Now at the Passover feast Pilate would release to them one prisoner, whomever they requested.
During the Passover feast there was a custom of releasing a prisoner, which shows Pilate’s political calculation: he was trying to please the people and keep the peace. Yet within God’s providence this custom becomes the stage where the people’s choice will soon be seen more clearly, between the innocent Christ and a guilty prisoner. Passover recalled deliverance, and now the true Deliverer Himself is standing in bonds and under condemnation. The people would ask for the freedom of one prisoner, yet they do not recognize Him who had come to free humanity from the bonds of sin and death. As we will see next, this verse prepares the next contrast: the guilty one will be released, and the Innocent One will be handed over to death, so that sinners may receive salvation through Him.