Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Mercy (01/15/26)
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TITLE: The Day My Chains Fell | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Meiners
01/16/26 -
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That day, the choice was between Jesus Christ and me.
I knew exactly who I was. A rebel. A murderer. A thief. A man guilty of stirring insurrection against Rome. Chains and condemnation were all I deserved. Yet beside me stood Jesus—hands bound, face bruised, eyes steady. There was a quiet strength about Him that unsettled me. He looked nothing like a criminal.
Pilate raised his voice. “Whom do you want me to release—Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?”
For a brief moment, silence hung over the crowd. Then it erupted.
“Barabbas!” “Give us Barabbas!”
My heart pounded. I glanced at Jesus, expecting fear or protest. Instead, He stood silent, calm, as though He already knew the verdict.
Just like that, the chains were removed from my wrists. I was free. Jesus was led away to be crucified.
I stumbled into the crowd, my mind spinning. Why Him? Why me? I had earned death many times over, yet I lived. He had done nothing deserving punishment, yet He was condemned.
Needing answers, I questioned those around me. A man holding a young girl told me Jesus had raised her from the dead. His name was Jairus. Others spoke of blindness healed, demons cast out, and lives restored. With every story, the truth pressed harder against my heart.
This Man was dying in my place. Mercy was on display
I followed the crowd to Golgotha and watched as soldiers drove nails into His hands and feet. I braced myself for screams or curses—but none came. When He finally spoke, His words cut deeper than any blade: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34-NIV)
Forgive them?
Darkness swallowed the sky for hours. Then I heard Him speak again—to the criminal beside Him. “I assure you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43-NIV) Mercy, even at the edge of death. Something inside me broke. I want that too, I thought. But how?
I heard him cry, “It is finished.”
And watched as he breathed his last and died.
Freedom felt heavy that night. Every step home echoed with chains I could still feel, guilt I could not escape, and grace I did not yet understand. The silence pressed questions into my heart until mercy finally answered them all for me.
I lingered long after the crowd dispersed, unable to move. Life had been handed back to me, yet it no longer felt like mine. On my way home I encountered Peter, who told me who Jesus truly was. Right there, broken and undone, I repented and begged for forgiveness.
And He forgave me.
This Man who died in my place forgave me!
My chains were gone. I truly was a free man.
We don’t know what happened to Barabbas that day. Did he return to his life of crime? Or, as told in my story, did he find forgiveness extended through the grace and mercy of Jesus. Only heaven will reveal whether Barabbas also heard Jesus say, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Barabbas’ story is the story of every believer. We stand guilty and condemned. Jesus took our place. He bore the punishment we deserved so we could walk free—the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…..” John 3:16-18a (ESV)
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