Tag: Barabbas

Episode NT32 – The Soldier’s story

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based upon the crucifixion accounts in the Bible

Episode NT32 – The Soldier’s story

‘I saw it all. You see, I was in the Roman army at the time and I lived in Jerusalem. We’d ‘eard about Jesus and many of us ‘ad seen ‘im. ‘E didn’t look anything special, but they kept telling us about the miracles’e’d done, and the things ‘e’d said about God. We thought everyone loved Jesus – but we were wrong!’

‘In the middle of the night we got ordered to go and arrest Jesus, and one of ‘is followers, a man named Judas, took us to ‘im in some kind of garden in the middle of nowhere so we could arrest ‘im! Why ‘e needed arresting I’ll never know! It’s not as if ‘e ever did anything wrong. Still, orders is orders, so me and me men went with Judas and some of the Jewish guards to this garden – and there was Jesus. (P) Judas was scum! ‘E led us right to Jesus, ‘is own friend – someone ‘e’d followed and lived with for three years, and then shows us in the darkness exactly who ‘e was by giving ’im a welcoming kiss – the kiss of a friend … becoming the kiss of betrayal!’

‘Well, at that point we arrested Jesus and took ‘im to the Jewish leaders who hate ‘im. We went back to our barracks for some sleep. But apparently, when ‘e gets to the Jewish leaders, they accuse ‘im of all kinds of rubbish – an’ no one can agree with what anyone else says! It’s a shambles. But then the ‘igh priest asks Jesus if ‘e’s the Son of God? ‘N Jesus says – Yeah, ‘e is! This makes the leaders go potty and they demand ‘is death. Mind you, I reckon they’d already decided they wanted ‘im dead before they even asked that question. – And anyway, what worried me a little was, what if Jesus was telling the truth? What if ‘e really was the Son of God?’

‘Anyway, then, we ‘ear that Jesus was kinda beaten up by the Jewish leaders and taken to our boss, Pilate and Pilate starts to question Jesus about all the false things that the Jewish leaders have said about ‘im. Pilate’s not stupid, ‘e knows that they’re just jealous of Jesus and want ‘im out the way so they can keep their own privileged positions. Then ‘e asks Jesus – ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’

‘Jesus answers that one and says that his Kingdom is not of this world! (P) And Pilate gets a little worried about that answer. And as Jesus hasn’t shown any signs of being either dangerous or guilty of anything, Pilate starts to think, ‘I better let ‘im go!’

‘Now, it was the time of a special feast in Jerusalem called Passover when each year Pilate lets one of the prisoners, who we’ve worked really hard to catch, go free! So we’re none to ‘appy about this idea, but apparently it keeps the Jews ‘appy! Anyway, Pilate doesn’t want to execute Jesus, so he goes before a ‘uge crowd and tries to make them agree to let Jesus go! But they refused! I think the Jewish leaders were down in the crowd telling the people to shout against Jesus. And then, the people start to demand that someone else, a murderer no less, called Barabbas, be set free! It made no sense to me!’

‘So Barabbas – the murdering scum that ‘e is – gets released and Pilate starts asking the crowd what ‘e should do with Jesus! At first ‘e suggests that ‘e has ‘im whipped and set free. But as I watch I see those religious leaders out in the crowd shouting as loud as they can for Jesus to be crucified! Crucified! ‘E’s innocent and they want to kill ‘im with one of the nastiest deaths that’s ever been thought of? Pilate didn’t like the idea of that, you could tell, but when the Jewish leaders started to say they’d tell the Roman Emperor that Pilate wouldn’t execute a rival king – because Jesus had claimed to be the ‘King of the Jews’ and Rome considered anyone who claimed to be a king to be an enemy of the Emperor – Pilate ‘ad no choice. It was more than ‘is job was worth to say no! So ‘e ‘anded Jesus over to us – to crucify ‘im.’ (P)

‘But all the time I was wondering, if ‘e really is the Son of God, then why is ‘e going through all this? Why doesn’t ‘e just walk away, call down a legion of angels or do … something? Why’s ‘e letting them treat ‘im like this? An’ after a while I think, well, maybe ‘e isn’t the Son of God after all? Coz surely God wouldn’t let all this ‘appen to ‘is own Son – would ‘e?’

‘Anyway, first thing we did, so that the whole crowd could see, was whip ‘im. An’ as it was Pilate’s order, we whipped ‘im good n proper. (P) Still nothing! Still no calling down of angels to help, not even after we turned ‘is back to – jelly!’

