Daddy’s Boy

February 15, 2020

Was he spoiled as a child, only to fall in with a bad lot as he grew? Had he been a prodigal from the start, with a father longing and waiting for him to come home? With only bits of the story, we’ll never know, but we do know his name—Barabbas, “bar—son, abba—father,” i.e. “father’s son,” or “daddy’s boy.” However he started out, by the time he appears on the scene he is an insurrectionist, a guerrilla fighter captured and on trial for murder, wayward and lost, but still a father’s son.

Did you catch the subtle contrast? It’s intentional. The very first words of his gospel have Mark proclaiming “Jesus, Son of God.” As the end approaches, this son is praying in a garden, “Abba, Father,” yielding himself to the power of Rome, while this other son is snarling in defiance of that same power. Barabbas, released by Pilate, while the Son of the Father is condemned to die. Don’t miss the irony. But even more importantly, don’t miss the rest of the story. Barabbas is me, son of my father Adam, an insurrectionist rebelling against my spiritual Father, wandering in murderous rage against an authority I refuse to acknowledge, while the Second Adam (as St. Paul calls him) rebels against that authority on his knees.

Mark’s gospel is a tale of two sons, one of whom is me, the other Jesus Christ. The first son angrily rebelled and was imprisoned, waiting the death sentence when the Second Son stepped forth, bound an bloodied, to die in his place, setting him free. It is a story that never grows old, that echoes through history as THE Story. The prodigal’s father waited at the gate for his son to come home, and he did...in Jesus Christ. In him, I wear the robe; my finger bears the ring of ownership, and the fatted calf has been killed. Daddy’s boy has returned. Let the party begin!