6Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. 7And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. 8Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. 9But Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" 10For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.
11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. 12Pilate answered and said to them again, "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"
13So they cried out again, "Crucify Him!"
14Then Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done?"
But they cried out all the more, "Crucify Him!"
15So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.
These chief priests are very busy little guys! They convinced Judas to turn in Jesus. They gathered up a mob to capture Jesus. They stirred up the crowd and got them to cheer for Barabbas and jeer for Jesus. Did they claim to do this in the name of their religion? Did they convince the people they were doing this for their own safety? Or were they simply providing a party atmosphere, rousing the crowd into an excited frenzy. Remember, no one in the crowd knew Jesus. Those who knew Jesus had all scattered. These people did not know what they were doing.
Sometimes it is in that party atmosphere that we find ourselves doing what we know we shouldn't. Everyone else is doing it. You're simply joining in on the fun. You're just trying to be part of the crowd. Someone you respect is leading the games. They wouldn't steer you wrong, would they? If that many people think it is all right, who are you to argue? It's all just for fun anyway. But sometimes after the fun is all over with, you look back at what really happened and you wonder how you came to do what you did. I think the devil works his best in this mode, when you simply want to have fun and no worries. But it is important that that is when you most have to keep your guard up. Or you may end up like this crowd, committing the worst thing you could imagine, not realizing what you did till it was all over with.
So what would have happened if you had been there? First of all, if you knew Jesus, you probably wouldn't have been there, because God scattered everyone who knew Him. As I think of it now, I think He did it as a favor to them more so than any other reason. By not being there, there was no way for them to take any responsibility for what happened to Jesus. They fled for their safety, God scattered them for their peace of mind.
But suppose you had been there. What would have happened if you were one who didn't listen to the chief priests and you tried to prevent this crucifixion from happening? Actually, most likely you wouldn't have been able to make much difference. You would have been outnumbered by the crowd, and your cries would have been drowned out by the cries of the mob. Besides, Jesus was going to have to die on the cross anyway, so there is no way you could have prevented it. So why do something that would make absolutely no difference in the end anyway? Well, it wouldn't have any affect on the big picture, but it would make a huge difference in how you felt about yourself. Same with challenges we face today, to follow the crowd or to do what we know is right even though we know it won't make much difference. We still need to do what is right. Each of us is to make our own choices. Our eternal life is not affected by the overall affects of our choices, but simply by the choices themselves. Sometimes our choices make a difference, other times they do not. God controls what happens overall, we control our choices.
How about Pilate? Did he have a choice? Was He simply an instrument of God's plan with no choices? He really didn't want to condemn Jesus but in the end he chose to satisfy the crowd. Actually, I don't think God ever forces anyone to make a choice that goes against their own good. Yes, this was needed for God's plan, but remember, God is all powerful. He can make anything happen. I think that if Pilate had decided to let Jesus go instead of Barabbas, that somehow God's plan would still have been carried out. Jesus would have been sent to the cross through some other means. But then at least Pilate wouldn't have had the execution of Jesus on his conscience. If we simply focus on just doing what is right, God will take care of everything else.
I often felt terrible that here they let a murderer go and had Jesus crucified. Hardly a fair trade is it? Jesus took the place of a murderer. But I see it now as only the leading edge of this awful trade. He not only took the place of a murder, but of every sinner of the time and of the time to come. He took your place and mine. We have been released from eternal damnation even though we are all sinners, all because Jesus took our place on the cross. Because of Him we have the option of eternal life. His life wasn't traded for Barabbas', but for all of ours.