(James Tissot, ca. 1886-1894)
Wikimedia Commons public domain
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The mob’s choice — urged on by the scheming chief priests — of the robber and murderer Barabbas over Jesus, an innocent preacher of love and hope, is a perfect image of sheer human perverseness.
All four of the canonical gospels, John as well as the synoptics, mention this episode. Their writers are plainly as appalled by it as we are.
But we shouldn’t point the finger at the wickedness of that ancient crowd. Don’t we, too, routinely choose evils (of greed, lust, revenge, ambition, and a thousand other things) over the Prince of Peace?
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