"Would you like me to release to you this 'King of the Jews'?" Pilate asked.

(For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.)

But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.

Pilate asked them, 

"Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?"

They shouted back, "Crucify him!"

"Why?" Pilate demanded. 

"What crime has he committed?"

But the mob roared even louder, "Crucify him!"

So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. 

He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. 

Mark 15:9-15 NLT

Pilate could sense the injustice, he knew something was off with all of this, seeing the envy that drove the religious leaders, wondering why the Jews wanted an end to someone who carried the label of "King". 

And yet he took the expedient route, made a decision that made life easier for him, and cared nothing for the life of another person who was not like him. 

Just another one of "them".

Envy.

A crowd stirred up by a few.

A person in power who didn't care.

A system that built in the abuse of people, that normalised killing.

(Would I have stood up to the crowd that day?)

A very human story at the centre of the Big Story. 

And yet God uses even all these abuses, the worst of people's choices and emotions, for good. 

Because He is Good. 

#Easter

#hopeishere