisattva path—to do in such a world, where the multitude is so easily led astray?
First, we must train in compassion, not contempt. Remember: the crowd that cried “Crucify him!” was spiritually sick, not spiritually worthless. Like a good physician, we must see their illness as cause for healing, not hatred.
Second, we must guard our own minds against the same delusion. Are we not also tempted to choose what is easy, familiar, or pleasing over what is true, hard, or holy? Vigilance is the path of discipleship.
Third, we must not withdraw in despair, but deepen our practice and radiate our witness. Jesus did not call down legions of angels to rescue him; he bore the injustice with luminous love. In the same way, the Bodhisattva vows not to abandon beings even if he or she must descend into hell for their sake.
Fourth, we serve. In small acts of truth, in feeding the hungry, comforting the grieving, and speaking the truth with humility, we manifest Christ in the world, just as the Bodhisattva manifests the compassion of all enlightened beings. We become, as Paul wrote, “ambassadors for Christ,” and as the sutras say, “friends to all beings.”
Finally, we remember that appearances deceive. The apparent triumph of evil was brief; the seeming defeat of Christ became resurrection. So too in the Bodhisattva path: what appears as loss is often the seed of great awakening.