Amy C Walters

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified | Luke 23:13-25

In the story of Jesus’ trial, we meet a character who seems insignificant and yet he’s mentioned in all four Gospels. Barabbas is a guilty prisoner, awaiting his death. Then, through a miracle that he did nothing to cause and didn’t deserve, he’s set free. And Jesus dies in his place. Barabbas demonstrates the gospel.

On the surface, Barabbas is a very minor character, a blip on the screen of Scripture. And yet the gospel writers find something significant about him. He’s actually named in all four gospels. Not even all the disciples are named in all four gospels! So this tells us that there’s something significant going on here that we need to pay attention to. 

The name Barabbas itself is interesting. Barabbas means son of the father. This gains some significance when we remember that this trial started hours earlier with the chief priests and the teachers of the law asking Jesus, “Are you the son of God then?” And Jesus stakes a claim that he is the Son of the heavenly Father. 

We find another connection between Jesus and Barabbas with the charges that they face. Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city. This is an armed and violent revolt, a rebellion against the Roman authorities. And what is Jesus charged with? Inciting the people to rebellion, the same charge, and one that the Romans took very seriously. One that carried with it a death sentence. 

Now, we come to one very important difference between the two. Jesus was not guilty of this crime, but Barabbas was.

Pilate has mentioned several times in this story that Jesus has done nothing to deserve death. But Barabbas is guilty, and at this moment in this story, he is waiting in his prison cell for his impending death. It’s his crucifixion that’s coming later that day.

Many of the Jewish people wanted someone to overthrow the Roman government, to free the nation of Israel from Roman control, someone to lead a rebellion and kick the Romans out. And what has Barabbas attempted to do? Overthrow the Roman government.

Hope Bollinger points out that Barabbas likely represented what the people wanted Jesus to be. This could be the very reason that many people who celebrated Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem less than a week before on Palm Sunday are now demanding his death. 

Now that doesn’t mean that the people see Barabbas as a hero. John Bloom, a writer at Desiring God, points out that the way the Gospel writers describe Barabbas is not flattering. They talk about him as an insurrectionist. They refer to him as a robber. Luke points out that he’s a murderer. 

Remember too that Pilate is trying to get Jesus released. His goal in offering Barabbas as a substitute was to give them what he hoped would be an easy decision. No, of course, we wouldn’t want Barabbas. 

But it backfires. Pilate underestimates the crowd’s hatred for Jesus. So ultimately, Pilate relents. He releases Barabbas and surrenders Jesus to the crowd. 

Does Barabbas do anything to get set free? No, he’s just sitting there in his prison cell. He hasn’t made any appeals. He hasn’t made a prison break. He hasn’t done anything to earn a release. He just gets set free. 

And did he deserve to be set free? No, he was guilty. He deserved to be punished for what he had done. 

Instead, Jesus took his place. Jesus took the punishment that Barabbas deserved. 

What would that feel like to be Barabbas? To one moment have nothing to look forward to but a slow, brutal death, and then in the next moment to be set free.

It would feel amazing, right? What a turnaround in just a short amount of time! There would be so much relief. You don’t have to face an agonizing death. You could go home to your family.

It would be hard to believe it at first. I’m sure that you would be in a state of shock. Can this really be happening?

Maybe he even laughs at his luck.

But it’s not luck. You see, Barabbas is a clear display of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement. Jesus took the punishment that he deserved so that Barabbas could go free. It’s a picture of salvation. 

Our key truth for today is that we are Barabbas. 

Just like Barabbas, we deserve punishment for our sins. And we can do nothing to free ourselves. The only thing that we have to look forward to is death. And it’s a death that we deserve for our sins.

But Jesus took our punishment. He was condemned so that we could be set free. What an incredible picture of our salvation, of what Jesus has done for us!

Do you notice that we don’t know what happens to Barabbas after this? He disappears after this brief mention. But I think that’s on purpose.

His story is unfinished, so that as we see ourselves as Barabbas, we are confronted with the question, what will we do now? What will we do with the second chance at life we have been given? Will we chalk it up to good luck and go on living the way we want to?

Or will we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, that he was our substitute and died in our place, so that in him we can be free?