A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. – Mark 15:9

Today's Scripture Reading (February 17, 2024): Mark 15

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet).

William Shakespeare placed these iconic words in the mouth of his tragic heroine, Juliet, in his play "Romeo and Juliet." The words have gone beyond the play to the point that even those who have never seen or read "Romeo and Juliet" have heard the words, although they may not know from where they first came. Shakespeare seems to be alluding to something that we know all too well. The name doesn't matter. All that matters is the essential character of the one whose name we are calling. And sometimes, people live up to their names, but often they don't. However, sometimes, people can even restore honor to a name that has been dragged through the dirt.

We know this, yet sometimes we expect the name to mean something. I visited a friend in another city a few years ago, and we decided to go to a local music store. While there, I was looking at a new keyboard and gave my business card to the salesperson dealing with us. She noticed my name and asked, "Are you an Eastern Mullen or a Western Mullen?" I told her I was a transplanted Eastern Mullen (we were in a Western city), and while my closest relatives live in the central portion of the nation, my roots are from the Atlantic States and Provinces in both the United States and Canada. She nodded and added that she was also an Eastern Mullen, and then she added another question, "Are your relatives all drunks, too?" For her, the name carried an expectation of uncontrolled alcohol consumption, maybe stereotypical of our Irish roots. But in this conversation, the name meant something specific.

Matthew reproduces this story from Mark, but he makes a point of giving us the full name of the man that most of us in the church know simply as Barabbas, and according to Matthew, the full name of this insurrectionist is Jesus Barabbas. Church historian Origen was so insulted that anyone with Barabbas' pedigree could share a name with the Messiah that he removed the name from any of the texts he had control over. Origen was convinced that the name was slipped into the text by scribes bent on destroying the Christian faith. Maybe Mark felt the same, so he called the criminal Barabbas. But the evidence that we have leads us to the conclusion that Matthew was right; the name of the man who was sentenced to death and then released in the place of Jesus Christ really was Jesus Barabbas.

This is where the story begins to get really weird. Not only did Jesus bar Joseph, who is called the Messiah, and Jesus Barabbas share a first name, but they also shared another designation. Barabbas literally means "bar" – son, combined with "abba" - of the father. The question that Pilate asks the crowd is, which "Jesus, Son of the Father" do you want to be freed? Barabbas was likely a revolutionary, likely on behalf of the Zealots, to overthrow Rome. And Jesus the Messiah was working towards a spiritual overthrow of Satan. But both claimed to be the son of the father.

The question still hasn't changed. After which Jesus are you chasing?  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 23