Pontius Pilate’s great sin was in placing Jesus on the same ballot with Barabbas and then allowing the people to cast their vote. The mob in Pilate’s judgment hall choosing of Barabbas is important because it exemplifies the utter depravity of the human will. In this account, we are confronted with one of the most hideous of revelations of human depravity in all of Scripture. Man shows what he truly is apart from the grace of God, when in the voice of that mob, collectively man cries out “Crucify Him … and release to us Barabbas.” For one brief period in the history of the world, man the creature is given the opportunity to dispose of the incarnate God according to the true state and desire of his collective heart.
Mankind when given the opportunity to vote for the manner of his redemption, will always opt for a self-redemption by means of human power over redemption through grace by way of humiliation. It is therefore our responsibility to present the gospel in such a way that it is not received as just another self-help method.
Yet much of the church today presents Jesus to unbelievers in much the same way that Pilate presents Jesus to the mob in the judgment hall. The problem is, the ‘free-will’ of man will always choose that which is self-seeking and self-atoning.
