Passage
At the time of the Passover, Pilate was in the custom of
releasing one prisoner kept under guard.
In prison while Jesus was being tried was a man who had committed murder
and led insurrections. His name was
Barabbas. The crowd gathered before
Pilate and asked him to do what he normally did for them. Pilate conceded, asking if they would like
for him to release the king of the Jews to them. Pilate gave this offer to the crowd because
he thought that Jesus’ arrest was only popular among the Jewish religious
leaders as they were envious of Jesus’ popularity and fame. The religious leaders stirred up the crowd to
ask for Barabbas instead. Pilate asked
the crowd what he should do with Jesus since they did not want him
released. They cried out that Jesus
should be crucified. When Pilate asked what Jesus had done, the crowd simply
chanted “Crucify Him.” Pilate released
Barabbas and sent Jesus off to be crucified.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
There is no passage that more greatly demonstrates the
motivation of the religious leaders than this passage. The religious leaders voluntarily trade Jesus,
who healed people, for a murderer. But
perhaps even more significant than this is the fact that Barabbas was a known
leader of insurrections. What was it
that the religious leaders were looking for in a Messiah? They believe that the Messiah would overthrow
worldly power and bring the Jews to the pinnacle of world power. That’s the Messiah they wanted, not someone
who comes to atone for the sin of the world.
They choose the one who is known for insurrections over the salvation
offered to the world.
Why are human beings prone looking to their own desires and missing
what God is doing in the world? Why do
we have trouble seeing what is really good for us?
Second Thought:
As we look at the timeline of Jesus’ crucifixion, I can’t
help but think about what has transpired.
Nobody could have guessed that Jesus was going to be arrested. When arrested, nobody could have guessed that
the Sanhedrin was going to violate their own policy and have a trial after
dark. Nobody could have guessed that
they would be ready to deliver Jesus to Pilate this quickly. Add to that the fact that Jesus’ own
disciples were hiding in fear. When you
put all of this together there really were no supporters for Jesus to be found
in the crowd. In addition, as we read
this passage from Mark it reads as though the crowd was prepared to ask for
Barabbas. They knew about Pilate’s
tradition of releasing a prisoner. Yes,
he was a murderer, but as an insurrectionist he would have had quite a large
following among Jews. They wanted to get
rid of Rome and someone who wasn’t afraid to stand up to the Romans would have
a good public opinion regardless of whom they had killed. The murders probably were Romans or
supporters of Rome, anyway. My point is
this. It may seem strange that the crowd
would have such ire towards Jesus. I
think this was a crowd that had gathered in support of Barabbas and they
genuinely didn’t care what happened to Jesus.
To the crowd, Jesus was superfluous to having Barabbas free. The religious leaders used this fact to their
advantage.
What does this line of thinking tell us about the “crowd?” What motivates crowds in general? Where do crowd generally get their
values? How can this make any crowd
dangerous?
Third Thought:
Pilate hands Jesus over to be crucified. This is an act for which Pilate will be
accountable. It seems as though Pilate
had no reason to crucify Jesus. He
certainly gave plenty of room for Jesus to escape crucifixion. However, in the end Jesus is crucified by
Pilate simply to appease the crowd – and more importantly the religious leaders. Jesus truly is an innocent man led to the
slaughter for no good reason. He becomes
the sacrifice that God intended – but for all the wrong human reasons.
Why is Pilate interested in appeasing the crowd and the
religious leaders? What is at stake for
him if the religious leaders or the crowd become upset with him? Is this a good reason to make a decision to
crucify someone? Why do we as human
beings often make bad decisions for the wrong reasons?
Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 15:16-20
No comments:
Post a Comment