27:15
Pilate tries to wriggle out of the situation, using political means. This would not work as now was crunch time, one had to make a decision, but Pilate seeks to avoid making a decision and in the end has the decision made for him. It was the custom at the time to release one prisoner a year. This might seem a rather strange custom, but it was done as a sop to the governed people. So some political prisoner would be released. Pilate maybe knew that Jesus was popular among the common people, so hoped they would choose Jesus, and that would be the problem solved.
27:16-18
Pilate had another prisoner, Jesus Barabbas. He was a “well-known” person, presumably in prison for crimes against the Roman rulers. So Pilate offered the people a choice, Barabbas or Jesus. He knew full well that the religious leaders had offered up Jesus to him not out of any concern for the well being of the Roman regime, but “out of envy”.
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