The Barabbas Legacy

The Barabbas Legacy is the final entry in M. D. House's trilogy about what happened to Barabbas after The Day - the day where Jesus took the punishment that should have awaited Barabbas and died in his place, and left Barabbas wondering why. It is a fitting ending to what has been a marvelous story.



The Bible tells us very little of Barabbas, other than that, when given the choice between freeing him or freeing Jesus, the Jews chose him. House has taken us on a journey of what Barabbas' life looked like afterward.



In the previous books in the trilogy, we've seen Barabbas struggle with why Jesus would choose to die in his place. We've seen his past as a Jewish rebel try to catch up with him, seen him marry well (somewhat to his surprise and disbelief). We've seen him and Chanah, his wife, grow in their faith and in their love for each other. We've seen how they've worked with the other apostles and believers to share the Gospel.

Now we see the seeds that have been planted start to bear fruit. The Barabbas Legacy is less the story about what Barabbas is doing, but about the legacy he will leave behind. He and some of the older Christian leaders, such as Cornelius and Paul, are still doing Kingdom work, but we see their children start to flourish as they head out on their own.

Marian is probably my favorite of Barabbas and Chanah's children. I loved seeing how her relationship with a Roman soldier she met on her way to Britannia not only grow romantically, but also point the soldier toward the saving love of Christ.

It was also a delight to me to see Paul reunited with his wife and grown children. Do we know for sure that that happened? No. It isn't mentioned in Scripture. But I love the imagining that it could have happened. To me, that speaks to the fact that God is most interested in our eternal state, but He also wants to see good things for us in the here and now.

The epilogue focusing on Barabbas and Chanah's daughter Sophia makes me hope that, even if this trilogy is at an end, we might see more historical fiction from House that continues to follow Barabbas' children wherever the Spirit leads them.