24 Hours that Changed the World ~ Jesus, Barabbas and Pilate

12 hours ago Jesus was lifting up a cup in the Passover meal saying that it would be by his outstretched arm on a cross that a new covenant of salvation would be established through his blood. It was 6 hours ago that Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane after accepting this cup and choosing to follow the way of the cross, and it was 3 hours ago that Jesus faced both questions and condemnation by the religious leaders. In that trial the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilt of blasphemy and wanted him executed but they did not have the authority to put people to death.


At the time of Jesus, Rome ruled over Israel and so only Rome had the power to execute criminals so if the Sanhedrin wanted Jesus crucified they needed Pilate, the Roman governor, to issue the decree, so it was probably around 7:00 in the morning when Jesus was led through the streets of Jerusalem to a place called Antonia Fortress which was not only the residence of Pilate but the seat of Roman authority in Jerusalem. What’s interesting to know is that the Antonia Fortress was right next door to the Temple which makes the irony of this scene so much more compelling. As God, Jesus should have rode into the Temple to rule in power and glory, but instead he was tied up and led as a prisoner into the Roman garrison next door so that Pilate could sentence him to death.

Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea at this time and he was known as a harsh ruler. In Luke 13:1 there is a little known story about some Galileans who go to the Temple to make their sacrifices and for some unknown reason Pilate has them killed and then he has their blood mixed with the blood of the sacrifice. While we don’t know any of the details of this story, what it tells us is that Pilate was a cruel man who had no problem having the Jewish people killed and then even in death treating them with contempt. As the governor of Judea, the goal for Pilate was to keep the region and the people quiet and the money flowing to Rome so Pilate would often do whatever was necessary to keep the peace. The Sanhedrin hope that if they make enough noise, Pilate will have Jesus killed in order to keep the peace.

Now the Sanhedrin know that Pilate won’t get involved in their theological debate. He won’t care that Jesus claims to be God, but he will care that Jesus claims to be king. The claim to be king of the Jews was grounds to have someone executed and Pilate had been quick to have others executed who made these same claims, so the Sanhedrin send Jesus to Pilate saying he claims to be king with the hope that Pilate would once again move quickly and have Jesus crucified, but Pilate knows there is something different about Jesus. Every other would be king had led an armed revolt or some kind of violent uprising, but Jesus had not. Jesus didn’t advocate the violent overthrow of Rome and his followers didn’t go about murdering people, so Pilate was able to see through this situation and he understood that Jesus was not a threat to the power and authority of Rome.

Pilate is really an interesting character because while he is known as a harsh and cruel man, here he seems to show compassion for Jesus. He doesn’t take the easy road and just send him off to be crucified; instead he gives Jesus several opportunities to defend himself. It’s as if Pilate is looking for Jesus to defend himself so he can set him free. Pilate could see Jesus was innocent of the charges against him and so there must have been a part of him that didn’t want to give in to the religious leaders and so he almost begs Jesus to say something so he can let him go, but Jesus remained silent.

It is interesting to see how Jesus used silence in these hours. If he had remained silent when he was questioned by the Sanhedrin they would have had to let him go – but he didn’t. Jesus spoke the truth and they handed him over for trial. Here all Jesus needed to do was speak the truth and Pilate would have had to let him go, but here Jesus remains silent and Pilate can’t understanding why, but we do. Jesus’ silence shows us clearly that Jesus continues to be the one in control. Nothing happens here without Jesus allowing it to happen. The events of his final day are not spinning out of control, in fact, Jesus is the one who is in full control and we see this by Jesus choice to be silent when he should speak and to speak when he should be silent.

 

Jesus makes all these choices because he is directing the final outcome, but the silence here doesn’t just determine the outcome, the silence also fulfills God’s word. The events of Jesus death and resurrection were talked about hundreds of years before Jesus. In fact, what we see taking place here was predicted 600 years earlier by the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 53 was written 6 centuries before Jesus and while it talked about the suffering that God’s people were going through at that time, it also looked ahead to the time of the Messiah and it said quite clearly that the coming Messiah would not only suffer for the sin of the people, but it talked specifically about what that suffering would look like, and the description of that suffering looks very similar to what we see taking place in this hour of Jesus’ final day. We heard Isaiah 53 a few weeks ago, but let’s go back and look a section of it again, Isaiah 53:7-8a.

Jesus has been oppressed and afflicted and yet here we see him remain silent. It was a perversion of justice that brought Jesus to this place, they lied to get him here, and picturing Jesus being tied up and led back and forth through the city streets reminds us of an innocent lamb being led to the slaughter. And here before Pilate when Jesus could have defended himself and gone free we see that he did not open his mouth. Jesus remains silent and knows it will mean his death and he is ok with that because Jesus knows the rest of what God said - look at Isaiah 53:10-12.

When we see Jesus stand silent before Pilate it’s because he knows he is this suffering servant. Jesus knows that it will be his life that will be poured out as an offering for the people, and that he will be the one to bear the sins of the world. Jesus is the suffering Messiah which is why in this hour he chose to remain silent, and it was why in the Passover meal Jesus chose to hold up the cup and say that it would be by his blood that a new covenant of salvation would be established. And it was the reason Jesus chose to be arrested in Gethsemane instead of marching through the Temple gates or fighting back when he had the chance. And it was the reason Jesus chose to speak up in front of the Sanhedrin and affirm his identity as God and why he chose in this moment to remain silent.

