A Year in Luke/ActsSample

Pilate calls together the chief priests, leaders, and the people to offer an ultimatum. He suggests releasing Jesus, but the people call for another prisoner: Barabbas. This was a man who was in prison for doing what some people thought the Messiah should be doing, namely, leading a violent “insurrection” (as the NRSV puts it) to overthrow the Romans.

The word "insurrection" is interesting and gets to the difference at play. Barabbas represents trying to force a kingdom into being. He was trying to beat the Romans at their own game, and indeed the game of every human empire in history.

Jesus was building a Kingdom not on insurrection, but Resurrection. By submitting Himself to the pride, confusion, and violence of human empires, Jesus is showing another way. To in-surrect, you try to strike down a government or authority, but to re-surrect you allow yourself to be struck down.

By doing so, Jesus unleashes a Power into the Universe that is unrivaled - the Power of Sacrificial Love.