Key Verse: "Which of the two do you want me to release
to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered."
Matthew 27:21
Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent, the Lord
detests them both. (Proverbs
17:15) What happened to Jesus now, was detestable in the Lord's sight, as
was the rest of it, but Jesus, knowing who He is, endured it all for me.
Well, Pilate wanted truth. Now, through this situation
involving Jesus, we learn the truth about Pilate himself. Who is he? Pilate is
no tough Roman governor in charge of the people of Judea: no, now he is seen
for who he is, a spineless politician, a people pleaser, not a leader, who is barely
holding a grasp on the situation. Imagine if judges today behaved that way,
making rulings based on mob rule! Justice was denied this night for fear of the
crowds.
Even Pilate's wife tries to warn him. "Don't have
anything to do with this innocent man," (Matthew 27:19). Pilate himself
knows that Jesus is innocent, so he begs the people to let him do the right
thing by releasing Him, rather than just do the right thing and set Jesus free.
Is it any wonder then that the Sanhedrin were so bold? They must have known
Pilate's character. They must have known what a push over he could be. There
was no fear of Pilate in the Sanhedrin. They were confident that they would get their way. They had to have
been!
Now, Pilate tries a trick to get the crowd to agree with
him. He pits innocent Jesus against the notorious Barabbas. He was probably
thinking that no one in his or her right mind would choose Barabbas over Jesus.
He took a gamble and lost. It's even possible that Barabbas may have been a
kind of hero to the Jews. Some believe that the uprisings that he was being
held for had to do with revolting against Roman oppression. At least Barabbas
was doing something about the problem of Roman occupation. Jesus had not been
so bold, in their eyes. Jesus had talked of love, not raised an army.
So, in a further mockery of justice, the crowd chooses
Barabbas to go free and Jesus takes his place. It could have been any of us
though as well. Jesus had warned His disciples, "If the world hates you,
keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world it would love
you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world. That is why the world hates you." (John
15:18-19) The world was simply voting for its own, just as it would have
voted for you or me, before we came to Christ. Just as Jesus took Barabbas'
place on the cross that day, He took our place also. We were the sinners, He
was the innocent One.
It appears, from God's perspective, as unbelievable that
we would be chosen to go free as it appeared unbelievable to Pilate that the
crowd chose Barabbas over Jesus. But sin and injustice makes mockers of us all.
Hand washing may have been a wonderful symbolic gesture to appease his own
conscience, but just as we can do nothing for our sins, Pilate’s hands remained
dirty from the deed he was about to allow. The hand washing was a final mockery
that, in truth, reveals why we all needed this night, this injustice to take
place, so that we might be truly set free indeed.
We must truly be thankful for what we have received. He
faced death and offered us life. It is Jesus Himself who said, "Do not be
overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." (Matthew
5:48) Is there any more blatant example of Jesus putting His own words into
practice than this?
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