John 18:39-40 documents a very odd exchange between Pilate and the Jewish leaders that ultimately reveals the spectacular beauty of the gospel.
After conducting his own interrogation of Jesus, Pilate determined he was not guilty of the charges brought by the Jewish leaders. In fact, the governor said, “I find no fault in him AT ALL.” However, instead of upholding the law and commanding the release of this prisoner he’d just declared to be innocent, he decided to try and appease the representatives of the high priest. He presented them with a convoluted offer apparently designed to help them save face. He asked if they wanted him to set Jesus free as the recipient of their Passover clemency tradition.
Given his position of authority, it must have then come as a shock when they not only rejected his proposal but literally shrieked their surprising response shouting, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Their bloodlust was at fever pitch. And if he hadn’t understood that before, he certainly did then. They were demanding that someone who was a convicted criminal, guilty of violent theft according to John as well as insurrection and murder according to Luke (23:19), be released in place of the guiltless one Pilate had labeled, “King of the Jews.”
It was a perverse and ugly scene but one that, like a dark background enhancing the experience of an exquisite work of art displayed against it, highlights the glory of God’s grace provided in Christ. We know from the other Gospels (e.g. Mark 15:15) that Pilate acquiesced to the demands of the religious leaders by releasing Barabbas and ultimately delivering Jesus to them for crucifixion. The life of the faultless was taken in exchange for the guilty.
And that should not only sound familiar, but it should also drive us to our knees in worship before the one who offered his sinless son to shoulder our iniquity and take upon himself the penalty we deserve that we might be set free from guilt and be clothed with his innocence. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The impact of the truth conveyed by those words and the love that made it possible are beyond human capacity to even begin to comprehend. But from one Barabbas to another, let me just say that I want to spend every moment of the forgiven eternity I’ve received, as a result of the exchange that verse describes, in a manner that honors the one who willingly exchanged his life for mine.