FROM TODAY'S READING...
EASTER THOT...
“…Pilate’s substitution of innocent Jesus for Barabbas unwittingly symbolized the substitutionary death of Jesus. Barabbas, the one guilty of death, was pardoned, and Jesus, the innocent one, died in his place.”
E. Earle Ellis, The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), p. 264.
Matthew 27:20-23, 26 (NLT) Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?”
The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!”
Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
They shouted back, “Crucify him!”
"Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”
But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”...
So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Image: Creative Commons
