Past Commentary by a Common Terry
An unexpected character
April 5, 2026
Sometimes it doesn’t take much for someone to become famous or be recognized when there was not a lot actually done.
In the 1976 movie Network, Beatrice Straight played Louise Schumaker, the scorned wife of TV news division executive Max Schumaker. Straight was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She was up against some pretty stiff competition. Jodie Foster, Jane Alexander, Lee Grant, and Piper Laurie were also nominated.
Straight won the Oscar. She was on the screen in the movie a grand total of five minutes and forty seconds. It’s a two-hour movie. It’s the shortest performance ever to win the award.
One doesn’t have to be featured for long to, not only be noticed, but become famous.
That leads me to Barabbas. Out of more than 3,700 verses in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, his name is mentioned in only ten verses. Out of the nearly 8,000 verses in the New Testament, ten verses mention Barabbas. Out of the 31,102 verses in the Bible, he’s mentioned in ten of them.
He was never actually on scene. He didn’t have any lines. His movements weren’t described. He was an actor in this real-life drama that never came out from behind the curtain.
And yet, there he was, and now he is as well-known as some of the most featured men and women in the Bible.
He was in a Jerusalem Roman jail, no doubt under a death sentence, perhaps scheduled for execution. Matthew referred to him as “...a notorious prisoner....” (Matthew 27:16)
Barabbas was a part of a failed insurrection against the Romans, labeled as a murderer by both Mark and Luke. (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19) John called him a robber. (John 18:40)
And that’s all we know. He probably could not have cared less about whatever it was outside his cell that threw the city into turmoil. Or maybe he was hearing the chatter outside the locked door and knew what was happening but didn’t believe it would ever reach him. It certainly wouldn’t release him to freedom. He was a man either prepared to die for his crimes or regretting his choices and loyalties.
Each Passover, the shrewd politician Pilate would release one prisoner of the Jews’ choosing. That’s just smart politics. It was the Paschal Pardon. It is clear when we read more about Pilate that he did not see a reason to kill Jesus and didn’t want to. The Paschal Pardon was his way out. He offered the Jews a ridiculous choice. “Do I release Jesus, called the Christ, or (and you can almost hear the distaste in his voice) Barabbas?”
And there sits Barabbas in his dirty prison, perhaps completely unaware that his life and fate was now at the center of conversation among the most powerful men in the city. Oblivious. I doubt it ever crossed his mind to get himself nominated for Paschal Pardon status.
The chief priests and Jewish leaders convinced the crowd to ask for Barabbas. In essence, they said he was more acceptable to walk free in the land than the gentle, peaceful Rabbi from Nazareth. I wonder if Pilate, at any point, thought as he looked at them, “These guys are a joke.” What he did realize was that the fates of Jesus and Barabbas were not worth his career. Give them both to the Jews and be done with it.
Barabbas, stunned beyond belief, was hauled out of his jail cell and released. At the same time, Pilate had Jesus scourged and delivered to the trained executioners. (Mark 15:15) Nothing made sense in any of this...except that God chose this to happen. To offer His son, the Lamb. To do this one last act to get the point across. “My Son will take on the punishment of the worst of the worst.”
So, the people cried out, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!” (Luke 23:18)
Give us Barabbas! In their language, the common use of “bar” means “son” and the common meaning of “abba” means “father.” In our translation, they cried, “Give us the son of the father.” All the while, they were sending the Son of the Father to the cross where he had to go in order to save the ones who rejected him.
Did Barabbas stick around? Was he part of the crowd that watched Jesus die, wondering who replaced him?
Do you stop and wonder at the One that replaced you?
In the 1976 movie Network, Beatrice Straight played Louise Schumaker, the scorned wife of TV news division executive Max Schumaker. Straight was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She was up against some pretty stiff competition. Jodie Foster, Jane Alexander, Lee Grant, and Piper Laurie were also nominated.
Straight won the Oscar. She was on the screen in the movie a grand total of five minutes and forty seconds. It’s a two-hour movie. It’s the shortest performance ever to win the award.
One doesn’t have to be featured for long to, not only be noticed, but become famous.
That leads me to Barabbas. Out of more than 3,700 verses in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, his name is mentioned in only ten verses. Out of the nearly 8,000 verses in the New Testament, ten verses mention Barabbas. Out of the 31,102 verses in the Bible, he’s mentioned in ten of them.
He was never actually on scene. He didn’t have any lines. His movements weren’t described. He was an actor in this real-life drama that never came out from behind the curtain.
And yet, there he was, and now he is as well-known as some of the most featured men and women in the Bible.
He was in a Jerusalem Roman jail, no doubt under a death sentence, perhaps scheduled for execution. Matthew referred to him as “...a notorious prisoner....” (Matthew 27:16)
Barabbas was a part of a failed insurrection against the Romans, labeled as a murderer by both Mark and Luke. (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19) John called him a robber. (John 18:40)
And that’s all we know. He probably could not have cared less about whatever it was outside his cell that threw the city into turmoil. Or maybe he was hearing the chatter outside the locked door and knew what was happening but didn’t believe it would ever reach him. It certainly wouldn’t release him to freedom. He was a man either prepared to die for his crimes or regretting his choices and loyalties.
Each Passover, the shrewd politician Pilate would release one prisoner of the Jews’ choosing. That’s just smart politics. It was the Paschal Pardon. It is clear when we read more about Pilate that he did not see a reason to kill Jesus and didn’t want to. The Paschal Pardon was his way out. He offered the Jews a ridiculous choice. “Do I release Jesus, called the Christ, or (and you can almost hear the distaste in his voice) Barabbas?”
And there sits Barabbas in his dirty prison, perhaps completely unaware that his life and fate was now at the center of conversation among the most powerful men in the city. Oblivious. I doubt it ever crossed his mind to get himself nominated for Paschal Pardon status.
The chief priests and Jewish leaders convinced the crowd to ask for Barabbas. In essence, they said he was more acceptable to walk free in the land than the gentle, peaceful Rabbi from Nazareth. I wonder if Pilate, at any point, thought as he looked at them, “These guys are a joke.” What he did realize was that the fates of Jesus and Barabbas were not worth his career. Give them both to the Jews and be done with it.
Barabbas, stunned beyond belief, was hauled out of his jail cell and released. At the same time, Pilate had Jesus scourged and delivered to the trained executioners. (Mark 15:15) Nothing made sense in any of this...except that God chose this to happen. To offer His son, the Lamb. To do this one last act to get the point across. “My Son will take on the punishment of the worst of the worst.”
So, the people cried out, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!” (Luke 23:18)
Give us Barabbas! In their language, the common use of “bar” means “son” and the common meaning of “abba” means “father.” In our translation, they cried, “Give us the son of the father.” All the while, they were sending the Son of the Father to the cross where he had to go in order to save the ones who rejected him.
Did Barabbas stick around? Was he part of the crowd that watched Jesus die, wondering who replaced him?
Do you stop and wonder at the One that replaced you?