(Text and Audio)
Title: The Notorious Barabbas
- The Notorious Barabbas
The Gospel of Matthew only uses the word “notorious” to describe Barabbas, meaning that his deeds were well known by all the people. But if we look at the parallel accounts, we see a fuller picture of this man Barabbas, and how this put Pilate in a particularly difficult position.
It was the passover feast, and it had become custom for the Governor of the region of Judea to release one prisoner, as a sign of mercy, to the people. We know who and what Jesus was, and, more importantly, we know who and what he was accused of being.
Let’s compare that to what we can see from the other Gospels.
Mark 15:7
And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.
John 18:40
Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
“robber” Greek is “lestes” (las-tis) literally means: “bandit” or “plunderer”
Initial Conclusions:
- Barabbas was a rebel against Rome (Pax Romano)
- He was a murderer (Pax Romano)
- He was a bandit, or robber (Pax Romano)
- His deeds were well-known (Notorious)
Now, it is actually in the Gospel of Luke that we gain the most information about this decision of Pilate of who he’s going to release, Jesus or Barabbas. Luke contains a fascinating interlude that is only found in Luke’s gospel.
How many of you knew that in the middle of Jesus’s trial, Pilate actually sends Jesus to be interrogated by Herod, who was the King in the region of Galilee, and was in Jerusalem during the passover feast?
The Herod Interlude
Luke 23:6-12
When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.
Then, if we read further in Luke, we see that Pilate has some very strong reservations against crucifying Jesus, not the least among them is the fact that he had another ruler consider Jesus’s case, and that ruler (Herod) also found no fault in Jesus.
Luke 23:13-17
Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him. I will therefore chastise Him and release Him” (for it was necessary for him to release one to them at the feast).
Let’s go back for a moment to our conclusions of what we can definitively say about Barabbas, because after reading the Luke account, we have some new and powerful things to add to the list.
Conclusions:
- Barabbas was a rebel against Rome (Pax Romano)
- He was a murderer (Pax Romano)
- He was a bandit, or robber (Pax Romano)
- His deeds were well-known (Notorious)
- Barabbas actually DID the things Jesus was ACCUSED of!
- Jesus was actually cross-examined by another ruler, Barabbas was not.
- Pilate was fully planning on releasing Jesus and condemning Barabbas.
As we draw to a close this morning, I want to focus on the last verse in today’s passage. If we look at verse 18 we see:
“For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.”
Pilate was a lot of things, but he was not stupid. He was able to read between the lines here. He fully saw how flimsy the case was against Jesus. I do not think it’s a stretch to assume that Pilate began to put the pieces together and rightly concluded that while Jesus was no real threat to Rome, either as a riot starter or a misleader of the people, he very much was a threat to the Jewish religious powers of the time.
So this brings us to the $25,000 question:
If Pilate KNEW the Jews had handed Jesus over because of envy, why didn’t Pilate act justly? (And keep in mind, we haven’t even looked at the supernatural elements of Pilate being warned by his wife not to hurt Jesus, we will look at that next week.)
Possible Answers:
- He was honoring the custom? (The people asked for Barabbas, and he didn’t want to overrule that tradition.)
- He feared the people?
- He feared the Jewish leadership?
- He feared the followers of Barabbas?
- Others?
My point in bringing this up is this: It is often hard to lead. And it is even harder to lead justly. You will find yourself in many positions where you believe the right decision is not going to be the popular decision.
Many of us have heard it said this way:
What is popular is not always right.
What is right is not always popular.
It is in these moments that we find out who and what you really serve.
Pray/Q&A