John 18:40
“Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.”
What does John 18:40 mean?
In this moment, the crowd chooses to release a criminal convicted of robbery and insurrection instead of Jesus. What makes this striking is how ordinary people—who may have cheered Jesus days earlier—are now swayed by fear, by their leaders' influence, or by misunderstanding of who Jesus actually is. They want a violent rebel who fights Rome, not a teacher claiming to be a savior through sacrifice. The comparison cuts to the heart of what was at stake: the crowd had to actively reject Jesus to free someone dangerous, which shows how deliberate that rejection was.