Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ.
The release of Barabbas
I. It illustrates the evasion of personal responsibility. We always admire courage in the abstract. Look at the position of Pilate! “I must sentence, gentlemen, you choose the culprit.” We may be doing this same thing. How often we allow others to determine our duty. “If my wife would be religious I would.” “Will you go if I will?” Alone you must die and give an account to God.
II. The controlling power of prejudice over moral approbation. They were to forget all the munificence of Jesus because He outraged their prejudices.
III. The choice of Barabbas in the end exalts the eternal principles which underlie the government of God. The eternal plan of God is carried out in the death of Jesus.
IV. The attitude of Barabbas. Suppose he had refused release on the ground that it was not possible for him to live by the death of another. Some reject the substitution of Christ for themselves. (R. Jeffery, D. D.)
Releasing prisoners
No trace of this custom is found in the Talmud. But the release of prisoners was usual at certain festivals at Rome, and at Athens during the Panathenaic festival prisoners enjoyed temporary liberty. It is not, therefore, improbable that Herod the Great, who certainly familiarized the Jews with other usages of Greece and Rome, introduced this custom, and that the Roman governor, finding the custom established and gratifying to the Jews, in accordance with Roman practice, retained the observance of it. (A. Carr, M. A.)