In this Easter sermon we looked at the meaning and reason for the holiday by examining the story of Barabbas. We saw how the events of this story take place in order to preserve the innocence of the Saviour; even the enemies of Christ prove that He is the sinless Lamb of God. We also saw how this story emphasises the infamy of man’s sin nature by the way the people chose the criminal Barabbas over Jesus. Finally, we saw how the story of Barabbas parallels our story with the Saviour; just as Jesus took Barabbas’ place on the cross, He took our place as well. The story of Easter is that of substitution, Christ taking our place on the cross and the punishment we rightly deserve for our sins. The hope of Easter is that just as we credit our sin to Christ, He credits His innocence to us so that we would stand justified before the Father.
