Away with This Man - Luke 23:18

Luke the beloved physician wrote how Pilate said of Jesus, “I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof you accuse him. No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him. (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)”, and in chapter twenty-three and verse eighteen of his book Luke parenthetically shared how, “they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas” where we read:

And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:

The verse reads, “And they cried out all at once, saying, ...” Luke began with the words, “and they cried out” or “and the religious leaders and multitude shouted aloud” “all at once” which means “everyone of them at one single time”, “saying” or “uttering, declaring and proclaiming” by using the following words. Luke shared how the “religious leaders and multitude” began to shout out loudy the following words.

The verse goes on to say, “... Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:” Luke continued with the words, “away with this man” which means “carry off and remove this male human being, Jesus”, “and release unto us” or “and set free and dismiss to us, the religious leaders and multitude” “Barabbas” which means “son of a father or master and was a captive robber among the Jews”. Luke shared how the “religious leaders and crowd” told “Pilate” to “remove” Jesus and allow “Barabbas” to go free among them.

When we meditate upon Luke's words in this verse, we learn how the “crowd” and “religious leaders” responded to “Pilate” desiring to set Jesus free. Because it was the custom to release a prisoner to the people, “Pilate” wanted to release Jesus, however, the crowd desired differently. They wanted a known criminal, “Barabbas”, to be delivered to them and Jesus to be condemned. Can we imagine how Jesus felt as He listened to this angry crowd who less than one week earlier were shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord” and were now wanting Jesus to be condemned. Jesus tolerated all these things to bring “salvation” to mankind, and even though they were condemning Him, He purposed to continue. God loves everyone, even those who shout out that He should be removed. When a person carefully considers what Jesus went through on their behalf, may they yield their lives to Him, receive His forgiveness and inherit eternal life from God.

Next time we see Luke share how, “(Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison)”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".