John 18:40

Then cried they all again Better, They cried out therefore (John 18:3) again all of them. S. John has not mentioned any previous shout of the multitude; he once more assumes that his readers know the chief facts. See on John 19:6.

Barabbas Or, Bar-Abbas, son of Abba (father). The innocent Son of the Father is rejected for the blood-stained son of a father. In Matthew 27:16-17 some inferior authorities read - JesusBarabbas" as his name, and Pilate asks -Which do ye wish that I release to you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus Who is called Christ?" The reading is remarkable, but it is supported by no good MS.

Now Barabbas was a robber There is a tragic impressiveness in this brief remark. Comp. -Jesus wept" (John 11:35), and -And it was night" (John 13:30). It is to be regretted that -robber" has not always been given as the translation of the Greek word used here (ληστής not κλέπτης). Thus we should have -den of robbers" or - robbers" cave" (Matthew 21:13); -as against a robber" (Matthew 26:55); -two robbers" (Matthew 27:38; Matthew 27:44). The -robber" is the bandit or brigand, who is more dangerous to persons than to property, and sometimes combines something of chivalry with his violence. In the case of Barabbas we know from S. Mark and S. Luke that he had been guilty of insurrection and consequent bloodshed rather than of stealing; and this was very likely the case also with the two robbers crucified with Jesus. Thus by a strange irony of fate the hierarchy obtain the release of a man guilty of the very political crime with which they charged Christ, sedition. The people no doubt had some sympathy with the insurrectionary movement of Barabbas, and on this the priests worked. Barabbas had done, just what Jesus had refused to do, take the lead against the Romans. "They laid information against Jesus before the Roman government as a dangerous character; their real complaint against Him was precisely this, that He was not dangerous. Pilate executed Him on the ground that His kingdom was of this world; the Jews procured His execution precisely because it was not." Ecce Homo, p. 27.