Barabbas

AI summary: Barabbas matters because the cross references present him as a living contrast to the innocence of Jesus. He is associated with insurrection and violence, yet he is the one set free while the righteous one is condemned. The narrative does not develop his later life, because his significance lies almost entirely in this exchange. Taken together, the material presents Barabbas as a disturbing emblem of substitution and injustice at the heart of the Passion story.¹

I.e., son of Abba or of a father, a notorious robber whom Pilate proposed to condemn to death instead of Jesus, whom he wished to release, in accordance with the Roman custom (John 18:40; Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19). But the Jews were so bent on the death of Jesus that they demanded that Barabbas should be pardoned (Matt. 27:16-26; Acts 3:14). This Pilate did. ³