Dear Church Family,

We will honor our graduating seniors this coming Sunday in the second and third services. If you are in the first service and would like to see, it will be at the beginning of the third service. I’m so proud of these young men and women. I believe the LORD will use them mightily in their next step of life. We are grateful for their families as well.

Before I share my devotional thought, I wanted to give you my regular reminder to pay no attention to any email or text supposedly from me asking for money or gift cards. This is a common scam where the perpetrators steal a pastor’s contacts and then, using their own made up email, pretend to be the pastor, and ask for monetary things. I have spoken to law enforcement and they tell me there’s no solution as they continually change the email they use.

I read this and thought it might encourage you this week—
Remember Barabbas, the man that the crowd chose to release instead of Jesus, right before he was crucified?
The name Barabbas literally means son of the father. Bar meaning “son of” and Abba, “meaning father.” Some of the earliest manuscripts state that his full name was actually Jesus Barabbas. When the Roman Governor Pilate says, “Who do you want me to release for you?” It was a choice between Jesus Barabbas or son of the Father, and Jesus the Christ, son of God the Father, and we know the one they demanded to be released was the counterfeit. In the Old Testament, or the Old Covenant, there was a sacrificial system. They would bring two male goats and tie a scarlet piece of wool on them. Then the priest would lay both his hands on one of the goats, symbolically transferring the sins of the people onto one of the goats. One of the goats died for the sins of the people, and the other was set free into the wilderness as a symbol of mercy. One goat was sacrificed, the other went into the wilderness to carry the sins away. Remember how they put scarlet wool on one of them? They did the very same thing with Jesus. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. The lambs had to be spotless and perfect. Jesus is called the true Lamb of God—innocent, blameless, sinless, and he takes away the sin of the whole world, just like in the Old Testament where one was chosen for the sacrifice and one was chosen to be set free. Here we see the same—the lamb that was chosen for sacrifice and the one who was set free into the wilderness. Barabbas was the scapegoat. Barabbas was a criminal. He broke the law. He represents us who have broken the law. We get to go free because Christ died in our place. Barabbas symbolizes us, who are sons and daughters of the Father who have broken the law of God, but get to go free because Christ died and was sacrificed in our place. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. And because all have sinned, either we will die for our own sins or a substitute can make our death penalty payment in our place.

Press On!
Mark