Question: Who was Barabbas?
Answer: He was the prisoner the crowd asked to be freed instead of Jesus. (Matthew 27:16-26)
Comments: All four canonical gospels (and the Gospel of Peter for that matter) state that the crowd at the crucifixion was given a choice of which prisoner to free - Barabbas, a murdering insurrectionist, or Jesus. In some texts, Barabbas is referred to as Jesus Barabbas which would imply that he was called by his surname to distinguish him from the other Jesus. This is reflected in the CEV, The Message, and NRSV's translation of Matthew 27:17. If this were the case the crowd is presented a choice of two Jesuses - the violent insurgency of Barabbas or the challenging gospel of Jesus. They chose the former. Which do you choose?
But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas." (Matthew 27:21, NASB)
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