Friday, February 27, 2015
Mark 15:9-10 And he answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.
PLACES OF THE PASSION -- THE PAVEMENT
It had two different names. In the Greek it was called "the Pavement." In the Hebrew it was called "Gabbatha." Gabbatha means "the ridge of the house" and is said to have been located on the temple mount upon which the Fortress of Antonia was built. There are two possible sites for the Pavement, one near Herod's palace and the other near the Fortress of Antonia on the temple mount. We don't know for sure which site is the actual one, but we do know what happened there. It was in the Praetorium, on the pavement, where Pontius Pilate gave the assembled mob a choice.
Why did Pilate suggest that they choose Jesus? Isn't it obvious? When Pilate compared Barabbas and Jesus in his own mind, the guilty one was obvious, the choice was easy. Any right thinking person could see it as plain as day. Moreover, there was a chance that they had already suffered because of the actions of Barabbas. When a rebellion was staged and failed, there would be reprisals. If Pilate cared, he must have assumed that they would choose Jesus. If so, then he underestimated the power of the religious leaders' hatred for Jesus. (And they controlled the mob.)
So how about you? Whom would you choose to release? If you had a vote, would you cry for Jesus' release or Barabbas'? The emotional, and less than thoughtful answer, is to call for Jesus' release. If Jesus had been released, there would be no crucifixion, no forgiveness, and no redemption for you or me or anyone else. If Jesus were to go on living, and Barabbas die in Jesus' place, then it would be an eternal tragedy. The Father's plan and the Son's mission would go unfulfilled.
The sober and thoughtful answer is to call for Barabbas' release. After all, Barabbas is a person we can relate to. We are like Barabbas, not Jesus. Barabbas was a notorious rebel and murderer. But just how notorious would you and I be if others could read our minds and know our thoughts? What if everyone could know our innermost sins and shameful thoughts. Would Barabbas look so bad anymore? We have earned the eternal death sentence by our sins of thought, word, and action.
Yet God determined to take the sin of the guilty and lay it on His innocent Son. This isn't an example of man's injustice, but of God's divine justice -- fueled by divine love. We the guilty have been set free from what we truly deserved. The Scripture declares it like this (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21): "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree') ... For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Pilate may have considered this an opportunity to release Jesus, but it was really God's plan to set free all who were bound in sin and destined for eternal death.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus, unto Thee.
