BARABBAS

The gospels say that Pilate lets the Jews decide whether he should free Jesus or Barabbas. Whereas Saint Matthew only says of Barabbas that he was a notorious prisoner (Mt27:16), according to Saint John he was a thief (Jn18:40), while Saint Mark and Saint Luke tell us that he was in jail with the rebels who had committed murder during the uprising (Mc15:7/Lc23:19). However, ‘bar’ and ‘abba’ are Aramaic (the language spoken at that time in those territories) and mean ‘son’ and ‘father’, respectively. Therefore, ‘Barabbas’ literally means ‘son of the father’.

The fact that Pilate lets the people choose between Jesus and someone called ‘the son of the father’ suggests that he had arrested Jesus’ son*. This means that Pilate gave the Jews no real choice. If they chose Jesus, he would feel guilty about the death of his son. By choosing Barabbas, the Jews opted for that particular male lineage that many generations would lead to Jesus’ Second Coming.

Because of the traditional interpretation of this story, many Christians used to regard the Jews as the people who took Jesus away from them, instead of those who gave him to the world. The accusation of being Jesus’ murderers has been responsible for a lot of hatred and has led to several genocides during which Christians killed many Jews.

*Traditionally Jesus was believed to be 33 years old at the time of his crucifixion, but today even the Vatican assumes he was about 40 years old. This is also the age the prophet Mohamed had when he received his enlightenment, and is also the age at which people suffer a crisis that makes them reflect upon their life and the meaning of it all. This explains why Cabbalists (Jewish mystics) believe that one has to be over 40 in order to understand the Holy Scriptures.