I love the thousands of minor details God, as the master Story-crafter, worked out long before the actual climax of the Crucifixion took place, things not necessarily essential to the story but that add so much more depth to it.
Pilate “was accustomed” to releasing for the people a prisoner, on the day of Passover no less (who knows why he picked this day). But all the times he had done this before at previous Passovers were only preparatory for this day. This custom of Pilate’s served to condemn not only the chief priests but the people of Israel and their Roman overlords, none of whom would stand up for a Man everyone knew was innocent.
Moreover, Barabbas had to have been incarcerated long before this to serve as a comparison to Christ. The former was a violent man who took life and led rebellions, the perfect figurehead for all of humanity. And when Pilate “randomly” selected the murderous rebel as a contrast to Jesus, he could not have guessed that Jesus would take this man’s place on the cross, symbolizing the substitutionary role Christ plays for sinful men who do not deserve to live. After all, Pilate was hoping the crowd would pick Jesus rather than, as he saw it, the objectionable Barabbas.
However, the Author of the Human Story was at work penning the tale of redemption into thousands of lesser vignettes that serve as mirrors reflecting back on the great work of salvation Christ accomplished on the cross that day.
That part of the crucifiction is so powerful..well ever part of it is, but there's something so *hits palm to chest* about this scene. and I love how you brought out God's perfect timing yet again. Truly, He had it all under His control!
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