‘So then we took ‘im away to our barracks – we liked to have a little, er, fun with the condemned, remind them who’s boss so to speak. Now, one of my soldiers ‘ad an old purple cloak, the kind of thing only really important people use, an’ ‘e came up with a wicked idea. Jesus was supposed to be some kind of King or something right? So we wrapped ‘im up in the purple cloak while a couple of me men rushed outside to get some branches from a thorn bush and twist them together to make a kinda crown, which we ramed it on ‘is ‘ead and laughed as the blood flowed down ‘is face.’

‘Then, someone else gave ‘im a stick to hold, so that ‘e looked kind of like a king with ‘is royal robe, crown and sceptre! Then the lads laid into ‘im and with howls of laughter we knelt before the ‘king of the Jews’, and then grabbed the stick and whacked ‘im round the ‘ed with it. It was a laugh! And boy, did we give ‘im a good beating – we beat ‘im until we were bored! (P) And still, in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘surely ‘e can’t be the Son of God?’ Coz as we beat ‘im up, if ‘e was the Son of God, ‘e could’ve called down angels, or struck us dead or something! And yet, ‘e just took it, like I’d never seen before. Anyway, as I said, after a while we got bored of it all and took ‘im off to be crucified.’

‘‘E was real weak by now. I guess ‘e’d already lost a lot of blood, and as we put the cross on ‘im to carry up the ‘ill to be crucified, ‘e stumbled and fell over, it was all too much. (P) Funny really, I think maybe this would ‘ave been the time to call it a day. ‘Ed proved ‘is point! ‘E could take it, ‘e was special, we could see that. So why didn’t ‘e end it now? – One of me lads got a bloke who’d just arrived in town and made ‘im carry the cross for Jesus – we certainly weren’t going to carry it for ‘im! Cross’s are for scum – the only time we touch ‘em is when we nail villains to ‘em. And so Jesus carried on up the ‘ill, along with another couple of scum bags we were going to crucify with ‘im.’

‘When we got to the top of the ‘ill, we made the bloke carrying the cross put it on the ground.  And then, we laid Jesus on it and rammed the nails through ‘is hands and ‘is feet so that ‘e wasn’t going anywhere. Then we stood the cross up and let it drop into it’s hole in the ground. We did the same to the other two criminals. – And then we waited! It takes a long time to die when you’re crucified. Some of the others started to divide up Jesus’ clothes, but when they got to the undergarment, it’s an all in one job and they didn’t want to rip it up, it was too nice for that, so they cast lots to see who’d get it. Well at least one of ‘em was ‘appy.’

‘All of this ‘appened early in the morning and the people and the religious leaders came to gloat at the death of their enemy. They kept shouting at Jesus again ‘n again, telling ‘im to come down from the cross to prove ‘e was the Son of God. Yet ‘e stayed there! Surely if ‘e was the Son of God ‘e’d ‘ave come down? Surely?’

‘Then one of the criminals started ‘aving a go at Jesus as well. Why couldn’t they just leave ‘im alone? But before I could say anything the other criminal told the first one to shut it! ‘E said something like, ‘we deserve to die coz we’ve done bad things, but Jesus, ‘e’s not done anything wrong, ‘e’s innocent’. And then ‘e looked across at Jesus and said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.’ It sent chills down my spine. And Jesus said to ‘im, ‘Today, you will be with me in paradise.’

‘A funny thing ‘appened then. Not funny ha ha, but funny strange. At about noon, just as we were beginning to think about our lunch, it went dark – as if the sun ‘ad just stopped shining! We carried on anyway, got some torches and kept watch. But there was a lot less noise, less people passing through or saying anything. I began to feel really uncomfortable. Coz somehow I knew what Jesus had told that criminal, about paradise and all that, was true!’

‘It stayed dark till about 3 in the afternoon and then, all of a sudden, Jesus shouts out in a really loud voice, ‘My God, My God, why ‘ave you forsaken me?’ It chokes me up just to remember the pain in ‘is voice, it was enough to break your ‘eart. And then, ‘e shouted again, ‘It is finished!’ And ‘e died – just like that!’

‘But as ‘e died, there was an earthquake and the rocks split open. And I found out later that a really important curtain in the Jewish temple, the curtain that’s supposed to keep the people separated from God, was torn in two from top to bottom.’

‘’N as I saw all this, at last I knew it really was true, so I said it, coz I didn’t care who heard. ‘Truly – this was the Son of God.’                  

Episode NT30 – Peter’s failure and Pilate’s Trial

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Matthew chapter 26 verse 69 to chapter 27 verse 26

Peter’s failure and Pilate’s Trial

While Jesus was being tried by the leaders of Israel, Peter sat outside in the cold courtyard. He was thinking about how Jesus had encouraged them to pray with Him on the Mount of Olives and how they’d let Him down by falling asleep. But there was something else Jesus had said that’d hurt his pride – ‘What was it?’ he thought as he waited to hear what would happen to Jesus.

