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Sermon preached on Mark 15:14 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Good Friday Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/18/2025 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
As we reflect on the cross of Jesus Christ again this evening, I will have us consider quite a scandal. I have in mind that they let Barabbas go over Jesus. Yet, what we see in such an exchange illustrates well why Jesus had to go to the cross. Let’s dig in to consider this, and see in it, the glorious story of our salvation through the cross of Christ.
Let me begin by reminding us of the context and briefly summarizing what we just read in terms of Barabbas being released over Jesus. After the Last Supper, Jesus had went with his disciples to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. There, being betrayed by Judas Iscariot, and deserted by his disciples, he was arrested and put through several trials. We read here in chapter 15 of this trial by the Roman governor Pilate before Jesus is ultimately handed over to be crucified. Pilate gave the Jewish people one last chance to save Jesus’ life. Pilate invoked a custom of mercy that the Romans had traditionally shown the Jews at the Passover holiday, to release for them a prisoner whom they chose. We might think of it as a sort of presidential pardon given at the discretion of the people. Shockingly, sadly, scandalously the people choose to release Barabbas over Jesus and demand Jesus be crucified. Pilate is so stunned by this that he asks the question of verse 14. “Why? What evil has he done?”
Before addressing that question, let’s address the question in reverse. Let’s ask the reverse question for Barabbas. They wanted to release Barabbas. We could ask, “Why? What good has Barabbas done?” It’s a fair question. Even today, government officials typically consider such before they pardon someone. Think of what we know about this Barabbas. We are told here that he was a rebel involved in an insurrection and that he was a murderer. John’s gospel also tells us that he was a robber, but the word there implies more than just a common thief, but violent bandits. It’s a complementary description when taken together with this description of him being a rebel and an insurrectionist. This is someone who was involved with a group of evil people who were going around committing political violence through wicked crimes like murder and robbery. Not too hard to imagine when there has been this sort of stuff going on even in our country today. Matthew’s gospel adds to all this that Barabbas was notorious for his crimes. He had become well known for all these evils.
Why let Barabbas go? We don’t know of any good he has done, but he has certainly done lots of evil. Think of all the commandments he has broken. He broke the fifth commandment in not showing honor to the lawful authorities. He broke the sixth commandment with his murdering and violence in general. He broke the eighth commandment with his robbery. He sinned even against himself by ruining his previously good name. This man is evil. The Roman government wouldn’t want this man loose on the streets. And no Jew should want this sort of person free either. Justice would say this man deserves to die. Indeed, that was about to happen until they called for him to be released. How shocking that they would ask for him to be released over Jesus.
For then we come back to Pilate’s question when they ask to crucify Jesus. Why? What evil has Jesus done? Pilate asked the question because he just put Jesus on trial and found him innocent of any crime deserving of death. Indeed, we know from the testimony of Scripture that we can say even more. Jesus is the righteous one… in him there is no sin, 1 John 2:1 and 3:5. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth,” 1 Peter 2:22. Jesus was made like us in every respect, and tempted as we are, yet without sin, Hebrews 4:15. He is holy, innocent, unstained, and separated from sinners, Hebrews 7:26. He is a lamb without spot or blemish, perfect in every way. What evil had Jesus done? Nothing. Not a single sin. Not even one sinful word. Not even one single sinful thought. Jesus had committed no evil. He deserved to be released, let free, not out of judicial mercy and clemency, but out of justice. Justice demanded he be released because he committed no crime. Jesus had done no evil. Ask that in reverse for Jesus, and you get even a better answer. What good had Jesus done? All good, in every way, fully satisfying all the laws demands, fulfilling all positive duties, never transgressing its prohibitions. Jesus was and is good in the best sense of the word.
That Barabbas would be released and Jesus would be crucified shows that good and evil had been flipped upside down. The good Jesus received what the evil Barabbas deserved to receive. The evil Barabbas received what the good Jesus deserved to receive. There, at the cross, the sinful people here turned evil into good and good into evil. This is what the prophet Isaiah decried all the way back in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
How did such a terrible reversal happen? We can certainly blame the religious leaders who had accused Jesus out of envy and then stirred up the crowds against Jesus and for Barabbas, verse 11. We can certainly blame the Jewish crowds who knew the evil of this notorious villain named Barabbas and yet advocated for his release instead of Jesus. They might blame the religious leaders for stirring them up, but they still knew what this evil man had done. You can only blame others so far before you have to take accountability for your own actions. We can certainly blame Pilate, the Roman governor, for he knew the goodness of Jesus and the evil of Barabbas, and yet he gave in to their demands to “satisfy the crowd”, verse 16. Justice was Pilate’s job to enforce and he failed terribly. Isaiah had decried woe on people who call evil good and good evil. Everyone here in this passage, except Jesus, was guilty of that. They all deserved divine condemnation.
Yet, this is why Jesus came to the cross. The evil that people showed here represents man’s problem overall. The world is full of fallen sinners. The Bible’s testimony is that mankind has turned away from the good and embraced the evil. Even when we don’t act as evil as we could be, still our best goodness is marred with various evils. We are fallen creatures. On our own record, it would be unjust for God as the Chief Governor to declare any of us good. He’d have to call each one of us guilty. Yet, that is why Jesus came to the cross. His going to the cross was his merciful exchange to save a people unto to himself. He the good one would become as if he was evil to make us evil ones good. That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
We rejoice again this evening at the wonderful doctrine of substitutionary atonement. The gospel says that if you repent of your sins and believe on Jesus, you will be saved. Christ will have paid for your sins on the cross, bearing God’s wrath in your place. That is why Jesus died on the cross. And we are thankful that his resurrection on the third day showed that he overcame our punishment of sin, since he paid for it all with his priceless blood. Jesus was numbered with the transgressors to become that satisfaction for sin that justice demanded. He was the perfect sacrifice as the spotless lamb of God that takes away our sin.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, we Christians now live in a world where we can be called evil even when we are doing the good God calls us to do. It is a growing problem in general where the lawless one is getting everyone to call evil good and good evil. It’s happened in the past and it continues to happen today and it seems like it may get worse before it gets better. Yes, one day, Jesus will return and declare evil all those who continue to oppose him and us his people. He will bring a final judgment then on such evil. If we are waiting in faith on that, we know he has already declared us good, because of his grace, as those clothed in his righteousness. And he will affirm our righteous standing, when he returns. We rejoice that the exchange of Barabbas and Jesus here points to the wondrous exchange we have now experienced in Christ. We thank our Lord again today for bearing our evil so we could be called good.
Beyond this gospel application, let me remind us that as Christians we very well may experience what Jesus did, this flipping of evil for good and vice versa. The Psalms repeatedly lament the experience of God’s people receiving evil for good. We’ve repeatedly seen the world reversing evil and good today. This might be expressed today in terms of Christian persecution. If we experience any of that, may we count it a badge of honor to share in the sufferings of Christ.
But let us also personally be on guard. Satan, the world, and even our own flesh will try to get us to fall into this terrible lie. Let us watch and pray that we don’t confuse good and evil in our hearts. There is much propaganda today to try to convince us to do that. Our moral judgments must be founded on God’s law. Let us look to walk in the light, and be wise and bold to call good what God calls good, and to call evil what God calls evil. May we do so winsomely, charitably, courageously, and compassionately.
And may we especially do so in humility and gratitude. For we know it is but by the grace of God that we can speak. For the good Jesus was called evil to make us evil people good. Humility and gratitude must always clothe our hearts as we consider what is good and what is evil.
Amen.
Copyright © 2025 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
