Palm Sunday
Bishop Ray Sutton

In theology the giving of one for the other is called substitutionary atonement. In a profound manner, our Gospel lesson of the passion of Christ presents Christ as our substitute. In St. Matthew’s account of Christ’s trial, Pilate decides to honor one of the Jews’ own customs. The text of Matthew 27:15 states, “now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the multitude any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they were holding at that time a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Christ?” for he knew that because of envy they had delivered Him up. . . . But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death” (27:15-20).

The offer of Pilate inadvertently activates the law of substitution. One could be released for another according to a law. Jesus would have been allowed to be set free by means of this law. Instead, the Jews called for the release of a notorious criminal, Barabbas. When Barabbas was released, Jesus became His substitute. He died in the place of a guilty man. Through this heinous act of mockery, choosing the guilty over the innocent man, the whole purpose of Christ’s coming is declared. He was to pay the price for our sins.

Substitution is so much a part of life that even when Jesus’ accusers tried to escape it they couldn’t. It reminds me of a comment made by the renowned Anglican editor and Christian Science fiction writer in the mid 20th century, Charles Williams, fellow mentor and inkling with C.S. Lewis. He provided a magnificent natural analogy of the inherent nature of substitution in the warp and woof of God’s order of things. He calls it the “way of exchange.” He writes, “Before any child can be born, the masculine seed has to be received by the feminine vessel. The man is quite helpless to produce a child unless he surrenders the means to someone else; the woman is as helpless unless she receives the means from someone else. . . . It is a mutual act—but not only in the sense that two people agree to do something together. They do do something together, but they do it by an act (as regards the child) of substitution. . . . By the substitution of the woman for the man the seed fructifies. . . . That substitution produces new life” (“The Way of Exchange,” Charles Hefling, edt., Charles Williams, pp. 208-209).

The prophet Isaiah states, “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities” (53:5). The account of Barabbas is to remind us of ourselves. We were the guilty released because of the death of another. This is called substitution. John Newton, the 18th Anglican vicar converted from slave trader and author of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, wrote the following poem.

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp'd my wild career:
I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix'd His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem'd to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:
My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help'd to nail Him there.
 
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave, which said,
"I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may'st live."

Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now if fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill'd!

For family devotions, Martin Luther, the powerful German Reformer, once read the account of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. His wife, Katie, said, "I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that!" "But, Katie," Luther replied, "He did." Yes, God did, by substituting our malady with His own self. Let us embrace by faith the full force of this substitutionary atonement for us on the Cross of Christ. Amen.