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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Atonement (01/22/26)
WOMAN IN BIBLICAL GARB ADDRESSES THE AUDIENCE

I’ve known my friend Hanna since I was a girl. We wandered the streets of Jerusalem, sharing our hopes and dreams.

I remember a conversation we had one day.

“Do you think the Messiah will ever come?” I asked wistfully.

“Yes!” Hanna said with passion, and she got up and started slashing the air with her hand like a sword, “And he will sweep in, and the Romans won’t know what hit them!” Hanna was always angry at the world, especially the Romans.

As the years went on, we both made a lot of bad choices. My past was strewn with the results of those choices.

Except for Hanna, I had no one. Both our husbands died in knife fights. I had no children; my friend had one - Barabbas. I’ve known Barabbas since he was in Hanna’s womb. I don’t know if he suckled rage from her breast, but even as an infant, he roared his outrage at the world. But Hanna fiercely loved her only son. And while Barabbas seemed to hate the world, he loved and protected Hanna.

I worried about the path that Barrabas was on. I feared for the harm he would cause: to Jerusalem, to Hanna’s heart. And violence followed him everywhere he went. His rage was always looking for an outlet. While I wept with Hanna at his arrest and pending execution, I wasn’t surprised. Perhaps I was even relieved.

In the meantime, I made a new friend. How I’m not even sure. We met in the marketplace. I was immediately drawn by her kind eyes. And she didn’t think she was better than me; she didn’t shirk me because of all my bad choices. Like Hanna, she loved her son fiercely. Her son Jesus.

Could this Jesus be the Messiah? But he seemed so different than the Messiah Hanna and I had been so anticipating.

And then came the day of the choice. Hanna told me there was a chance Barrabas could be released. I feared for the release of the rage-filled Barabbas, but I feared for my friend if she lost her only son.

Pilate was going to release a prisoner! But who was the other prisoner, who did we have to choose from?

When they brought out Jesus, my jaw dropped. Jesus? He helped lepers. He forgave prostitutes. He forgave, he forgave, he forgave. The words drummed in my head. Could he forgive my sins? But there were so many, from so many bad choices.

And I realized I had to make a choice. What name would I cry?

Jesus or Barabbas?

Love or rage?

Truth or lies?

Peace or violence?

What mother would I choose? My longtime friend or my new friend?

How could Jesus be the Messiah? How could the Messiah be standing there, beaten and in chains?

We didn’t need a man of love.
We needed a champion!

And so I take a deep breath and scream my choice,

Barabbas!

Days went by. I’m haunted by all my past poor choices. I’m haunted by the tear-stained face of Mary at the cross. I’m haunted by the words from Jesus on the cross, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

Forgive..forgive…forgive

How could he forgive?

And I think again how he forgave so many, and I had craved to receive that forgiveness.

Words echo in my head

If only, if only, if only I had gone to Jesus while he was alive.

Too late, too late, too late

I had made so many bad choices over the years. And now the ultimate bad choice.

Days go by. I avoid Hanna and Mary because their faces remind me of my choice. But one day, I couldn’t avoid Mary because she came right up to me, her face shining with joy.

I couldn’t believe it. Joy? She took me by the hand, and she explained it all to me.

And she tells me, “Keziah, you made the right choice..perhaps for the wrong reason, but the right choice. My son had to die.”

What? And she explained it all, Christ, the perfect lamb sacrificed for ALL of our sins, if we chose him. I told her, it’s too late for me to choose Jesus. And with shining eyes, she tells me, “It’s not too late, Jesus is alive! He conquered death!

And I finally made the right choice.
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This article has been read 148 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Bonnie Bowden 
01/31/26
Powerful monologue of how Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection erases all our bad choices if we believe in Him!
Wilma Schlegel
02/03/26
Such an original story! I’ve never thought about Barabbas having a mother or of her contemporaries. I enjoyed this. Thank you.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
02/04/26
I really enjoyed this. You pulled me in right away. I wrote a story once about Judas' mother and yours reminds me of that. It's important to put ourselves into the minds of others. It expands our thinking and creates empathy.
Terry R A Eissfeldt 
02/05/26
Wow - this is powerful. Blessings
Loni Bowden-Horn 
02/05/26
Congratulations on your 2nd place in EC.

This was a powerful piece of how important and sometimes very difficult to think we can be forgiven for our poor choices in life.


I really liked how you showed us how the mother of Barabbas must of felt, but you also showed how Hanna was able to accept forgiveness from Jesus.

Well written;