But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds that they should beg for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
A pause in Pilate's court became the moment when the nation's religious leaders went to work on the crowd. The choice between a condemned criminal and the Son of God now lay with the people. Their own guides told them how to answer.
Those who stirred up the crowd held the very positions meant to teach the people the right path.
What has become of this blessed One? How has the world treated Him? It has cast Him out! It preferred a robber and a murderer to this holy, gracious, perfect Man. The world got its choice. Jesus and a robber stood before the world, and the question came: "Which will you have?" ... The religious leaders and guides of the people should have led them in the right way. Instead they persuaded the poor ignorant crowd to reject the Son of God and accept a robber and a murderer!
Days earlier this same crowd had cheered Him. One writer explains how the mood turned so fast.
It is a terrible thing to see how fickle the crowd is. They are just the same to this day... The same crowd cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" and applauded Him to the skies. Within a few days, with one mouth, they cried, "Crucify him, crucify him!" How was that? It was the power of Satan. It was their unbelief, because their applause was nothing. Applause is only human feeling stirred up at the moment. That feeling can swing to the opposite very quickly.
The men who pushed hardest for His death held the greatest religious advantages. One writer finds a lasting principle in that.
Here is the solemn lesson. The greater the moral advantages, where there is not simple faith in God, the greater the hatred of Jesus. The reception or rejection of Jesus now is the same thing in principle.
Barabbas was no doubtful case. His crimes were on record.
John 18:40 calls him a "robber", and Matthew 27:16-26 calls him "a notable prisoner". He had started a rebellion and had committed murder... Yet the Jews, led by the chief priests and elders, asked for this man to be released instead of the Lord Jesus. Why they asked for this particular prisoner is not known. But their ungodliness shows in the clearest way: they chose a man known for his wickedness over the Lord of life and glory, their Messiah.
The offer itself came from a custom of the feast, and the prisoner's name made the contrast sharper.
This feast marked their release from slavery in Egypt. As a favour, they were allowed to have one prisoner set free at that feast... "Bar" means "son"; "Abbas" — father. Barabbas — "the son of a father."... It was a solemn moment for that nation. Before them stood the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and this wicked man, the son of his father — the Blessed One, the Originator of life; and a murderer, the destroyer of life... It is the choice of the human heart — your heart and mine.
The two requests in the verse make one deal. Barabbas can only go free if Pilate gives Jesus up.
He stands there as a chief of sinners, a rebel and a murderer. The feast of redemption offers him a possible release — but only, under Pilate's alternative, if Jesus is given up. Jesus becomes, as it were, the Substitute for the chief of sinners. To "release Barabbas" is "to destroy Jesus."... Look deeper than the wicked wills of men, and in the purpose of God we can see that holy Sin-offering, the true passover. Through that offering even a Barabbas may be delivered — not for anything good in him, for Barabbas shows none.
Their aim failed even as it succeeded.
The cross was judgment indeed. But it was the judgment of this world. It was shame, indeed. But it was the wisdom of this world that was "made foolish" there. It was death — death dropping like a curtain and closing the story. But though the rulers aimed to "destroy Jesus" (Matt. 27:20), it was not Jesus who was destroyed. Instead it fulfilled what had been written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent" (1 Cor. 1:19).
Pilate's question did not stay in that courtyard.
"What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?" What a solemn question it was; and it is so still. The question was answered there and it must also be answered by every person to whom the Lord Jesus Christ is offered. He must either be accepted as Saviour and Lord or rejected.
- Persuaded. The crowd did not reach this verdict alone. Their own guides talked them into asking for a murderer and demanding the death of the Son of God.
- Privilege. Religious advantage without faith bred the deepest hatred of Christ. More light, held without trust, only made the hatred fiercer.
- Preferred. Barabbas was a proven rebel and murderer, and his name means "son of a father". Set beside the Son of God, the choice exposes the human heart.
- Exchanged. Releasing Barabbas and destroying Jesus were one act. The guilty man goes free only because Jesus takes his place.
- Overturned. They aimed to destroy Him, yet the cross undid the world's wisdom instead. The same choice still faces everyone who hears of Christ.
And the governor answering said to them, Which of the two will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas.
