Matthew 27:15-26 15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. 16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called [b]Barabbas. 17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” 20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” 22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” 23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” 24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a [c]tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this [d]just Person. You see to it.” 25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” 26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had [e]scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
A young Hindu boy once watched a movie about Jesus and was gripped by intense emotion. With quivering lips, he said, “This is so unjust. What Judas did to Christ is so unjust. What Peter, the Sanhedrin, and the false witnesses did is so unjust. What Pilate and Herod did is so unjust. Even the horrible things the Roman soldiers did were so unjust.” The boy’s heart was broken to see such cruelty inflicted upon the most innocent person. Then he asked a profound question: “But why did He allow all that to happen? He could have easily escaped. Why did He have to die like that?” To find the answer, let us continue our journey with Christ toward the cross in the Gospel of Matthew.
After three religious trials, Jesus stood before the Roman governor, Pilate. We have seen the verdict of the first trial: “I find no fault in this man.” However, due to previous political blunders, Pilate was in a difficult position. On one hand, Jesus was innocent, so he could not justly pass a death sentence. On the other hand, if he released Him, the leaders might cause a riot—and another riot could cost Pilate his job.
As a cautious politician, Pilate made three attempts to escape this situation. His first attempt was sending Jesus to Herod. He likely thought he had escaped the problem and sat down for breakfast, only to hear that Herod had sent Jesus back. Once again, Jesus stood before him. Pilate then moved to his second attempt: using the Passover custom and a prisoner named Barabbas. When that failed, he tried a third time by scourging Jesus. Finally, under the pressure of a mob, he passed the death sentence.
There was a custom of releasing one prisoner whom the public requested during the Passover. Pilate thought he could use this custom to propose a choice between two men: the legally innocent Jesus and the notorious criminal Barabbas.
All four Gospels mention Barabbas, describing him as a menace to society. He was a terrorist, an insurrectionist against Rome, a murderer, and a brigand. While some Jews might have liked his rebellion against Rome, he was a thug who acted for selfish rather than patriotic reasons. Pilate knew the Jews also hated him, which is why he proposed him as the alternative.
In verse 17, Pilate appeals to the multitude:
“Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
By calling Him “Christ,” he reminded the people that they had seen Jesus as their Messiah; only days ago, they had welcomed Him with shouts of “Hosanna!” Pilate assumed that no one would choose a murderer over Jesus.
By all logical calculations, Pilate’s plan should have worked. However, sovereign God had a different plan. If Jesus had been released then, we could never be released from our sins and the judgment of God. Thus, God did not spare His Son. Instead, He provided a providential interruption in the courtroom.
While Pilate sat on the judgment seat, an urgent message arrived from his wife, Claudia:
“Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” (Matthew 27:19)
Who would think God would use a dream to change the course of history? Claudia had experienced a dream so intense and frightening that she felt compelled to interrupt her husband’s court proceedings. The Romans believed that gods sometimes sent messages through dreams, especially those occurring in the early morning.
This was a timely warning. Pilate had to pause the trial to receive this domestic message. His wife was desperate, warning him to stay away from “that righteous man.” She feared the consequences of this “government murder.” She was right to be afraid. Pilate’s later life was filled with such guilt that he reportedly became a broken man and eventually committed suicide. Like Judas, he could not live with the burden of having betrayed innocent blood.
This interruption gave the chief priests and elders time to move through the crowd. Verse 20 tells us they “persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.” In those few moments, the crowd was sucked in by the leaders, and Pilate’s plan failed.
When Pilate reassembled the court and repeated his question—”Which of the two do you want me to release?”—he was confident they would choose Jesus. To his utter shock, the crowd shouted, “Barabbas!”
Pilate was jolted. How could they be so senseless? He had underestimated the power of the leaders and overestimated the people. He did not see the spiritual forces at work or the sovereign plan of God. The crowd was fickle. Their earlier fascination with Jesus had been superficial. The leaders skillfully touched the nerves of religion and nationalism, convincing the masses that because Pilate (their Roman enemy) found no fault in Jesus, Jesus must be a supporter of Rome and therefore a deceiver.
They chose Barabbas because, though a murderer, he was a “nationalistic patriot” who hated Rome. Religious nationalism is blind and dangerous. Using bribes and political intrigue, the leaders convinced the crowd that Jesus was an enemy of their religion and their temple.
In utter shock, Pilate asked the most important question any person can ask:
“What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22)
The crowd screamed back, “Let Him be crucified!” They demanded the most painful, shameful form of Roman execution. In this scene of anarchy, justice had no place.
