In a matter of hours, the notorious prisoner, Barabbas, is to be crucified. He is angry and frightened. He regrets the kind of life he lived and grieves that he will never be able to make things right. Suddenly, he is a free man, pardoned by Pilate. Within hours, he finds himself on Calvary, where he has an encounter with the crucified Jesus. This brings him face to face with his own violent past, and he begins his search for redemption.
That is a passage from my book, A Life for Barabbas. I am excited to share that it will be in bookstores on October 30!
It is a work of historical fiction. Drawing on my research and knowledge of developmental psychology, I envisioned what might have gone through his mind and what happened after Barabbas was released from prison. There is no Biblical or historical record of his life, but tradition and notes implied within gnostic text suggests that on the day he was released he went to Golgotha and witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus. This novel is set in first century Judea. It creates a fictional life of redemption for this real biblical character, Barabbas, and places that fictional life within factual Biblical events and characters.
Over the years, I have been writing monthly essays for my church newsletter. Early in 2017, I was asked to write an essay as a starting point for the Lenten season. I decided on Barabbas because his story is incomplete in the Scriptures. As a psychologist, I imagined what was going through his mind when his death sentence was voided, and he was set free. The original essay stopped after his encounter with Jesus and he was struggling with the question why was he alive and Jesus dead. I thought that was the end of it, but shortly after that, I kept being led back to the story each morning during my devotional time. This kept happening until I finally included in my prayers, this question: “What would You have me write, Lord?”
From that point on, it seemed I was inspired to add onto the story little by little. One time I had a short story, and I thought I was complete. But no, more was added, and when I had a 35,000 word novella, I submitted that to other publishing houses, thinking, again, I was done. Rejected. Once again, “back to the Mac” until I was truly done and Barabbas had his life of redemption, which TouchPoint Press agreed with.
The process of researching Biblical facts was so different from the types of research that I had done in my professional life, teaching and writing on developmental psych. I was surprised at how accessible and extensive material is for this era, beyond the Holy Bible, if you dig deep enough: The Gnostic Gospels, Codex II, the Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the work of the historian Josephus, and the rich store of theological writings regarding regarding early Christianity. When I found Scott Korb’s book, Life in Year One, I had a glimpse of daily life and times in first century Judea. One should never underestimate the resource that the Internet and Google Earth represents in doing research. The entire process for me was a spiritual journey and a deepening of my Christianity. What more could a person want?
Now, A Life for Barabbas is published. You can order it from TouchPoint Press.
For What It’s Worth.
-30-
