I recently got to speak at our church on Jesus in front of Pilate and Pilate in front of the crowd (from Mark 15:1-15). We were working our way through the book of Mark and that was the section that I was allocated.

When I first looked at it I was wondering how to get a sermon out of it. Jesus is in front of Pilate and says nothing to defend himself. Yep, that ticks off Isaiah’s prophesy (Isa 53:7). Pilate goes in front of the crowd, who free Barabbas and Jesus is sent for crucifixion. I’d read this passage many times and it normally pops up in Easter sermons. Up until now I’d only ever regarded Barabbas as a plot device because this was his one and only mention in the Bible, someone that had to be released so Jesus could go to the cross for our salvation. I never really though that much more about him.

As I read and re-read the passage it slowly dawned on me that Barabbas was much more than a simple plot device. His release is central to the story of our salvation, a Story of Undeserved Grace.

I got to wondering why they released a prisoner at Passover. Mark 15:6 say “Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested”. I wondered where this “custom” came from. It’s quite a custom to release one person and crucify another. I found the answer in Leviticus 16.

⁵ From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

⁶ “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. ⁷ Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸ He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. ⁹ Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

During the Roman occupation, the practice of releasing a goat had been replaced by releasing a criminal. This allowed tradition to be loosely satisfied whilst allowing the Romans to stay in control of the situation. The Romans knew that to control the people, they needed to allow the Israelites to be able to convince themselves that they still had religious freedom. By offering up two carefully selected criminals to the crowd the Romans could keep control of the process.

OK, so that’s a brief back story, but why Barabbas?

Pilate was well aware that the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead because he was upsetting the Romans and disrupting the status quo. They enjoyed their privileged lives as long as they kept the people in check and they did that through the Law of Moses. Jesus, however, was preaching a different kind of obedience to God, one that was disrupting the Sanhedrin’s control. Pilate did not want to be caught up in their struggles as Jesus hadn’t broken any Roman law and he didn’t want to get caught up in internal politics.

So what to do?

His solution was to offer up one of the worst criminals (according to Roman law) to the crowd alongside Jesus. In this he was hoping that the crowd would free Jesus and absolve himself from killing an innocent man. So Pilate went in front of the crowd and offered them the choice of Jesus and Barabbas.

Before we go on, we need to know who Barabbas was. Verse 11 describes him as an insurrectionist who committed murder in the uprising. Insurrection was one of the worst crimes that could be committed as crimes against the state threatened the stability of the Roman occupation. These crimes attracted the harshest punishments. It’s worth noting that the Israelites wanted the Romans out so these uprisings we not all that uncommon. We see that in Acts 5 when the apostles were in front of the Sanhedrin:

³⁵ Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. ³⁶ Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. ³⁷ After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. ³⁸ Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹ But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Barabbas was part of one of these uprisings and would have most likely killed a Roman soldier during the uprising. At the time Pilate fronted the crowd, he would have been one of the worst criminals in prison so Pilate would have been confident that Jesus (who the crowd were cheering only a week ago) would have been freed instead.

Mark 15:11 says: “But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.” In the original Greek, the word used is anaseio, which means to stir up, to incite, to shake up. The priests knew how to work the crowd and would worked hard to wind them up to see their ends met. We see crowds rising to a frenzied state often, normal people that lose their individuality to the mob. It is a process called deindividuation.

We know the rest of that story. Jesus was crucified and Barabbas walked away a free man.

So what’s with this Barabbas guy?

• He had committed the worst sin under the law (Roman law)
• He was sentenced to die for his crimes
• He walked out of prison a free man with no consequences
• An innocent man (Jesus) paid for his crimes

Barabbas was literally the first person that Jesus died for. Barabbas was guilty under the law but Christ took his place and died instead of him. When Barabbas walked free from the prison he absolved of his crimes.

Christ died for his sins. Jesus took his place on the cross, quite literally.

Does this sound familiar?

Form Colossians 2:13-14

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

This was happening for Barabbas, right there at that moment. He was condemned by his sin and freed by the blood of Jesus on that cross.

We are also freed by the blood of Jesus.

• We have all sinned (Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God)
• Our sin condemns us to death (Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death (all sin))
• Christ took Barabbas place on the cross and he walked free
• If we accept that gift, we too walk free and we will be absolved of our sins

Another thing I found out when I was studying this, the name Barabbas means son of the father (Bar – Abbas). Bar means son and Abba means father.

Barabbas story is our story.

We are all children of the Father if we accept Christ’s sacrifice.

Barabbas was the first to receive the gift of Christ’s sacrifice. It is a gift that keeps on giving.