Ep. 9: The Crowd Trades Jesus for Barabbas | The Crucifixion of Jesus

The events of Good Friday are picking up steam. The religious leaders have condemned Jesus and now they've taken him in front of the Roman governor Pilate to ultimately convict him and sentence him to death. Now to do this, they'll take a very unorthodox approach and actually demand the release of a man who was guilty for the very things they are accusing Jesus of. My friend Allie's gonna explain it to us right now. So it's early morning, the night after Jesus has been arrested, and here he is after being convicted of blasphemy from the religious leaders. Now here he is with Pilate, the Roman's governor of the region, and every year The governor has a tradition. During Passover, he would offer the Jewish people one of their prisoners to be released. And in this part of the story in the Bible, you can tell that Pilate, the governor, is not fully convinced that Jesus is a guilty man. So he offers up a trade. He pulls out a prisoner, a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. Now Barabbas has been accused of insurrection against Rome. He's actually been accused of exactly what they were accusing Jesus of, only this guy did it. This guy was guilty. This guy was a pretty nasty guy. So Pilate hauls him out with Jesus and he asks this crowd that's down below him, who do you want me to release? Barabbas or Jesus now? This trade seems like it would be obvious. This guy who we're not even sure did anything versus this notorious criminal. And this notorious criminal's name is very interesting. Barabbas. Bar-ah-bah means son of the father. So we have the real son, the actual son of God versus Barabbas, the guilty, false, accused son of the father. So Pilate offers up this trade and the crowd is fickle. The crowd cannot be counted on. The crowd has been whipped up and manipulated by the religious leaders who they're afraid of. So they yell, we want Barabbas. We want Barabbas. We want that guy. So Pilate gives them what they want. He makes the trade and in doing that, he guarantees that Jesus' mission is going to be accomplished because this trade means that Jesus steps in for the guilty one. Barabbas was guilty. Jesus was innocent and Jesus takes his place in his conviction. Jesus is the one that goes to be crucified. At the end of this scene, Jesus is bound and led away. It's his last resort and everything is finished. At this point, he's completely alone. He's been rejected by the religious leaders, by his friends, and now by the crowd and by the Roman government. There is no one left to save him. And the whole time he's there, he says nothing and does nothing. The only thing he does is willingly take the place of the guilty one. And that's what Jesus does for you and I. That's why this scene means so much to me as I read it. I think Barabbas, Barabbas is me. Barabbas is you. Barabbas is the guilty one. And

Jesus steps in and Barabbas goes free. That's exactly what he does for us and he does it willingly. And at the end of this trade, Pilate says, okay. And he leads him away for the final part of his mission, the actual crucifixion.