One of the rather strange aspects about the death of Jesus is that it seems as though many of the characters do it almost unintentionally, or at least their circumstances just kind of lead them into it.   Of course, that's not the case with all of the characters; the chief priests and elders and scribes had clearly planned it out, paying off Judas, arresting Jesus at night, lying to Pilate and all of the rest. But think of Pilate, he initially declared Jesus innocent; think of Herod, he seems to just want to see the spectacle of Jesus but not to have him killed; and think of the crowd, they are there for Passover and they are shouting crucify him. But the truth is that we have all killed him. We all are at work against God. We are all guilty. And the wild, wild story of Barrabas is that the guilty one goes free while the righteous one suffers. And right here, right at the point the crowd yelling for the release of Barrabas and the death of Jesus, is the heart of the Christian message: the blameless for the wicked, the capital "S" Saint for the sinner, the righteous for the unrighteous. Who's guilty? We are. Who bears the guilt. Jesus does.