Choices. We make choices from the day we were born:

Where can I go to escape the pain of the past? How can I manage the pressures of the present? Is there freedom from the pessimism about the future? Where do I find security? For my friends, and the world at large? We each are aware of our own pain, life pressures, insecurities, and fears.

I am still in a reflective mood about the message of the Cross of Easter; its life is on-going.

I've been intrigued lately by a scripture that concludes the trial of Jesus.

So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him. (Matthew 27:26)

It was the Jewish custom to free a prisoner - any prisoner - during Passover. The day had come. And there were two to choose from:

1) Barabbas, or as some manuscripts read, Jesus Barabbas
2) Jesus who is called the Messiah (Christ)

Pilate had a choice; so do we.

A simple choice, yet one that held eternity in his hands.

The names strike me - Jesus Barabbas and Jesus Christ.

Both bearing the names of Jesus ... same but so different!

And I guess that's our first choice, Which Jesus do we want? A counterfeit or the true Jesus? There''s plenty of false Christs being presented today, promising everything but delivering little, just enough to keep us from the real thing. Then there are distortions of Christ built on lies and misinformation. But there is, really, only one Jesus that fits and fills the bill, required by God and adequate for our needs. We must be discerning between the true and the false.

The Jesus of The Da Vinci Code, The Gospel of Judas, and The Jesus Papers is not the true Jesus Christ. Listen: there is more documented scholarly evidence for the New Testament Jesus than for Julius Caesar. And yet no one is denying the authenticity of that J.C. There's something so unsettling about Jesus, about His claims, that we wish to reinvent Him. But in passing judgment upon Jesus we, like Pilate, judge ourselves.

Pilate had a choice; there was a fork in his path. He took the wrong turn, caving in to high-pressure tactics and popular opinion. And the consequences of his decision changed the course of history, and also for himself personally. He tried to wash himself of Christ but could not. Ideas have consequences.

Pilate released Barabbas. Barabbas was an insurgent, a murderer; in short, a terrorist. His destiny was the Third cross. But Jesus, the innocent, took his place and Barabbas, the guilty, went free. Jesus was substituted for the sinner. In theological terms that's known as substitutionary atonement.

While this scene was being played out in the physical it is also the stage on which the drama of the ages played out - the drama of Christ's victory over sin, death, hell and Satan. Yes, Jesus was doing the work of saving me and you by becoming our substitutionary atonement.

Saving us, what does that mean? Remember 911?. Many perished, others were rescued. The Tsunami? Thousands died, others were helped to safety. Katrina? In the midst of destruction, hope. Flood waters? Someone came in compassion and rescued, saved, giving hope. On a worldwide scale Jesus gave Himself to save everyone who believes from physical, spiritual, and eternal death. The sword of Damocles hangs over our heads.

Barabbas lived to see another day. Jesus died to create a new dawn of grace. I wonder how Barabbas lived thereafter - for himself or in gratitude?

So much could be said but let''s hurry on.

He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. Other translations/versions say: beaten with whips or scourged.

The irony of this is that the Creator is at the mercy of the created, and the result of the flogging, beating, mocking, abuse, produced an unrecognizable and unimaginable mass of flesh for a human. "His appearance was so changed he did not look like a man; his form was changed so much they could barely tell he was human." (Isaiah 52:14 NCV)

The ferociousness with which the torture was carried out was so ghastly and far-reaching that it became an enactment of all the venomous hatred directed toward God throughout human history, from beginning to end. It was as if every person stood there beating on Him, getting even with Him for all time and for all the times we thought He failed or disappointed us, or didn't fulfill our desires, or wasn't there when we needed Him, or intruded into our space. Hit Him. Hit Him again. Again, for me. Away with Him. Crucify Him. He isn't worthy of my allegiance.

"Then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him." Or, handed Him, released Him. Jesus was released for crucifixion to the powers of Rome, Judaism, and Greek culture; his death signature was written over the cross in the three main languages of the day, Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Jesus was releasing Himself to the torture and death of the cross as the Saviour of the world. Jesus was given to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. (Romans.4:25) When mankind was doing his worst, God was doing His best!

Not only did Jesus die for mankind but also to redeem the institutions of government, religion and culture for God. He took it all to the cross that it all might belong to Him. And one day it shall.

The Cross has no walls, no boundaries. At the Cross God sees us in our depravity, lostness, and insecurity with love and value. At the Cross we can open our minds to the power of God, our hearts to the grace of God, our lives to the love of God. The Cross comes with wide doors. No one is bad enough to not come. No one is good enough to stay away. There is room yet for one.

If you use your mouth to say, "Jesus is Lord," and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Through the Cross we can stand corrected before God and in life.

Sing, O sing, of our Redeemer!