Give us Barrabas!
Pilate lets Barabbas go Free
An Art Project Idea
Mark 15:1-15
In our Teachers Lounge some time ago, members Pat Thompson and Neil MacQueen discussed an art idea for teaching about and reflecting on the story of Barrabas in Mark 15. It was along the lines of "the things we want vs the things/person we really need" in our lives.
Here's an excerpt of their discussion:
The thing that really stands out in this story is the crowd chanting "GIVE US" and in this case, "BARRABAS." The crowd was so easily led into wanting something other than Jesus. (If that's not a life application from the story, I don't know what is!)
It reminds me of the other times Jesus was asked to "give," -- like in the Temptation in the Wilderness where he was asked to give up his worship of God, and when the Pharisees "demanded" a miracle (Matt 16:1). These are good reminder that people sometimes ask Jesus for the wrong things.
The Question: What or who do we think we need to be given instead of Jesus?
To me, that sounds like the perfect MAGAZINE COLLAGE PROJECT.... items of "desire" torn from magazines, none of which are the things Jesus wants to give us, but they are all "Barrabbas" -- the things we want, instead of Jesus.
Give us money!
Give us good looks!
Give us fame!
Give us a popular leader! (one who promises much but will give us little)
Give me a nice car!
Give me a better job!
Give me a good grade on this test!
Give me nice clothes and a bigger house!
Give me power!
Give me a powerful Messiah who will act like I want them to!
Give me my presidential candidate!
Give me all knowledge and the faith to move mountains! (uh-oh, Paul says that's those things are no good without love)
By contrast, what does Jesus want to give us and others?
That could be "the other half" of the collage. Might be hard to find in the pages of many magazines, so maybe it could be a WORD CLOUD using letters and words torn from the magazines. GIVE Love, Forgiveness, Unselfishness, GIVE HELP, GIVE KINDNESS, GIVE MERCY, etc. Or these could be drawn. Or you could print a Jesus illustration and have the kids create a "talk bubble" over his head and fill it with what they think Jesus wants to give us, compared to people shouting for Barrabas and the list of things people think they need (other than Jesus and his values).
If I thought about it more, I might have the kids put the "GIVE ME Give Us Barrabas" items on one half of the posterboard toward the bottom in the shape of the Hill of Golgotha, and continue with the "give me" things to make the shape of a cross.
The other half of the posterboard would be things God wants to give us (his love, his son, his commandments, his forgiveness, his guidance). These would be harder to visualize so I might let the kids DRAW some of these.
