Jesus was arrested by the Romans, at the behest of the Jewish leaders, for preaching that they (the Jewish leaders) were not preaching the Torah properly and being more popular than them.
The crowd was getting more and more angry but Pontius Pilot, the ruler of the precinct they were in, couldn’t find anything wrong with Jesus. He actually believed Jesus when he said that he was the Son of God. (Aside: there is discussion as to whether Pilot was a believer but let’s not dive into that.)
There was a tradition by the Romans to let go of a prisoner, kind of like a pardon. Pilot didn’t want to send Jesus, a peaceful man by his own judgement, to die. So he got Barrabas, a convicted thief, out of jail and presented both of them to the people to “vote” on which he should let go.
Jesus was arrested by the Romans, at the behest of the Jewish leaders, for preaching that they (the Jewish leaders) were not preaching the Torah properly and being more popular than them.
The crowd was getting more and more angry but Pontius Pilot, the ruler of the precinct they were in, couldn’t find anything wrong with Jesus. He actually believed Jesus when he said that he was the Son of God. (Aside: there is discussion as to whether Pilot was a believer but let’s not dive into that.)
There was a tradition by the Romans to let go of a prisoner, kind of like a pardon. Pilot didn’t want to send Jesus, a peaceful man by his own judgement, to die. So he got Barrabas, a convicted thief, out of jail and presented both of them to the people to “vote” on which he should let go.
The crowd chose Barrabas.
Pontious is my pilot