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BARABBAS
Criminal who was released instead of Jesus. All four Gospel writers took note of that event (Mt 27:15-26; Mk 15:6-15; Lk 23:18-25; Jn 18:39-40), as did the apostle Peter in his temple sermon (Acts 3:14).
Barabbas was a bandit and/or revolutionary (Jn 18:40) who had been imprisoned for committing murder during an insurrection (Mk 15:7; Lk 23:19). (The word translated “robber” in John 18:40 can denote either a bandit or revolutionary.) He was regarded as a notorious prisoner (Mt 27:16). His insurrection may have been an unusually violent act of robbery or an internal struggle among the Jews, but many scholars view it as a political insurrection against the Roman forces in Jerusalem. It is not unlikely that Barabbas was a member of the Zealots, a Jewish political group that sought to throw off the yoke of Rome by violence.
After examining Jesus, the vacillating Roman procurator, Pilate, recognized that Jesus was innocent and wanted to free him. Yet Pilate also had an interest in pleasing the Jewish leaders in order to protect his own political position. In the face of his dilemma he offered to release a prisoner to the Jews at their Passover feast (Jn 18:39). Given the option of Jesus or Barabbas, Pilate thought that the Jewish crowd would choose to have Jesus set free. Pilate underestimated either the mood of the mob or the influence of the Jewish leaders, or both. Whatever the reason, the throng shouted for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be crucified (Mt 27:21-22). Consequently, Jesus was crucified and Barabbas, after being released, disappeared from biblical and secular history.