15.6-15 — "At every feast he released to them one prisoner for whom they asked. Then there was a man named Barabbas in chains, with his accomplices, who committed murder during the rebellion. And the people began to shout and ask Pilate for what he had always done for them. He answered and said to them, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" For he knew that the chief priests had betrayed him out of jealousy. But the chief priests stirred up the people to ask that Barabbas be released to them instead. And Pilate answered and said to them again, What do you want me to do to him whom you call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him. Pilate said to them, "What evil has he done?" But they cried out even more loudly, "Crucify Him." Then Pilate, wishing to do what was pleasing to the people, released Barabbas to them, and having beaten Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified."

In the depiction of Jesus' trial, the Jewish high priests are presented as the energetic driving force behind the accusation: they "accused Him of many things," Pilate "knew that the chief priests had betrayed Him out of jealousy. But the chief priests stirred up the people to ask that Barabbas be released to them instead." At the same time, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate himself is depicted sometimes in a kind of complacency, sometimes in confusion and helplessness.

That is, in the Gospel of Mark, Pilate, a man himself known for his cruelty, is presented in a positive image. And this, in addition to the historical authenticity of what is reported, is understandable for the Church of the 60s, that is, for the time of the writing of the Gospel, which was probably written soon after the monstrous persecution of Christians under the emperor Nero. In those years, it was important not to give the Romans a reason to accuse Christians of political unreliability. That is why the Gospel emphasizes that even the first Roman judicial-political instance could not establish any crime against the Founder of a new religious movement. Pilate is perplexed: "What evil has He done?"

Historians are not sure that there was such a custom - annually to release some criminal for every holiday. But we have no reason to doubt that on that occasion at Pascha it was exactly as it is told in our Gospel. That is, it was possible not only to acquit, but also to release Jesus, even if He was found guilty. But... unlike Barabbas, He did not find influential or even loud support. And so Pilate was forced to sentence Jesus to death as a political criminal.

About Barabbas we know only what is written in the Gospel: he was a robber who had accomplices. But he was not just a bandit, but a rebel, a murderer-terrorist. Such "robbers" were called sicarii, which means "daggers". The people respected the Sicarii as brave patriots.

There is usually something mysterious in the fact that the crowd that only a week ago had shouted to Jesus as they entered Jerusalem was now demanding His crucifixion. This infidelity of the people is constantly mentioned in sermons and in popular literature. A crowd, they say, is a crowd, and nothing more. In fact, if you carefully read the Gospel text, there is nothing "mysterious" in the behavior of the crowd. In analyzing the episode of the Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, we have already mentioned that it was not the crowd that greeted Him that shouted to Pilate, "Crucify Him." Then, a week ago, Jesus was greeted by Galilean pilgrims who had come with Him to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. They are called in the Gospel "those who preceded and followed" Jesus. It was they, full of joy and enthusiasm, who "exclaimed: Hosanna! blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (11.9–11). Here, before Pilate, the crowd was quite different, hardly knowing Jesus well or sympathizing with Him. If the people knew that one prisoner would be released on the Passover, then those who wanted Barabbas to be released gathered for the rest. When they felt that Pilate could deliver Jesus rather than Barabbas, they lost their temper and began to cry out even more loudly about Jesus' crucifixion. One can imagine the satisfaction of the chief priests! Conclusion: it was not the mood of the crowd that changed, but the composition of the crowd. The people chose Barabbas, preferring a terrorist rebel to Jesus.

Previously, the legends for the crucifixion of Jesus were beaten. They beat me with a whip. Every crucifixion was accompanied by a preceding scourging. From Josephus' descriptions, we learn how terrible it was. A person was bent and tied so that his back was arched outward. The whip was a long leather belt on which sharpened pieces of lead and bone were attached. Sometimes such a whip plucked out a person's eye, often the condemned died of wounds. Many became violently insane, only a few retained their sanity. Jesus was subjected to such a punishment.

b) Scarlet robe and crown of thorns.

15.16-20a — "And the soldiers took him into the courtyard, that is, into the praetorium, and gathered together the whole army, and clothed him in scarlet, and wove a crown of thorns, and laid it on him; And they began to greet Him: Rejoice, King of the Jews! And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and spat on Him, and kneeling down and bowed down to Him. And when they mocked Him, they took off His scarlet robe, and clothed Him in their own garments."

Sentencing and condemnation in Rome were carried out according to an established formula. The judge announced the sentence of crucifixion in a short formula and, addressing the guards, said: I, milee, expedi crucem (Go, soldier, prepare the cross). While the cross was being prepared, Jesus was in the hands of the soldiers. In the praetorium, that is, in the Roman administrative building, there was the headquarters of the garrison regiment, and the assembled soldiers were from the staff cohort of the guards. After the scourging, which was carried out not by the soldiers, but by appointed executioners from among the Jews, the mockery of the soldiers was, one might say, something almost harmless. They acted out their crude barracks performance without much hatred, just as a primitive joke. After all, they did not care about everything that happened.

5. Crucifixion, death and burial.