As he sat there, thinking about all that’d happened, how Judas had betrayed Jesus and how Jesus had been arrested, a young servant girl walked up to him staring closely at his face in the firelight. ‘I thought so,’ she said out loud, ‘you were one of those with Jesus.’

A surge of fear rushed through Peter’s body and he felt his cheeks flush, ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.’ And he stood up and walked over to the gate.

But a little later, while he was standing at the gate, another servant girl came up and also looked at him closely. ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth,’ she told the people standing around.

Again Peter felt the surge of fear, the flushing of his cheeks and, looking nervously at the people around him who were paying him much closer attention now, he swore an oath! ‘Look, I promise, I don’t even know the man – leave me alone.’

As Peter moved away again to another part of the courtyard, some other people started murmuring to each other nearby. After talking to each other for a few moments, they came over to Peter. ‘You must have been one of His followers,’ they said, ‘we can tell from your accent.’

‘Leave me alone,’ Peter shouted, ‘I swear by God Himself that I do NOT know this man!’ (P) No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than the cockerel crowed. And Peter remembered the thing that had bothered him earlier, the thing that had hurt his pride. It was Jesus’ words to him, ‘Before the cockerel crows you will have said three times that you don’t know me.’ And so Peter went away, crying bitterly. (PAUSE)

Early the next morning all the leaders of Israel met once again to work out how they were going to persuade the Romans to sentence Jesus to death. Then they bound Jesus up tightly and took Him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

Judas had been paid thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. But early the next day, when he realised that Jesus had been sentenced to death – he was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt! Going back to the temple with the money, he went to see the chief priests. ‘I’ve sinned,’ he told them, ‘by betraying an innocent man.’

‘So what,’ they replied, ‘what do we care? That’s your problem.’ So Judas took the thirty pieces of silver, threw them onto the floor of the temple and went out and hung himself. (PAUSE)

By this time Jesus was standing before the Roman governor Pilate. Pilate wasn’t too happy about being made to work so early in the morning. And to make matters worse, the Jews refused to go into his palace to see him because it would make them ceremonially unclean and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover feast. (P) Anyway, at their insistence, Pilate went to see them. ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ he asked, looking Jesus up and down.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ replied Jesus.

Then the chief priests and the other leaders made all their accusations against Jesus as Pilate patiently listened. But all the time these lies were being told about Him, Jesus said nothing. ‘Can’t You hear what they’re saying against You?’ Pilate demanded. But to Pilate’s great surprise Jesus remained silent.

Now it didn’t take a genius to work out that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of jealousy, so Pilate decided he’d take the opportunity to use a custom that he’d set in place over the last few years. It had become his custom, once a year at the Passover celebrations, to release one prisoner to the crowds, anyone they wanted. This last year a particularly evil man named Barabbas had been caught, arrested and sentenced to death for leading a rebellion and for murder. As the crowds started to gather before Pilate’s palace he called out to them, ‘Which of these two do you want me to release to you? Barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Messiah?’

At that moment, as Pilate sat on his seat of judgement before the people, an urgent message came through to him from his wife. ‘Your wife says that you must leave that innocent man alone,’ the messenger reported, ‘because she says that she had a terrible nightmare about Him last night.’ But it was too late to back down now; Pilate had to see the thing through.

Meanwhile, while Pilate received the message from his wife, the chief priests and the other leaders urged the crowds to ask for Barabbas to be set free and for Jesus to be put to death! So when Pilate asked again, ‘Which of these two do you want me to release?’ The crowds screamed ‘Barabbas,’ and not ‘Jesus’!

‘But if I release Barabbas to you,’ Pilate called back, ‘then what should I do with the one called Jesus, the Messiah?’

And then, the same crowd who a week earlier had waved palm branches welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem as the long-awaited Messiah shouted, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’

Pilate couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The Jews hated crucifixion! It was a Roman punishment to put to death the lowest kinds of criminals! And so he called back to the crowd, ‘Why should I crucify Him? What crime has He committed?’

But the crowd’s mood started to change, and more angrily and louder than before they shouted back, ‘Crucify Him!’

Quickly Pilate realised that the situation was in danger of becoming a riot! So, with the crowd watching he called for a bowl of water, and washing his hands in front of them he said, ‘I declare before you all that I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!’

At this, the people yelled back, ‘Let the responsibility fall on us and our children!’

So Pilate released Barabbas to the crowd and ordered that Jesus be flogged with a whip that had pieces of lead and bone in its strands so that it stuck in His back and pulled the skin off. Then he turned Jesus over to the soldiers so that they could crucify Him. (PAUSE)

And so a guilty man, a man who’d murdered others – walked free, while in His place an innocent man, a man who would do no wrong – was sent to crucifixion! But that was the whole point of what was to follow, the innocent dying for the guilty.