Pilate was the supreme Judge of Israel, but he did not recognise truth when it stared him in the face.  He did not recognise Jesus’ identity as the Truth (John 14:6).  Jesus was not guilty of any charge.  Pilate knew that, but he had no courage to release the prisoner.  Pilate feared another riot by the Jews who were insistent that Jesus should die.  Another riot would demonstrate Pilate’s inability to keep order in Israel: not only would he lose his job, he might also lose his head.
 
So Pilate decided to use the ‘Passover Amnesty’ – releasing one prisoner chosen by the people as a gesture of good will.  Pilate first tried to get the religious leaders to accept the release of Jesus as a way to solve his problem.   But the religious leaders manipulated the crowd to demand a riot leader instead of Jesus.  Jesus and peace were bad, they declared; Barabbas and his rioting were good.  And Pilate gave in to their perverted logic.

Interestingly, the name Barabbas means ‘son of the Father’, and Jesus was the Son of Father God (John 20:31).  How close the two sons appeared to be in the eyes of the religious leaders, but the righteous one was killed so that the guilty one could be set free (1 Peter 3:18).  That episode was a little parable of the gospel – we do not know if Barabbas was saved, but he could have been if he had believed in the Name of God’s One and only Son (John 3:18).  
 
When people reject Jesus, it is not out of logic and truth, but out of prejudice and lies.  They want to throw Jesus away, even though He is the only true peace giver, so that they can continue their war with God.  War with God?  Yes, whenever anybody rejects God’s truth, they are in rebellion against Him.  Like Pilate they want to preserve their own authority to rule their own lives and they hate Jesus getting in the way as a superior King.  The symptoms of that heart attitude are seen in anger and irrational choices which replace God’s peace by human aggression.  Let us cooperate with the Lord instead of asserting our own right to define truth.