 

It is important for us to understand the choices Jesus makes here because this is the foundation of our faith. Every choice Jesus makes in his last 24 hours leads him to the cross and Jesus makes the choice to die on the cross because he knows that as the suffering Messiah it will be his death that will atone for our sin. We believe that our sin has cut us off from God. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death and so the consequence of our sin or our turning away from God is that we are cut us off from God and the life he offers. Since we are all sinners, or as the prophet Isaiah said, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have all turned to our own way, we can’t be reconciled to God on our own, we need a savior. We can’t live the perfect life and we can’t take away our own sin so Jesus came to be that Savior and pay the price for our sin.

Isaiah 53:6b says God laid on the Messiah the iniquity of us all, 53:10 says the life of the Messiah was made an offering for sin and 53:12 says he bore the sin of many. Jesus doesn’t take on our sin as much as he takes on the penalty of our sin, which is death. The death Jesus died on the cross was our death but then he defeats death and in the resurrection overcomes the penalty and the consequence of sin once and for all which means that we are no longer cut off from God. This is what we mean when we say that it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that sets us free and brings us into a relationship with God. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid the full price for our sin and came to be the suffering servant so that we can be in a relationship with God and experience the life God offers us forever and in Jesus God does this for one reason and one reason only, because God loves us and wants us to be in relationship with him and wants us to experience life with him forever.

This is the choice Jesus makes as he stands silent before Pilate, but Pilate continues to want to set Jesus free and so in a last ditch effort to do this he chooses this moment to release a prisoner for the Jewish people. It had become the custom for Rome to release a Jewish prisoner during the Passover. This was good for the Jewish people because it reminded them that God had set them all free in the days of Moses, but it was also good for Rome because it kept the Jewish people happy and therefore less likely to revolt. So Pilate takes this moment to release for them a prisoner and he gives the people the choice of Jesus or Barabbas.

We don’t know much about Barabbas, but what we do know is pretty interesting because he stands in stark contrast to Jesus, even his name tells us this. Where Jesus was the Son of THE Father (God) the name Barabbas means son of A father. And while both Jesus and Barabbas were arrested for leading an uprising – Jesus was peaceful and non-violent while Barabbas’ was violent. Barabbas was being held for murder, more accurately he was accused of killing someone with the hopes that it would lead to a larger revolt by the Jewish people against the tyranny of Rome.

So the two men wanted the same thing, freedom for God’s people, but they went about it in different ways. Barabbas looked at violent means to overthrow the power of Rome and establish the kingdom of Israel, while Jesus looked for spiritual ways to overthrow the power not only of Rome but of all the world in order to establish the kingdom of heaven. The choice given to the people is clear. Will you choose the way of power, strength and violence to change society or love, forgiveness and sacrifice? Do you want someone who will work to change tax laws so you can have more money or someone who will work to change your heart so you can experience God’s love? Do you want someone who will set you free in the political world today or someone who will set you free from sin and death forever? And the people made their choice; they chose the way of worldly power and economic and political freedom. They chose Barabbas.

And as we watch this hour unfold and hear the shouts of the crowd choosing Barabbas, we are shocked and saddened and we want to say, I would never do that, I would never make that choice, but so many times we do. Think about how often we choose Barabbas? We choose Barabbas every time we chose those things that will make us more powerful instead of being willing to sacrifice in love. We choose Barabbas every time we choose economic stability over giving all we have to God and his kingdom. We choose Barabbas every time we choose to be comfortable and safe instead of stepping out in faith to suffer and give for the salvation and wellbeing of others. The truth is that we choose Barabbas every day when we don’t place God and all his ways first in our lives.

The crowds chose Barabbas and so Pilate has one more choice to make. He was a cunning and cruel man who knew what the people wanted and to just be mean and spiteful he could have released Jesus, but Pilate was also politically smart and he didn’t want a riot on his hands so to keeps the peace and to make himself look good he gives in to the demands of the people and releases Barabbas. Think about it, it was peer pressure that, in part, sends Jesus to the cross. It was peer pressure that shaped Pilate’s choice in this hour and condemned Jesus to death.

In this hour, what will shape our choice?

There is a lot of peer pressure today to not choose Jesus. It’s not politically correct to follower Jesus. You’ll be laughed at and ridiculed if you follow Jesus. You will suffer at work or in school or in your family if you say you want to more closely follow Jesus. It might cost you something if you are serious about following Jesus, but like Pilate, Barabbas, the crowd and Jesus, we all have choices to make. Pilate chose to give in to peer pressure and political correctness, the crowds and Barabbas chose the way of strength and economic freedom and Jesus chose the way of God - a way of sacrifice and suffering and love. We all have choices to make, in this hour, what will you choose? In this hour, who will you choose? Will you choose to follow the crowd? Will you choose to follow yourself? Or will you choose to follow Jesus?

 

Next Steps:
24 Hours that Changed the World ~ Jesus, Barabbas and Pilate

1. Jesus chose to be the suffering servant talked about in Isaiah. Read again Isaiah 52:13-53:12. List all the ways Jesus fulfilled this image of the Messiah. How can we follow in the footsteps of Jesus and be a suffering servant today?

2. Barabbas and the crowds chose to bring about change in this world through physical strength and violence, in what ways do we make this same choice? How have we chosen:
• Economic stability over sacrificial giving?
• Safety over suffering and service?
• Comfort over risk taking steps of faith?

 

3. Pilate chose to give in to peer-pressure and give the crowd what they wanted. When have you chosen to give in to peer-pressure and compromised your faith and witness to Jesus:
• At school?
• At work?
• At home?
• Among friends?

 

4. If you have never done it, choose Jesus today to be your Savior.
Acknowledge that you are a sinner who has “gone astray”.
Accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness for your sin.
Be Assured that you are now restored into a right relationship with God and
Ask God for the strength to love him, live for him and follow him daily.