Pilate then tried a third attempt. Matthew 26:26 mentions that he scourged Jesus. John 19 explains that Pilate hoped that by severely punishing Jesus—making Him look weak and near death—the crowd’s bloodlust would be satisfied, and they would agree to His release.
Roman scourging was a punishment so horrific that many did not survive it. A man was tied by the wrists to a post, his body stretched taut. Two soldiers would stand on either side with whips made of leather thongs. At the ends of these thongs were bits of lead, brass, and sharp animal bones or stones.
When they whipped the body, it did not just tear the skin; it gashed the flesh, exposing arteries, veins, and even entrails. Jesus was stripped and hung there, His hands and feet tied so He could not rescue His own body from the blows.
The Jews traditionally used rods, where each strike created a single stripe. But Roman scourging used a short-handled whip with several leather lashes, each fastened with a lethal combination of stones, bones, teeth, lead, and brass.
Two soldiers, one on each side, would strike in a rhythmic, full-force cadence. To maintain their energy and the power of the blows, they would scream—much like men today shout while lifting heavy weights—crying out to keep the rhythm of the torture. The effect was beyond horrific. This was not mere skin-ripping; the sharp attachments would pierce the skin and the subcutaneous flesh simultaneously, pulling in different directions. Arteries were gashed, and muscle was shredded until the deep, bloody bones were exposed. Often, the lashes would rip deep enough to lay bare internal organs like the kidneys, liver, and intestines.
While Jewish law strictly limited punishment to forty lashes (minus one to ensure no accidental overage), the Romans had no such limit. We do not know how long they pounded Jesus or how many times they tore into Him, but they continued until His back looked like a plowed field—strips of skin and flesh hanging from His frame.
This was a torture beyond description. Jesus had the strong, hardworking body of a carpenter who had walked hundreds of miles through cities and villages. Yet this scourging made Him so weak that He could not even carry a single wooden beam. He was beaten until He was physically incapable of carrying His own cross.
As if the physical pain were not enough, the soldiers in the Praetorium turned to emotional torture. As recorded in John 19:2, they wove a crown of thorns and crushed it down into His brow, causing blood to flow over His head. They threw a purple robe over Him and began a tragic game of mockery, bowing and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They kept coming to Him, striking Him across the face, adding new wounds to the swelling and spit from the night before.
This was all part of Pilate’s desperate plan to draw sympathy from the people and avoid the necessity of crucifixion. He thought that if he presented a man so brutally broken, the crowd’s bloodlust would be satisfied.
Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.” Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” (John 19:4-5)
It is an inconceivable injustice. Pilate, the coward, repeats that he finds no fault in Jesus, yet he exposes Him in this pathetic state—shivering, struggling for breath, His face beaten black and blue, His body a mass of gaping gashes and exposed bone. He expected the crowd to melt in pity. But like animals that have tasted blood, the crowd and the leaders were not satisfied. When the chief priests saw the mangled, bleeding Jesus, they only cried out louder: “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
Pilate tried to “pass the buck” again, telling the leaders to take Him and crucify Him themselves, as he still found no fault. The Jews then revealed their true motive: “He made Himself the Son of God.” This made Pilate even more afraid. He went back inside and asked Jesus, “Where are You from?” but Jesus gave no answer.
Even in His suffering, Jesus gave a majestic response to Pilate’s claim of power: “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Pilate sought again to release Him, but the Jews used their final political weapon: “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend.” To a man whose career was already on the verge of ruin due to previous riots, this was the end. If he released Jesus, the leaders would report to Emperor Tiberius that Pilate had freed a traitor who claimed to be a king. To save his position, Pilate gave up.
Returning to Matthew 27, Pilate makes one last inquiry: “Why, what evil has He done?” The response was not a list of crimes, but a deafening, frenzied chant: “Let Him be crucified!” The mindless mob, stirred by the leaders, was out of control.
When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.” (Matthew 27:24)
In a pathetic, theatrical ritual, Pilate tried to wash away the guilt of his own conscience. He used a Jewish custom (from Deuteronomy 21:6) to symbolize his innocence, but water cannot wash away the blood of a righteous man.
The response of the people was perhaps the most chilling in all of Scripture:
“His blood be on us and on our children.” (Matthew 27:25)
In their venomous rage, they invited a curse upon themselves and their descendants. They did not realize the abyss of misery this would bring. Within forty years, in 70 A.D., the Roman patience with this “riotous nation” would end in the utter destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. For centuries, the consequences of this rejection have echoed through history.
