Mark 15:6-15--Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

Mark 15:6-15
English Standard Version
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Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified
6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

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The "feast" referred to here is the feast of Passover (remember that this is Good Friday, which was Passover, though the priestly class celebrated it that evening after they offered the sacrificial lambs in the afternoon).  It was Pilate's custom to release a prisoner to celebrate the feast and help appease the people (he understood that this holiday for them had something to do with freedom and independence, much like our Independence Day here in the United States of America marks the beginning of our nation, but also freedom and independence for us).  Pilate really wanted the people to overrule the chief priests, scribes, and Council and ask for Jesus to be released, so he tried to offer them only two choices--Jesus, the one who they called the King of the Jews, or Barabbas, a terrorist, thief, murderer, and probably an insurrectionist--an all-around bad person.  Barabbas was likely the one that was going to die on the center cross that day if Jesus hadn't taken his place for all three of the men that were to die were described as "thieves" which is the generic term used in Greek for a felon of any sort.  Jesus, however, was innocent of all charges.

There's also another interesting item to note here.  Barabbas's name literally means "son of the father."  It could mean that no one knew who his father was to give him a traditional name like Simon Barjonas would mean Simon, son of Jonas.  Yet, Jesus is the true Son of the Father--the Only Begotten of the Father, to be precise.  So, the people decided to do the bidding of their leaders and to ask for Barabbas and told Pilate that they wanted Jesus to be crucified.  All of this was part of God's plan, but the people, especially the scribes, priests, and rulers of the Jewish people would not be held guiltless for what they did.

Pilate tried to reason with them, but they cried out all the louder and all the more, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"  When Pilate saw that the crowd could not be calmed, and he was afraid they would riot (they had a history of rioting during Passover), and that would likely be the end of his being governor if they did, for he was already in trouble with Rome for letting the Jews get out of control one too many times, He ordered that Jesus be beaten and flogged, hoping this would satisfy the people, but they still wanted Him dead.  Pilate then "washed his hands of the matter" and the people agreed that Jesus's blood was on their hands and on the hands of their children, and Jesus was turned over to be crucified.  We'll talk more about the physical and psychological torture they put Jesus through before the crucifixion next time.