The Festival of Forgiveness …
Now it just so happened that it was a personal tradition of Pilate’s during this festival for him to release a single prisoner; anyone the crowd demanded. So the crowd raised its voice and began to ask Pilate to honor this custom. And at that time a man named Jesus Barabbas was in prison with the other rebels who had supposedly committed murder during a recent insurrection in the city. So Pilate, realizing that it was out of jealousy that they had handed Jesus over to him, addressed their demands by saying, “You do indeed have a custom that I release someone for you ate the Passover. Do you want me to release Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah, the King of the Jews?” And they all shouted in reply, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas for us!” [Matthew 27:15-18, Mark 15:6-10, Luke 23:17-19 & John 18:39-40]
Then Pilate sent Jesus away and had him flogged. And his soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head, and they dressed him in a purple robe, and they repeatedly came up to him and struck him on the face, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then Pilate went out again to the crowd and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you again to let you know that I find no case against him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” And when the chief priests and their police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” But Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” And the Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.” [John 19:1-7]
Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever, and he entered his headquarters again with Jesus, gave Jesus back his own clothes and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you as well?” Then Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” [John 19:8-11]
Then, while Pilate was still sitting on the judgment seat – and while the chief priests and the elders were still inciting the crowd to keep demanding to have Barabbas released and Jesus killed, Pilate’s wife sent word to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.” [Matthew 27:19-20 & Mark 15:11]
And so Pilate tried again to release him, pleading with the crowd for a third and final time, asking again, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they answered once again, “Barabbas.” And Pilate said, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah, the man you call King of the Jews?” And they shouted back, “Let him be crucified!” Then Pilate asked, “Why? What evil has he done?” And yet they shouted all the more, “Crucify him! Let him be crucified!” And again Pilate said to them, “What evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death, and will therefore have him flogged again and then release him.” But the crowd kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified, saying, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the Emperor, for everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the Emperor.”
And so, at about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover, Pilate heard these words and brought Jesus outside once more to the judge’s bench (the place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha) and said to the Jews assembled there, “Here is your King.” And they cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” And Pilate, incredulous, asked them, “Shall I really crucify your King?” And the chief priests answered, “We have no king but the Emperor.” [Matthew 27:21-23, Mark 15:12-14, Luke 23:20-23 & John 19:12-15]
And so, when he saw that he could do nothing — but rather that the crowd must be appeased in order to avoid a coming riot, Pilate took some water and washed his hands openly before them, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves.” And the crowd as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” And so Pilate gave his verdict that their demands should be granted, and he released Barabbas; and, after flogging Jesus, handed him over to them to be crucified. [Matthew 27:24-26, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:24-25 & John 19:16]
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