Finally, Pilate caved. He released the murderer Barabbas and delivered the sinless Jesus to be crucified.
Barabbas and Jesus: A Picture of the Gospel
I am so happy to bring this application to you. While what we have seen may seem like a very sad story, Matthew is not telling us sad news; he is telling us the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Behold in the story of Barabbas and Jesus a clear picture of the very heart and soul of the grace of God.
Who is condemned? The truly innocent One. He was declared innocent by Judas, the Sanhedrin, all of Israel, Pilate (repeatedly), Herod, and Pilate’s wife. He stood majestically with a conscience utterly unstained. Yet, He stands dripping with blood, lacerated and beaten like a common criminal.
Who is released? The proven guilty one. Barabbas was a notorious criminal, a rebel, a murderer, and a thief. He was a man who lived a demonstrably unrighteous life. Yet, he is set free as though he were utterly innocent.
You Are Barabbas
Friends, this is the Gospel. We are the ones who are truly proven guilty before the bar of Almighty God. We fell in our first father, Adam; we are the “sons of our fathers”—we are Barabbases. We incurred the sentence of death. We went astray from the womb. Our rebellion was not against Rome, but against the throne of the Deity—our Creator and Judge.
We have been robbers, stealing from God the glory He is due. We enjoy the breath in our nostrils and the food on our tables, yet we use His gifts for our own lust, pride, and envy. We are murderers in our hearts, rising in anger against those who stand in our way. If given the opportunity, our sinful nature would be ready to murder the Son of God all over again.
This is the Gospel: when we realize what sinners we are and come to this truly innocent One, we find that He was treated as if He had committed all our sins. He was treated as the guilty one in our place so that we—the rebels and murderers—could be set free.
By His Stripes, We are Healed
Behold the Lord as His hands are bound. He is lashed again and again, and He cries out in agony. I wonder if the heart of Barabbas melted as he stood at a distance, hearing the whistle of the whip and the sound of it hitting the body of Jesus. I wonder if he realized, “That blow belongs to me. I should have been the one stripped and bound, but He is taking it for me.”
Whatever Barabbas thought, there are “Barabbases” sitting here today. You have not understood the Gospel until you realize that you are that prisoner. You are the lawbreaker rightly condemned to eternity in hell.
Why did He allow this infinite suffering? Because upon Him was laid all your sins and your curse. I should have been whipped under the lash of God’s righteous anger for all eternity, but Jesus took my place. By His stripes, I am eternally healed. This is the only Gospel that can cure a sin-sick soul: the Gospel of the bruised, beaten, and crucified Christ.
What Will You Do With Jesus?
J.C. Ryle once said: “Let us freely confess that, like Barabbas, we deserve death, judgment and hell. But let us cling firmly to the glorious truth that a sinless Savior has suffered in our stead.”
Now, every human being must answer Pilate’s question: “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”
In this story, every face—Annas, Caiaphas, Judas, Peter, Pilate, and Herod—proves that Jesus is innocent. They are all guilty; He is the perfect Lamb of God, without spot or blemish. Jesus wasn’t really on trial here; everyone else was. And you are on trial, too. Your response to Jesus Christ will determine your eternal destiny.
What are your options?
- Will you hate Him like the leaders?
- Will you mock Him and make Him a joke like Herod?
- Will you mindlessly follow the crowd and reject Him?
- Will you be like Pilate’s wife and simply try to “have nothing to do with Him”?
- Will you be like Pilate, choosing the material world and sacrificing eternity?
The Tragedy of a Compromised Conscience
Do not play with your conscience as Pilate did. He was a pathetic man who lacked the moral courage to follow what he knew was true. He tried to evade, he tried to compromise, and he tried to shift the responsibility. He washed his hands in a bowl of water, but a million oceans could not wash away his guilt.
Pilate’s name has become an eternal symbol of evil. Every Sunday, millions of Christians recite the creed: “Suffered under Pontius Pilate.” He is a man who lived a tortured life because he tried to silence his accusing conscience.
You cannot shift your responsibility. You may try to blame your circumstances or your companions, but God will eventually say to you, “Thou art the man!” Your conscience will never find peace until you bow in faith and accept the claims of Jesus Christ.
What will you do? You can push Him away, or you can open your heart and say, “Lord Jesus, I welcome You.” It is the safest and best thing you can do. Run to the cross and lay hold of the One who loved you and died for you.
To the people of God: let us learn never to play with our consciences. Do not compromise in your jobs or your families because you are worried about the consequences. When we capitulate to ungodly pressure, we are acting like Pilate. May we be a people who stand for the truth, no matter the cost.