“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

John 18:38-40

This passage is just too modern: post-modern actually.

Just last week, I was teaching my Year 7 class about the anti-hero.

These days we are more interested in the anti-hero than the god-like heroes of ancient mythology.

The reason being is that the anti-hero is more human. More flawed. They allow us to embrace our flaws because they don’t have it all together.

However, contemporary audiences also love an intriguing villain with a great backstory. Never mind that the villain is diabolical and dangerous. Post-modern audiences aren’t concerned with that.

Because they aren’t concerned with the truth. Much like Pilate they question whether the truth can be known at all. So, because the truth is potentially unknowable and because an overly capable hero shines too much light on our darkness, the decision in modern texts is to not worry about them too much.

Do we want a squeaky-clean Superman?

“No, not him! Give us Barabbas!”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. Well, the truth is that Barabbas was a violent insurgent. That’s who the religious leaders chose to set free at the Passover, instead of Jesus.

They chose to sacrifice the perfect lamb, Jesus and set the stained criminal, Barabbas, free. Without realising it, they chose to display the gospel message with such great clarity on that very first Easter weekend.

If only they had known the truth of what Jesus’ sacrifice could achieve – and believed it.

We do actually want a squeaky-clean Superman, because we need Him. We are all wretched sinners like Barabbas, in need of a Saviour. And only the God-man, Jesus has the ability to set us free from our sins.

That’s as super as a Superman can get.

I remember one youth camp I attended as a teenager that had a hero themed dress up night. I’m not sure what prompted it, but I decided to dress up as Lois Lane. At least this was my plan, until all my peers ripped it to shreds – “Lois Lane? She’s not a hero.”

Never mind my refuting this and saying that she was Superman’s girlfriend and a hero in her own right. They really shouted me down.

The crowd will do that. They did it to Pilate and Jesus was led away to the cross.

It’s not easy to side with Jesus. Apparently it’s not easy to be Lois Lane either, because I ended up dressing up as something else. Never mind the fact that Lois Lane really is a hero in her own right. You have to fight for the truth in these post-modern times.

You have to fight for the truth in all the times. You have to fight to side with Jesus too, because the crowd don’t want it. They want the villain.

Pray therefore, that you can keep up the fight today. That’s how you can be a God-empowered hero yourself.

Yours in a Lois Lane outfit,

Alison