Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. 7 And there was one named Barabbas, [who was] chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. 8 Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask [him to do] just as he had always done for them. 9 But Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. 12 Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do [with Him] whom you call the King of the Jews?” 13 So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” 14 Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!” 15 So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged [Him], to be crucified.

– Mark 15:6-15 (NKJV)

When we read this passage I think we can see four things of gospel importance. First, I think we are meant to see that Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and he was looking for a way out of punishing Jesus. For the gospel to make sense we must understand that Jesus was innocent. He was not condemned by his guilt, but because of the sin of others against him.

Second, we see how easily the crowd was swayed. It didn’t take them long to turn on Jesus. All it took was a little prompting by the chief priests. This should cause us to pause and examine our own hearts. How often are we easily swayed by the things that people tell us rather than the truth of the matter. I can’t tell you how many times someone has shared with me an unfounded reason for rejecting Jesus. They had believed something a stranger said rather than examining the evidence themselves.

Third, we see the malice and hatred of the chief priests. How did it get to this? How did these supposed holy and righteous men come to the place of murder. I think we can again see ourselves here. Sin starts small but often brings us to a place of total hatred and malice towards the truth. We might begin with ungodly council, but if we tread the path for long we end up sitting in the seat of the scoffer (See Psalm 1).

Finally, I think we are supposed to see that an innocent man was traded for a guilty man. Barabbas was guilty and deserved crucifixion, but he was saved that day because Jesus died in his place. We stand in the place of Barabbas, set free because Jesus paid the price.

The Christian’s response should be gratitude, humility, and confidence. We should be grateful that our sins have been forgiven because Jesus has taken our place. We should live in humility because we are set right with God, not by our action, but by Jesus. And we should live in confidence because our sins no longer hang over our head separating us from God.

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. Thankyou for your overwhelming grace. You have been good to us. We thank you for the grace given to us in Jesus Christ! We thank you for your kindness to us and Jesus’ substitutionary atonement that has given us new life. Christ died a death we deserve and rose so that we might have eternal life. Give us discernment as we apply your word to our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.