John 18:38b
makes clear explicitly that Pilate found no guilt in Jesus. He found the
accusations of the Jews incongruous with what he had discovered. So he went out
to them at the praetorium to declare the verdict. He said categorically, “I
find no guilt in Him.” Jesus was clearly innocent and Pilate was impressed by
Him more than he would care to admit. What’s unsettling was his failure to act
on his conviction! Pilate might have his reason for why he acted the way he
did, but what about us? Are we afraid to live out our convictions of the truth?
Pray that God will give us the moral courage to always do and act on what is
right and not what is popular.
Ignoring the voice
of his conscience, Pilate went on and conferred with the vociferous cries for
Jesus’ blood. In so doing, he had committed the worst injustice known to human
kind. Bear in mind that John’s Gospel had omitted some details described in the
other Gospels. John did not include the protest of the chief priests recorded
in Mark 15:3-12. He also omitted much of what Luke 23:5-18 had described. Luke recorded
that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod on hearing that He was a Galilean. He also recorded
the cruel treatment Jesus received at the hands of the brutal soldiers. And how
Herod finally sent Jesus back to Pilate, after having had his share of
humiliating Jesus.
In verse 39, John
was attempting to show us Pilate’s first attempt to release Jesus to ease his conscience.
He sought to free Him through a common practice the Romans had during the
Jewish Passover. He remembered that it was customary for the Roman authority to
release a convicted prisoner during this feast. Here we see Pilate’s cowardice
in full display. He was appealing to that common practice to have Jesus
released instead of freeing Him because he had found Him truly not guilty. If
the Jews had agreed with him, it would have eased his conscience for failing to
act on his conviction. Alas! It was not to be so. So his first attempt to
release Jesus failed.
This action of
Pilate allowed the Jews to seize the opportunity and demanded for the release
of Barabbas. Though John described Barabbas as a robber, he was more accurately,
a bandit. And he was much more, for Luke described him as a murderer. Barabbas was
really a convicted insurrectionary, deserving death according to the law of the
Romans. His name means “son of the father.” Literally, we all have some of the sinful
nature of “Barabbas” in us and we deserve to be condemned. Many still don’t realize
that Jesus, the true Son of the Father wants to free the sinful Barabbas in us so
that we can be redeemed to be the true sons (and daughters) of the good Heavenly
Father.
Two thoughts
to consider: First, we must live and act on right convictions in life. Avoid denying
our conscience when we know the right thing to do. Failure to act when
convicted by the truth will erode our ability to live a God pleasing life. Second,
consider what Jesus went through for us. He suffered and died to free the
“Barabbas” in us. So that we can truly live as true sons and daughters of the
Heavenly Father. We must live to please Him above all else.
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