Truth, Justice, and the Choice of Barabbas
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“Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. Then Pilate asked Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ He answered and said to him, ‘It is as you say.’ And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, ‘Do You answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!’ But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.” [00:00:27]
“Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them, saying, ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.” [00:01:21]
“This is a record of one of the most wicked events in all of human history, and that record comes to us this morning again by the authority, superintendence, and inspiration of God the Holy Spirit Himself. If you have ears to hear it, then hear it. Please be seated. Let us pray.” [00:02:55]
“Pontius Pilate was appointed by the Roman government to be prefect over this conquered land of Palestine. This was the custom in the ancient Roman Empire that whatever lands were conquered by the Roman legions would then be ruled by some representative of the Senate and people of Rome in that particular locale. In terms of history, Pilate was the fifth such prefect over Palestine, and his tenure of office there was from AD 26 to AD 37, eleven years.” [00:07:43]
“Pilate was stuck for eleven years in dealing with this very unhappy Jewish nation. His tenure finally ended not when he received a promotion but when he was basically fired and banished from government by the Emperor Caligula. And you may recall that Caligula, second only to Nero, was one of the worst of all Roman Emperors, and so to fail to impress Caligula gives again further evidence of what a dreadful administrator Pontius Pilate was.” [00:10:03]
“First of all, there was the question of Jesus being a king. That was front and center in the discussion. Second of all, there was the discussion of Jesus’ guilt or innocence. Thirdly, there was the discussion recorded by the Apostle John about Jesus’ understanding of truth. And finally, there was the question of amnesty that Mark records in his gospel.” [00:12:45]
“Jesus introduces another discussion. He said, ‘For this reason, I came into the world to bear witness to the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Isn’t that interesting that in the middle of this discussion of kingship, Jesus changes the focus, says to Pilate, ‘Do you want to know what I’m about? Do you want to know what My mission is? Do you know why I came into the world?’” [00:20:06]
“Beloved, you need to hear this. I’ve talked to you about it before, and again I’ll probably talk to you about it a hundred more times, God willing. Any time we ask the question, ‘What was Jesus about? What was His mission? Why did He come?’ we ought not to just speculate about that and tender our best guesses. We ought to ask Him, ‘Why are You here? Why did You come?’” [00:20:49]
“Do you hear the words of Christ? Do you delight in the words of Jesus? Or do the words of Jesus bore you? Perhaps they offend you. If that’s the case, then you need to say, ‘Well, maybe I’m not of the truth.’ Because Jesus said everyone who is of the truth, everyone who is a genuine authentic truth seeker hears His voice.” [00:25:36]
“Pilate had a tradition that during the Passover festival he would give to the Jews a prisoner with full amnesty to be released, made completely free. And Pilate was aware of that, and he was very much troubled by the fact that the Jewish leaders had tried to manipulate him to punish Jesus whom he felt was innocent of any guilt, and he realized that they had delivered him to Pilate—why?—because of envy, one of the cardinal sins of fallen humanity, envy.” [00:28:15]
“It was envy that led to the death of Christ. Instead of fallen humanity rejoicing that the perfect Redeemer had come, their envy blinded them to His greatness. And so Pilate is aware of that. He sees the dynamics. He knows what’s going on. He reads the minds of the Jewish leaders. He said, ‘They’ve only brought this guy here because they’re jealous of Him. But I can’t see that he’s done anything.’” [00:29:40]
“Twice, twice they cried out, ‘Crucify Him.’ Why? What evil has He done? And the third time they cried out all the more, ‘Crucify Him.’ Verse 15 says it all, doesn’t it? So Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged Him, after he had beaten Him, after he had mocked Him, after he had shamed the very One he pronounced innocent. He gave Him to the crowd to pacify them.” [00:34:10]
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“Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. Then the multitude crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. But Pilate answered them, saying, ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?’ For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.” [00:01:21]
“This is a record of one of the most wicked events in all of human history, and that record comes to us this morning again by the authority, superintendence, and inspiration of God the Holy Spirit Himself. If you have ears to hear it, then hear it. Please be seated. Let us pray.” [00:02:55]
“Pontius Pilate was appointed by the Roman government to be prefect over this conquered land of Palestine. This was the custom in the ancient Roman Empire that whatever lands were conquered by the Roman legions would then be ruled by some representative of the Senate and people of Rome in that particular locale. In terms of history, Pilate was the fifth such prefect over Palestine, and his tenure of office there was from AD 26 to AD 37, eleven years.” [00:07:43]
“Pilate was stuck for eleven years in dealing with this very unhappy Jewish nation. His tenure finally ended not when he received a promotion but when he was basically fired and banished from government by the Emperor Caligula. And you may recall that Caligula, second only to Nero, was one of the worst of all Roman Emperors, and so to fail to impress Caligula gives again further evidence of what a dreadful administrator Pontius Pilate was.” [00:10:03]
“First of all, there was the question of Jesus being a king. That was front and center in the discussion. Second of all, there was the discussion of Jesus’ guilt or innocence. Thirdly, there was the discussion recorded by the Apostle John about Jesus’ understanding of truth. And finally, there was the question of amnesty that Mark records in his gospel.” [00:12:45]
“Jesus introduces another discussion. He said, ‘For this reason, I came into the world to bear witness to the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Isn’t that interesting that in the middle of this discussion of kingship, Jesus changes the focus, says to Pilate, ‘Do you want to know what I’m about? Do you want to know what My mission is? Do you know why I came into the world?’” [00:20:06]
“Beloved, you need to hear this. I’ve talked to you about it before, and again I’ll probably talk to you about it a hundred more times, God willing. Any time we ask the question, ‘What was Jesus about? What was His mission? Why did He come?’ we ought not to just speculate about that and tender our best guesses. We ought to ask Him, ‘Why are You here? Why did You come?’” [00:20:49]
“Do you hear the words of Christ? Do you delight in the words of Jesus? Or do the words of Jesus bore you? Perhaps they offend you. If that’s the case, then you need to say, ‘Well, maybe I’m not of the truth.’ Because Jesus said everyone who is of the truth, everyone who is a genuine authentic truth seeker hears His voice.” [00:25:36]
“Pilate had a tradition that during the Passover festival he would give to the Jews a prisoner with full amnesty to be released, made completely free. And Pilate was aware of that, and he was very much troubled by the fact that the Jewish leaders had tried to manipulate him to punish Jesus whom he felt was innocent of any guilt, and he realized that they had delivered him to Pilate—why?—because of envy, one of the cardinal sins of fallen humanity, envy.” [00:28:15]
“It was envy that led to the death of Christ. Instead of fallen humanity rejoicing that the perfect Redeemer had come, their envy blinded them to His greatness. And so Pilate is aware of that. He sees the dynamics. He knows what’s going on. He reads the minds of the Jewish leaders. He said, ‘They’ve only brought this guy here because they’re jealous of Him. But I can’t see that he’s done anything.’” [00:29:40]
“Twice, twice they cried out, ‘Crucify Him.’ Why? What evil has He done? And the third time they cried out all the more, ‘Crucify Him.’ Verse 15 says it all, doesn’t it? So Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and he delivered Jesus after he had scourged Him, after he had beaten Him, after he had mocked Him, after he had shamed the very One he pronounced innocent. He gave Him to the crowd to pacify them.” [00:34:10]
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