Set Free
Matthew 27:15-26
So (Pilate) released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. v. 26
Because of Jesus, Barabbas is set free. Jesus takes his place as the condemned prisoner. The crowd chooses the criminal Barabbas over the innocent Jesus. Yet, we never hear of Barabbas again. Did he amend his ways? Did he become a believer? Did he become a witness to God’s mighty acts?
Prisoners, once they are released, face a new challenge. Their misdeeds and their incarceration follow them into their new freedom. At times it can feel as though they are still in prison. Their freedoms are curtailed. People view them with suspicion. They can find it difficult to find employment, perhaps housing, etc. The people who accept them are their old friends who got them in trouble in the first place.
Some communities now take small steps to help people transition back into everyday society. Halfway houses provide one of those support structures. Another more recent effort is in creating Circles of Support for people released from prison. A small group of concerned people gather with the released prisoner on a weekly basis for conversation and support. They aren’t part of any post-prison supervision, just people in the community who want to help someone establish a new life. These circles of support have proved helpful in keeping the participants from returning to prison.
The shadow of the cross lies over the life of freedom that Barabbas was given. Did he ever know the light of the resurrection? Will those who leave our prisons know that light?
Pray: O God the author of freedom, your son Jesus was put in prison and a condemned man was set free. The cross lies before us as a symbol of how you have set us free though we are sinners. Help us to live responsibly and responsively in that freedom. Amen.
Fast: From branding all who complete prison terms as worthless.
Act: Befriend a person on probation
OR $1 for ELCA World Hunger justice projects
...the least of these... 