Pilate tries once more to get free of the case. He puts one question to the crowd, and the crowd answers with one word: Barabbas. Everything hangs on that word. Why did a governor let a crowd decide? Why did the people prefer a murderer? And what did it mean that a condemned man walked out free that morning?
Pilate does not ask because he is confused about the facts. He asks because he wants the outcome to belong to someone else.
In his uneasiness Pilate would gladly put on the people the responsibility he did not want to face. Not the chief priests but the popular voice shall decide what happens. And the people, too, shall decide only one way, if he can manage it — it shall be Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ!
The plan collapses, and it collapses on a point he had no right to raise at all.
But the unhappy people are under the control of their leaders, and they insist urgently on their choice of Barabbas. It is the heart of man exposed to its depths — the mind of the flesh, which is enmity against God; and when Pilate, still anxious to escape the fatal responsibility, puts it to them (as he had no right to do) what they would have done with Jesus then, immediately the awful cry breaks out from the crowd as with one voice, "Let Him be crucified!"
Someone put that word in the crowd's mouth. The verse before names them: the men whose job was to teach the people better.
The world got its choice… The religious leaders and guides of the people persuaded the poor ignorant multitude to reject the Son of God, and accept a robber and a murderer instead! These were the men who ought to have led the people in the right way.
The prisoner's name sharpens the scene. Broken into its parts, it sets two sons side by side.
Barabbas was a terrible character. "Bar" means "son"; "Abbas" — father. Barabbas — "the son of a father."… And here was the Son of God! It was a solemn moment for that nation. They had before them the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and this wicked man, the son of his father. Here was the Blessed One, the Originator of life; and there was a murderer, the destroyer of life, "who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder." It is the choice of the human heart — your heart and mine.
Their answer was not enthusiasm for the prisoner they named. It was a way of saying no to the One they would not have.
Urged on by their religious chiefs, the people fiercely shouted, "Not this Man, but Barabbas." This time the question was clear: "Whom will you RECEIVE?" Sadly, anyone but Jesus was welcome. It is not that the multitude had the smallest regard for Barabbas; the point was that they did not want Jesus.
Behind the crime of the moment, commentators see a picture. What happened to Barabbas that morning shows how a guilty man can go free.
The story of Barabbas and his release is full of helpful instruction… Barabbas went free, though guilty and condemned, because the Lord Jesus took his place. Christ was his substitute. Barabbas, once released, might have gone out and looked up to Him who hung on the cross and said, "He died for me; He paid my penalty." It is a wonderful illustration of the atonement.
The feast offered a chance of release, and Pilate set the terms of it. One writer looks past those terms to God's purpose.
Barabbas stands out as a chief of sinners, a rebel and a murderer. The feast of redemption offers him a possibility of release — but only, on Pilate's alternative, if Jesus is given up. Jesus becomes, as it were, the Substitute for the chief of sinners. To "release Barabbas" is "to destroy Jesus." Looking deeper than at the wicked wills of men, we may see in the purpose of God that holy Sin-offering, the true passover, by which even a Barabbas may be delivered — not for any good in him, for Barabbas shows none.
Jerusalem did not forget this one shouted word. Later Peter quoted it back to the same city as evidence.
Why the Jews asked for this particular prisoner is not known. But their choice shows their ungodliness in the clearest way: they preferred such a notoriously wicked man to the Lord of life and glory, their Messiah. Peter did not fail to press this home on the Jews: "But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you." (Acts 3:14)
One writer turns the scene on the reader.
Jesus or Barabbas? This was the question which divided them. Surely some will be found for Jesus. Not one! I seem to hear you say, "I would have been, had I been there." Well, show yourself on His side now.
- Choice offered. Pilate handed the verdict to the crowd. He wanted to escape a responsibility he did not want to face himself.
- Choice coached. The answer was not spontaneous. The men who should have guided the people talked them into rejecting the Son of God and choosing a robber.
- Choice exposed. Nobody wanted Barabbas; they wanted anyone but Jesus — the son of a father set against the Son of God.
- Choice reversed. The guilty man went free because Christ took his place. Releasing Barabbas meant giving up Jesus, and behind the wicked wills of men stood the purpose of God.
- Choice repeated. Peter later charged the same city with asking for a murderer. The question still stands to every reader: Jesus, or Barabbas?