Jesus Or Barabbas

and cut the meat off His ribs!
* With every crushing blow, hot flashes of pain flooded His body.
* The white naked ribs were showing through the torn flesh!
* The blood ran freely down His scourged back and puddled on the ground!
A) The soldiers took Jesus into the common hall and mocked Him as being King ……
* From the common hall, they begin their rugged journey to Golgotha, a place of a skull.
* They reach the spot and there they crucified Him along with two thieves.
* “Father, forgive them …” * “This day …” * “Woman …” * “My God …” * “I thirst.”
* “It is finished.” * “Father, into thy hands …” * His head slumped upon His chest.
B) His bloody, tangled hair matted together in His face! * The tense, twitching body relaxed!
* The blood dripped slowly from the wounds in His hands and His feet.
* His eyes were closed and the clotted blood in the lashes had turned dark purple in color.
* The beaten, bloody, bruised, and battered corpse dangled limp and lifeless.
* A soldier thrusts a spear into His side and pierced the membrane around the heart, and blood
and water flowed like a fountain from that side … He was dead!

(4) BARABBAS! * I have often wondered how Barabbas must’ve felt that day!
* Did you ever think what may have happened to Barabbas? * Remember who he was?
* He was the condemned criminal whom they released on the day Jesus was crucified!
* He was a notable prisoner, meaning his reputation of murder and robbery was widespread!
A) The night before that fatal day, Barabbas was held in prison!
* He probably spent that miserable night in the death cell of a dark, damp, rat infested dungeon!
* Look at him as he shivers in the cold, clammy cell, and pulls his wet, ragged garments together
about his naked shoulders!
* Dragging his shivering body through the mud in the darkness, he collapses in a heap in the
corner against the cold, wet walls! * This was his last night on earth!
B) What does a man think about the night before he is to be executed?
* I don’t know, but it must be a nightmare! * Barabbas began to relive the past!
* He saw himself as a child, playing around the knees of a faithful Jewish mother.
* As he grew, he saw himself drifting away from her teaching into a life of rebellion!
* Maybe he got into the wrong company! * He began to steal, little things at first!
C) Then one night as he ransacked a dwelling, the man in the house by the window began to
stir, Barabbas stood over the sleeping body until he saw the white of the man’s eyes!
* The man was waking! * Quickly, he pulls a dagger from his belt and plunged it into the chest
of the waking man! * Barabbas listened to the dying groans and hurried into the night!
* He had murdered his first victim … It would be easier from then on!
* He could remember how he had hidden in the rocks along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho
and rob and kill innocent travelers!
D) He could still feel the straining throat in his hands as he choked to death a traveler!
* Straddling the dead body he would remove the money and valuables!
* He had thrust that blade into many a man, but now, he has killed his last man!
* He had stolen his last dollar, for the hand of the Roman law had reached out and plucked him
from among men and cast him into prison, found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to die!
* Tomorrow, he