There is one aspect of the Easter story that doesn’t often connect with most people on the pro-life issue. Barabas! What can we learn from the story of Barabas in relation to doing pro-life ministry? Perhaps orOne of the most dramatic and tragic stories in the Bible is when Pilate asked the crowd if they wanted to release Jesus or Barabbas. As we know, the crowd chose Barabas, a notorious criminal, who was probably involved in murder and rebellion.
We can easily get angry with Pilate for giving in to the crowd. After all, he declared that he found no fault in Jesus and tried to set him free. But the Jewish religious leaders took a moral issue—Jesus’ challenge to their hypocritical practices—and made it political. Because Pilate was a politician, he faced the choice that every politician faces, the choice between giving the people what they think will make them happy even though doing so will not sanctify them. I call it Pilate’s Dilemma.
Watch the full LifeChat:
Pilate’s Dilemma and Why We Should Scream for Life
The following text is an excerpt of LifeChat from Roland Warren. For the full LifeChat, watch the full video.
Sadly, it is the nature of politics to give people what they want, even if it is unholy.
You can compare it to the call of a pastor and the command of Christ. A good pastor gives people what will sanctify them even if it doesn’t make them happy.
As I thought about this problem, it occurred to me that the choice of piety is not usually part of the political calculus. That is why those who want to promote immoral practices usually want to frame them as political issues. They wanted to put these issues to Pilate who did not appreciate the truth.
Think of this in the context of the abortion issue. It became clear, because the collapse of Roe V. Wadethat many Americans are the crowd calling for abortion. Accordingly, both political parties, like Pilate, are trying to determine how to respond.
Interestingly, when I started Care Net in 2012, the pro-life legislative position was to end abortion. There was a morality-based debate about exceptions such as rape and maternal health. With these exceptions, abortion would be prohibited in about 97% of cases.
But now, the pro-life legislative position has shifted from an exception-based model to a week-based model with a target of 15 weeks.
According to the CDC’s most recent data on when abortions occurred, a 15-week ban would make abortion legal in over 97% of cases.
Unfortunately, too many politicians make Barabbas-like decisions, even when they say they see no fault in the innocent child in the womb.
Now, this may sound like a pessimistic view of things, but the point is to ask if we are putting our hope in the right place. If you want things to change, if you want politicians to give us what is holy, we must change the majority.
That’s why Care Net has focused so much effort to reach pro-choice people, especially Christians who claim to be pro-choice. Change what the crowd is shouting and you change what the politicians give us.
In fact, I think it is especially important for Christians to understand. We must focus a disproportionate amount of our time, talent, and resources on changing the masses by providing compassion, hope, and help to women and men at risk of abortion, and by providing abortion. which is unimaginable so that we start screaming for life.
