The truth Martin Luther wrote about in 1520 still resonates today:
“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace unto sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange, our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s; and the righteousness of Christ is not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied Himself of His righteousness that He might clothe us in it, and fill us with it: and He has taken our evils upon Himself that He might deliver us from them.”
I doubt anyone has ever endured a longer night than Jesus did. First came the agony of prayer as He surrendered to God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then, He was arrested, brought before the religious leaders, and ultimately handed over to Pilate.
Pilate faced a choice: release Jesus or a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. In this moment, we see a vivid picture of the great exchange the Lord offers to all who walk with Him in faith.
So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (Matthew 27:17)
We know little about Barabbas. He may have been a revolutionary involved in an uprising, or simply a criminal who committed murder during his crimes. What we do know is that, spiritually, we are in the position of Barabbas. We deserve the punishment that Jesus willingly took upon Himself.
The prophet Isaiah illustrates how deeply we need Jesus and how graciously He gave Himself for us:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
Isaiah uses terms we can easily understand. Transgression means willfully crossing the line of God’s will. It is as if God puts up a “No Trespassing” sign; we see it, decide it does not apply to us, and cross the line anyway.
Iniquity refers to the inner crookedness of our lives—the condition of the heart that makes us willing to transgress in the first place.
The Crowd’s Choice
Jesus called the generation He walked among “perverse,” and He could likely say the same about us today. Left to its own devices, the crowd will always make the wrong choice. Only through God’s revelation and the Holy Spirit’s guidance can we choose rightly. In this historical moment, the crowd chose a murderer over the Giver of Life.
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!” Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:20-23)
God’s Great Exchange
Martin Luther could have chosen many Scripture passages to demonstrate the wonderful exchange Jesus provided through His death and resurrection. He frequently pointed to a single verse from 2 Corinthians that captures the gospel in just a few words:
For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Barabbas walked free because the One who knew no sin took his place on the cross. The same is true for us. Jesus, who knew no sin, absorbed our sin on the cross so that we could receive His righteousness. Here is another way Martin Luther described this profound truth:
“Here this rich and divine bridegroom Christ marries this poor, wicked harlot, redeems her from all her evil, and adorns her with all his goodness. Her sins cannot now destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by him. And she has that righteousness in Christ, her husband, of which she may boast as of her own.”
Without a doubt, Jesus is worthy of our praise, gratitude, and obedience in response to His immense love.
Join the Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Matthew 27:1-26 in more depth on YouTube today.
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