Barabbas' Tale Part Two

Barabbas woke up and rolled from his mat. He looked out the window at the city below. After Barabbas had helped Joseph lay Jesus’ body to rest in the tomb, Joseph had taken him back to the inn for a bath and a shave. Barabbas, though still reeling from the circumstance of his release, felt like a new man. The two men had stayed in the inn for the Sabbath. They just couldn’t bring themselves to go about life as if nothing had changed. Jesus’ death had rocked their whole world, despite the little interaction either of them had had with the teacher.

Now, it was Sunday morning, the third day since Jesus had been crucified. Joseph was downstairs settling the bill. He was heading back to Arimathea today, so Barabbas would be on his own. Barabbas dressed and made his way downstairs. He expressed his thanks to Joseph and left the inn. He walked through the streets of Jerusalem in search of something, though he wasn’t sure what. He needed a job, or a mission, or anything to keep him out of prison. Joseph had told him about the disciples. Twelve men had traveled with Jesus and learned under his teaching for three years. What he would give for that kind of certainty. Now, they were in the same position he was. They too were men without purpose, disciples in search of a teacher.

Eleven, there were only eleven disciples left. Judas, the group treasurer, had betrayed the Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Overcome by guilt, he had hanged himself. Barabbas understood. He would have done the same thing, had he been given the opportunity. Except, he would have taken the money and ran, not thrown it back at the people it came from and hanged himself. That was the kind of Criminal Barabbas had been., relentless and selfish, only concerned with his own well being. Barabbas wondered what had become of the other eleven. Rumor around town was that they were holed up in some upper room. Apparently, that’s where they had spent their last meal with Jesus. Barabbas wanted to know where this was, so he asked around.

He thought, if he could find them, they could tell him more about their friend, Jesus. He wanted to know everything there was to know about the man who had taken his place on Golgotha. He didn’t know what he expected to happen. Surely, they wouldn’t be interested in teaching a crook like him. Still, he had hope. He had gotten some directions from people who didn’t recognize him. (That’s the problem with being a notorious ex-con. The people who recognized Barabbas didn’t want anything to do with him.) He was pretty sure he had found the house with the upper room in question. He stood on the road in front of the building as he tried to summon the courage to knock.

Just as he was about to approach the front door, two women came running up the street calling the names of Jesus’ disciples.

“Peter, John!!” they cried. “Come quick!”

Barabbas stepped back into the shadows and watched as two men came down from the upper room. The first man was a stranger to Barabbas. The second, he recognized as the contrite man he had met in the ally two days earlier.

“What is it, Mary?” John inquired. “What’s the matter?”

“We went to the tomb to dress Jesus’ body, because we didn’t have time on Friday to do it properly,” Mary explained. “The tomb was open, and Jesus’ body was gone. Two shining men told us…”

Peter and John didn’t wait to hear the end of the story. They took off as quickly as they could. Barabbas, not wanting to be left in the dark, followed them at a safe distance. John was the younger of the two, so he reached the tomb first. He was standing at the opening when Peter caught up. Barabbas watched under cover of the garden shrubbery as John stepped to the side, allowing Peter to enter the tomb. Peter was in the tomb for what seemed like forever. Finally, he reemerged and headed back to town with John.

Barabbas waited until they were gone before he approached the tomb. He knew the tomb well. He would never forget the time he spent with Joseph as they tenderly wrapped Jesus’ body in linen and spices and laid it on the stone slab against the inside wall. Barabbas saw the stone off to the side of the open doorway. Two Roman spears lay on the ground where the soldiers had left them. A splotch of red wax was on the exterior wall of the tomb, the final remnant of the high priest’s seal. Barabbas took a deep breath and stepped into the tomb.

The slab resting place was there, just as Barabbas remembered it. Everything else, was different. The linens lay unraveled on the slab and the face cloth was folded neatly at the head. If it hadn’t been for these remnants, Barabbas would not have believed that death had ever occupied this tomb. There was no smell, not even of the myrrh and spices with which they had dressed the body. They had used seventy-five pounds of spices. Surely, he would have been able to smell them. Barabbas thought he was going crazy. He had been in this very place the evening before last with the body of Jesus and now, there was no body to be found.

He turned from the slab and ran from the tomb. He had to catch Joseph before he left town. He started running through the garden and stopped. He saw a woman crying in the garden. He recognized her as one of the women who had helped wrap the body on Friday evening. Her name was Mary Magdalene. He thought about approaching her but decided against it. He turned away to leave but stopped when he heard Mary speak.

“They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have taken him,” she explained as she approached the doorway of the tomb. Barabbas could not see who she was talking to, but he thought he saw a light shining from inside the stone structure. Much to Barabbas’ surprise, a figure of a man appeared behind her. Mary turned and saw the man behind her.

“Why are you crying?” the man asked. “Who are you looking for?”

“Sir, what have you done with Jesus?” Mary asked. “If you have moved him, please tell where he is so that I may care for his body.”

She thinks he’s the gardener, Barabbas thought as he waited for the man’s reply.

“Mary,” the man said in a voice that dripped with love and compassion.

“Rabboni!” Mary exclaimed as Barabbas gasped.

The man in the garden was Jesus. Barabbas hardly recognized him from the state he was in Friday. His skin was fresh and clean. His cuts and bruises from the beatings he had endured were gone. The only evidence Barabbas could see of the trauma Jesus had endured were the nail holes in his hands. Otherwise, Barabbas would not have believed that he was looking at the same man. What was going on? He had watched the man as he was beaten and whipped to a bloody shadow of his former self. He had helped Joseph take his body down from his cross. He had carried the body from Golgotha to the tomb and helped lay it to rest. He knew all this to be true and yet, Jesus was standing before him, alive and well.

“Hello Barabbas.”

Barabbas stared. Jesus was standing literally in front of him. And addressing him by name.

“Rabboni,” Barabbas replied, echoing Mary’s greeting.

“You look well,” Jesus continued. “I’m glad to see you in a better state.”

“I share your sentiment, my Lord,” Barabbas replied. “You… you were dead. I saw you. I carried your body.”

“I know, Barabbas. Now I have risen. I had to die to pay the debt just as I had to rise again to conquer death,” Jesus explained.

“You paid my debt,” Barabbas clarified. “That beating, that cross, and those nails were meant for me. You took the punishment for my crimes. You died in my place.”

“I did, my son,” Jesus confirmed. “I died for you and I died for everyone who would believe. Now, go tell everyone you know what I have done for you.”

With that final statement, Jesus disappeared leaving Barabbas with not only his life, but his mission. Barabbas turned from the empty tomb and walked away from Jerusalem. He didn’t know where he would go, but he knew what he was going to do. He was going to tell everyone he met about the death, burial, and resurrection of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and about the promise of salvation through belief in God.