So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas,and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. —Mark 15:15
If grace is "unmerited favor," then perhaps there is no clearer illustration in Scripture than the exchange of Jesus for Barabbas. The gospels variously identify Barabbas as a robber, an insurrectionist, and a murderer, a combination of crimes which we often associate today with…