Humanity's Darkest Moment.
| Now it was the custom at the Feast 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 envy 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. "Crucify Him!" they shouted. "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. (Mark15:6-15) |
There was a custom at Passover that Pilate would release a prisoner at the people's choosing.
Whether by accident or design, this was very appropriate for Passover which celebrated the release of Israelite slaves from Egyptian captivity. The rescue of someone who was imprisoned by the Roman regime would be a powerful message of hope.
Pilate had hoped it would be Jesus who was freed.
He knew the chief priests were envious of Jesus' influence, but I think he hoped that the crowd would vote with their hearts and free Jesus. Unfortunately the influence of the chief priests was strong enough to stir up the crowd and so their power to rescue Barabbas also became their power to condemn Jesus.
Dramatically, Pilate's appeal to Jesus' innocence, just seems to pour fuel on the crowd's fire and they shout all the louder. It is a sad feature of humanity that in our low moments we destroy the good and the beautiful - maybe because they are reminders of what we are not.
And so Pilate, in the face of inevitability, shrugs his shoulders and gives the crowd what they want.
Sometimes I feel sorry for Pilate - in order for God's will to be done, someone needed to condemn Jesus to death. The circumstances are such that Pilate makes a choice for the greater good. The life of one country preacher instead of riots and mass violence. But then Pilate does something that, in my evaluation, makes him as broken as the priests and the crowds. "He had Jesus flogged and handed Him over to be crucified."
Why have Him flogged?
He's already going to die an excruciating death (pun intended).
A Roman flogging was a terrible thing - many did not survive.
Why do that to Jesus?
I suspect this was Pilate's way of asserting his power, showing who was the boss and "putting the 'King of the Jews' in His place." I think Pilate was frustrated at Jesus' silence, His questions, His innocence. And, like the crowd and priests, he lashes out (pun intended) at the beauty and innocence of Jesus.
But in this darkest of human moments (a moment that we all, in some way, participate in) there is a glimmer of light... Barabbas, a guilty and broken man, is set free. He becomes the symbol of all of us. Although the brutality of broken humanity was directed at the sinless Son of God, He would set all of us FREE.
