Messiahship would, he imagined, be the very
person they should want.

It was an utterly unjust thing to do; because, first, it was treating
Jesus as if He were already a condemned man, whereas Pilate had himself
a few minutes before declared Him innocent; and, secondly, it was
staking the life of an innocent man on a guess, which might be
mistaken, as to the fancy of the mob. No doubt, however, Pilate
considered it kind, as he felt sure of the disposition of the populace;
and, at all events, the chance of extricating himself was too good to
lose.

The minds of the mob it turned out, however, were pre-occupied with a
favourite of their own. Singularly enough his name also appears to
have been Jesus: "Jesus Barabbas" is the name he bears in some of the
best manuscripts of the gospel of St. Matthew.[2] He was "a notable
prisoner," who had been guilty of insurrection in the city, in which
blood had been spilt, and was now lying in jail with the associates
whose ringleader he had been. A bandit, half robber half
insurrectionary leader, is a figure which easily lays hold of the
popular imagination. They hesitated, however, when Pilate proposed
Jesus; and Pilate seems to have sent for the other prisoner, that they
might see the two side by side; for they could not, he thought,
hesitate for a moment, if they had the opportunity of observing the
contrast.

But this brief interval was utilised by the Sanhedrists to persuade the
multitude. It must be remembered that this was not the Galilean crowd
by which Jesus had been brought in triumph into the city a few days
before, but the mob of Jerusalem, with whom the ecclesiastical
authorities had influence.[3] The priests and scribes, then, mingled
among them and used every artifice they could think of. Probably their
most effective argument was to whisper that Jesus was obviously the
choice of Pilate, and therefore should not be theirs.

If Pilate actually placed the two Jesuses side by side on his platform,
what a sight it was! The political desperado, stained with murder,
there; the Healer and Teacher, who had gone about continually doing
good, the Son of man, the Son of God, here. Now which will you
have--Jesus or Barabbas? And the cry came ringing from ten thousand
throats, "Barabbas!"

To Jesus what must that have meant! These were the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, whom He had longed to gather as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings; they were the hearers