Judas Iscariot and Barabbas

The final week of Jesus Christ’s mortal life was his most important. He spent all week teaching in the temple and making final points against the rulers of His day. He performed the Atonement and suffered in Gethsemane. He was convicted and crucified. Finally, He rose triumphantly from the tomb that held Him bound. This last week, which encompasses what we now call the Passion, is written about in more detail by the Gospel writers than any other in His life. Because we have four slightly different accounts of this most important of times, we can learn different things from each.
The Book of Matthew, for example, shows fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy in the Saviour’s actions during the Passion. One important thing that Matthew teaches us about the Passion is when Judas first went to the chief priests and a hint as to why. We read that he leaves right after Jesus is anointed with the alabaster box of ointment by the woman, and Jesus once again prophecies his coming death. Maybe Judas finally understood that Jesus was really going to die. Maybe he decided that Jesus wasn’t really the Messiah he was looking for that would thrust out the Roman occupiers and establish the political and spiritual Israel again. Maybe he doubted and thought that Jesus of Nazareth was just another false Messiah who was a danger to the spiritual well-being of his people. Regardless of what exactly was going through his head, something happened to Judas during this incident. He made a deal to betray his friend and Master for thirty pieces of silver, a deal which he would fulfill in the coming days.
Another insight I learned while studying the last few chapters of Matthew was the irony and symbolism of the release of prisoners. As was the custom of the Passover celebration, Pilate offered to release Christ or Barabbas to the people, to which the hand-picked group of Sadducean supporters chose Barabbas. There is a very symbolic comparison between these two men which I had never noticed before. Because certain names were so common during this time, people were often distinguished by a suffix of whom their father was or where they were from, hence Simon bar-Jonah, or Simon son of Jonah. Bar Abbas is one such suffix, and so was not the thief’s given first name. Early manuscripts of Matthew reveal to us that his name was in fact Jesus bar-Abbas. Early monks were likely too ashamed that the murdering seditionist should have the same name as Christ and deleted it from the text. But there is purpose in the comparison. Jesus of Nazareth sought to bring about the kingdom of God, so did Jesus bar-Abbas. Jesus of Nazareth sought to bring it about by faith and repentance, while Jesus bar-Abbas sought to bring it about by murder, violence, and force--the method most Jews of the day expected the Messiah to usher in his reign. Jesus bar-Abbas means “Jesus son of the Father” while Jesus Christ was literally the Son of Heavenly Father. These are just a few of the comparisons.
The narrative ends with Jesus proclaiming his absolute power and commanding the disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Through Matthew’s account, we see the triumph of Jesus over death and the steps it took to get him there.