Barabbas

Barabbas (meaning son of Abba or son of a father, with a secondary interpretation of son of shame) was a notorious prisoner held by Pilate at the time of Jesus's trial. Mark 15:7 describes him as one who had committed murder in the insurrection, and Luke 23:19 confirms he had been imprisoned for sedition and murder. John 18:40 adds that he was a robber. Pilate, exercising the Passover custom of releasing a prisoner chosen by the crowd, offered the people a choice between Jesus and Barabbas.

The crowd's choice of Barabbas over Jesus — instigated by the chief priests — is the culminating irony of the passion narrative in the Synoptic Gospels: the guilty go free while the innocent is condemned to death. Theological reflection has seen in this exchange a enacted parable of substitutionary atonement — the guilty Barabbas walking free because Jesus takes his place. Acts 3:14 recalls the choice starkly: ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.