Let Him be crucified!

 Now Jesus stood before the governor.  And the governor asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."  And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.  Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"  But He answered not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.  And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.  Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to the, "Whom do you want me to release to you?  Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"  For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.  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."  But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.  The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"  They said, "Barabbas!"  Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"  They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"  Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"

- Matthew 27:11-23

Yesterday, we read that when morning came, after the Sanhedrin's night trial, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death.  And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.  Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."  And they said, "What is that to us?  You see to it!"  Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.  But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood."  And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.  Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.  Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter's field, as the LORD directed me."

  Now Jesus stood before the governor.  And the governor asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."  And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.  Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"  But He answered not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.  My study bible notes here:  "The chief priests hide their real charge against Jesus -- the claim of equality with God -- because this would not persuade the governor to sentence Him to death.  Instead, they present a charge of treason -- that Jesus called Himself the King of the Jews.  This crime would carry the death penalty, for it was a challenge to Roman rule."

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.  And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.  Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to the, "Whom do you want me to release to you?  Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"  For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.  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."  But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.  The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?"  They said, "Barabbas!"  Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"  They all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"  Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?"  But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!"  My study bible points out that, while Jesus is the true Son of the Father, here the name Barabbas means "son of the father."  Ironically, it notes, the crowds now must choose between one Son of the Father and the other.  It says, that by influencing the crowds to choose Barabbas, the chief priests indicate to which father they belong (see John 8:44).

So what do we have here?  It's an odd -- not to say, completely crazy -- picture of a world that is in reverse, or upside-down, however we could characterize it.  The NU text, which uses fragments of Alexandrian texts as opposed to the traditional Byzantine Greek texts, even uses "Jesus Barabbas,"  although even ancient scholars (Origen) raise doubts about the use of the name Jesus here.  So, the Son is the one in chains, before the governor, on charges that He called Himself, "King of the Jews."  This is Jesus, who, in John's gospel, has refused to be forced to be made a king.  In our eyes, perhaps, we would say that the Lord of the Universe is bound in chains to be judged by the Roman Governor, Pilate.  And at the same time, the crowd wants to set free Barabbas, another "son of the father."  And who is Barabbas?  In Matthew we are told he is a "notorious" prisoner.  Elsewhere he's named with a word for "bandit" which was used to describe revolutionaries.  Mark and Luke suggest Barabbas was involved in a riot, perhaps a sort of insurrection.  At any rate, we have here a violent man, perhaps one who wishes to bring about a "kingdom" of the Jews in the revolutionary, violent sense, overthrowing the Romans in this way.  And then there is Jesus who brings a different kind of Kingdom into the world.  It clearly has other "rules" than the sword of insurrection to create a physical kingdom, as led by Jesus of Nazareth.  He's the One who entered Jerusalem one week earlier, riding on a donkey.  This is the Man who preached the Beatitudes in His most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, given to us in fullness in Matthew's gospel.  The Beatitudes also teach about a world that sees "upside down" in some sense.  We're told that those who mourn are blessed, that those who are poor in spirit are blessed, and indeed, that those who are meek are blessed -- that it is they who will inherit the earth.  Jesus is no revolutionary bandit; His Kingdom and His preaching are not about an immediate grasp of material power, but teach about endurance, forbearance, the strength of love, even turning the other cheek.  His disciples are taught to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.  So, in some way, this picture of this crisis point gives us our picture of the world, because we are always asked to make this choice.  Are we to be stirred up by people who would be populist leaders, in the name of some sort of immediate gratification of a thirst for power or movement?  Are we to be mobilized through deceit and lies, intended to make a scapegoat of others?  Are there demagogues among us?  These are choices that, in some sense, we are offered every day.  It's greatly telling that Pilate's wife had a dream about "this just man."  This pagan woman has glimpses of the heart, of the thing that is within us all, even those who may have never heard the name of Christ.  (See Romans 2:14-16.)  With Jesus standing before Pilate, the governor understands the envy behind the charge; after all, he's a political man in a world of politics and power.  But everything is upside down here, and the power of a stirred up crowd takes its toll, as it well may do anywhere today.  This is especially true when laws are ignored in favor of what is seemingly a popular choice or one made through political pressure.  So, it really breaks down into two deep choices:  do we listen to the heart, to the good that we know, even what has been enshrined in the law for the sake of justice?  Or do we go with what looks expedient, by manipulation, by force, and all kinds of pressure?  It's up to you and it's up to me, to all of us.  Prayer is a refuge, where we find what we need, even as we appeal to this bound and sentenced Prisoner.  There are countless numbers of times we may see this scene played out again in history, with other players in the roles -- maybe in the present right now when we look around.  But He was there first, for us, to show us the way out of this thinking of an upside down world, where we may not know how to choose of ourselves, where hypocrisy means we can't judge by any appearance.  Jesus prepares us for a complex world, one set in spiritual battle, not a simple and easy picture of life -- but one in which truth becomes the one thing we really need to be truly free  (John 8:32).