Pilate Presents Jesus and Barabbas to the CrowdBible World
15:10Mark 15:10
For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
Mark 15:10 belongs to the early-morning scene in Pilate's judgment hall, where Jesus stands bound as a prisoner among soldiers while the priests, rulers, elders and the mob wait outside, refusing to enter lest defilement keep them from the Passover. They do not see that murderous hatred has already defiled their hearts, nor that Christ himself is the true Passover lamb. Pilate has been called hastily from his bedchamber and at first means to act with severe, speedy efficiency to satisfy the Jewish authorities' demand for haste. Looking searchingly at Jesus he finds no guilt, fear, boldness or defiance, but only calm, dignified bearing marked by goodness, nobility and heaven's signature. That appearance stirs his better nature, and joined with what his wife told him and rumors he had heard from several sources about the Galilean prophet who healed the sick and raised the dead, it leads him to demand what charges the Jews bring against the prisoner.
Pilate knew the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him out of envy, and their charge arose from envy rather than from evidence of wrongdoing or any just cause for judgment. The chief priests delivered the innocent Jesus for condemnation driven by envy and malice. Both Pilate and Herod understood that envy and malice alone had led the Jews to accuse and condemn him.
That envious malice and fanatical hatred arose because Jesus, as the light of the world, had exposed the priests' darkness and error. Under their false accusations Jesus' calm silence showed conscious innocence and superior wisdom. The contrast between his restraint and the priests' fury strengthened Pilate's conviction that Jesus was innocent, that he had been handed over out of envy, and that his accusers were unjust. To save Jesus' life Pilate had him scourged and mocked in hope of exciting pity and satisfying that malice, then set Jesus in contrast with Barabbas and declared he found no fault in him. But the priests saw through the plan to release him and, determined he should not be released, stirred the mob to furious cries for his crucifixion.
The verse belongs to the trial scene in which Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, and the choice of Barabbas over Jesus represented the choice of Satan over Christ. That same choice is repeated whenever people reject Christ by showing whom they choose. It belongs also to the condemnation in which the crowd that had once hailed Jesus as king turned against him with insults and rejection. Yet the disciples had been prepared for this reversal, so it did not surprise them or lead them to base their faith on public opinion. The account of the trial before Pilate connects Jesus' condemnation with the grisly death of Judas, which interrupted the crowd on the way to Calvary, quieted its mockery, and was seen by many as retribution already falling on those guilty of Jesus' blood.
Mark 15:10 belongs to the early-morning scene in Pilate's judgment hall, where Jesus stands bound as a prisoner among soldiers while the priests, rulers, elders and the mob wait outside, refusing to enter lest defilement keep them from the Passover. They do not see that murderous hatred has already defiled their hearts, nor that Christ himself is the true Passover lamb. Pilate has been called hastily from his bedchamber and at first means to act with severe, speedy efficiency to satisfy the Jewish authorities' demand for haste. Looking searchingly at Jesus he finds no guilt, fear, boldness or defiance, but only calm, dignified bearing marked by goodness, nobility and heaven's signature. That appearance stirs his better nature, and joined with what his wife told him and rumors he had heard from several sources about the Galilean prophet who healed the sick and raised the dead, it leads him to demand what charges the Jews bring against the prisoner.
Pilate knew the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him out of envy, and their charge arose from envy rather than from evidence of wrongdoing or any just cause for judgment. The chief priests delivered the innocent Jesus for condemnation driven by envy and malice. Both Pilate and Herod understood that envy and malice alone had led the Jews to accuse and condemn him.
That envious malice and fanatical hatred arose because Jesus, as the light of the world, had exposed the priests' darkness and error. Under their false accusations Jesus' calm silence showed conscious innocence and superior wisdom. The contrast between his restraint and the priests' fury strengthened Pilate's conviction that Jesus was innocent, that he had been handed over out of envy, and that his accusers were unjust. To save Jesus' life Pilate had him scourged and mocked in hope of exciting pity and satisfying that malice, then set Jesus in contrast with Barabbas and declared he found no fault in him. But the priests saw through the plan to release him and, determined he should not be released, stirred the mob to furious cries for his crucifixion.
The verse belongs to the trial scene in which Pilate offered the crowd a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, and the choice of Barabbas over Jesus represented the choice of Satan over Christ. That same choice is repeated whenever people reject Christ by showing whom they choose. It belongs also to the condemnation in which the crowd that had once hailed Jesus as king turned against him with insults and rejection. Yet the disciples had been prepared for this reversal, so it did not surprise them or lead them to base their faith on public opinion. The account of the trial before Pilate connects Jesus' condemnation with the grisly death of Judas, which interrupted the crowd on the way to Calvary, quieted its mockery, and was seen by many as retribution already falling on those guilty of Jesus' blood.