Mark 15:6-12, 14-15 NIV
“Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”
A twist in the tale! Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against Him. Mark even diagnosed the motive of the religious leaders for the abominable travesty of justice…
“fthonos”, meaning “envy”.
Envy is more than jealousy. Envy includes the desire to do away with the person whose goods or attributes are desirable. It has in it the thought of corruption, to defile or destroy.
So, Pilate was at war with himself. Should he risk antagonising the Jewish leaders by releasing Jesus, or does he violate his conscience by condemning an innocent man? Then a lightbulb moment! He’d throw the choice back on them! A strange custom came to mind…to release a condemned criminal of the people’s choice at Pentecost.
Jesus or Barabbas? For Pilate, the choice was obvious. Barabbas was a murderer. Would they really want a murderer on the loose among them again?
Let’s examine the credentials of these two men. They were both “sons of the father” as Jesus claimed and Barabbas’ name meant.
Was Jesus “Son of the Father”? Apparently “yes”, since He was on trial for this claim. He, according to the witness of Scripture, is…
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…”
Hebrews 1:3a NIV
What of Barabbas? His name, Bar-Abbas” means “son of the father”. Was he the son of his father? We know nothing about his father except that he inherited the nature of his “father” – Adam. In Adam’s nature was the lawlessness and wickedness of rebellion against God, confirmed by Barabbas’ evil deeds and inherited by all mankind. Barabbas, the murderer, was a true son of his father!
So, for Pilate, this was the way out of his dilemma. He no longer had responsibility for Jesus’ death if the people chose Barabbas.
Despite the terrible evil of the people’s choice, and despite Pilate’s guilt no matter how much he tried to shrug it off, the tale of two sons is a strange twist in this story but the heart of the gospel…the Son of God died in the place of “the son of the father”.
Did Barabbas stand at a distance, watching the lifeblood of his substitute dripping on the ground? Did he see the head of Jesus hanging lifeless on His chest? Did he think, at that moment? …”He died for me!”