Now upon the solemn festival day the Governor was accustomed to release to the people one of the prisoners, whomsoever they demanded. And he had then a notorious prisoner that was called Barabbas, a robber who was put in prison with seditious men, who in the sedition had committed murder. And when the multitude was come up, they began to desire what he always had done to them. And Pilate answered them and said: You have a custom that I should release one unto you at the Pasch. Will you, therefore, that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Whom will you that I release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew that through envy the chief priests had delivered Him up. - Matthew 27:15-18; Mark 15:6-10; Luke 23:17; John 18:39,40
1. We do not know much of this annual custom of the Roman power in Jerusalem. No doubt it was one of those formalities of clemency by which an alien conqueror tries to humour and reconcile the conquered. Hence, no doubt, it would have been mainly political prisoners that would have been released; the release of thieves and cut-throats could have had no meaning. Our Lord, as "King," as "the Christ," as a "seducer of the people," as one who "forbade to give tribute to Caesar," was mainly a political prisoner; the charge of being a "malefactor" had long since died away. Barabbas, on the other hand, though a political prisoner, was primarily a malefactor: he had made use of a sedition, not so much for purposes of State, as for robbery and murder. The contrast was marked; Pilate emphasized it; he hoped by making an impossible offer to compel the people to acquiesce.
2. But the people were at bay. Under other circumstances they could never have wished for Barabbas; thieves and cut-throats could have won no favour from them. Still, though they did not want Barabbas, they wanted Our Lord still less; their hatred of Him made their hatred of Barabbas appear almost like affection; at all events it should appear like affection in order the more to justify themselves in their own eyes. So had it been between Pilate and Herod; their scorn of Our Lord had softened their scorn for each other into friendship. And so it is today; the "sign which shall be contradicted" has drawn together in alliance causes and powers the most irreconcilable. They do not hate each other less, but they hate Him more; and that becomes their bond of sympathy and union.
3. It remains to study the words of Pilate. He knew that envy was at the bottom of the charge; and the envy was mainly confined to "the chief priests." Envy of what? "He stirreth up the people." "Behold, all the world goes after Him." "They dared not lay hands on Him for fear of the people." "It is expedient that one man should die for the people." They envied Him His power of the people. Therefore to the people, over the heads of the chief priests and leaders, Pilate would appeal. The people had before wished to make Him King; would they now desert Him? They had hailed Him as "He that cometh in the name of the Lord": would they now surrender, in place of Barabbas, "Jesus Who is called the Christ"? There was reason to hope that they would be shamed into releasing one Whom they had recently acclaimed, one Who, above all, had such influence upon them.
Summary
1. Jesus, political prisoner and "malefactor"; Barabbas, malefactor and political prisoner.
2. The hatred of Jesus the bond of union.
3. Pilate appeals to the people over the heads of the priests.
- from The Crown of Sorrow, by Archbishop Alban Goodier